Why Naya Raipur as a Smart City? No one could have articulated the impact of a house on human being aptly than the former British Prime Minister. However, his observations can be extended to fit a city too. First humans build a city and then the city builds them. History is replete with such examples. Be it Delhi, Kolkata or Mumbai in distant history or Chandigarh, Gandhinagar and Bhubaneswar in the recent post. These cities were developed by a small group of visionaries left. In time all the cities became political, business and residential hubs that attracted talented people from across the country. Talent attracted more talent and the cities become magnets for those who had dreams and ambitions, talent and skills. Ever since independence, India has experienced one of the fastest urban expansions in human history. Today more than 30 percent of the population lives in cities and the number is set to growth substantially over the next 15 years. According to the United Nations World Urbanisation Prospects, human have already become an urban species. In 2011, for the first time, slightly more than 50 percent of the population was living in urban centres and this trend is set to grow with close to 70 percent of the world population moving to cities. India is no exception. The ministry of Urban Development estimates that by 2030, 590 million people will be living in cities. It means an additional 270 million people are going to move into Urban areas in the next 15 years. This will create challenges of an unprecedented order – Where will this population live? How will they eat? Who will feed them? Will they get proper education, health and sanitation facilities? What will happen to employment opportunities? What will happen to post retirement life? How will a retired person ensure safe, healthy and meaningful living? While the migration will create huge challenges, it will also offer opportunities for a lifetime. Building infrastructure on a scale that is unprecedented. Services like teaching, healthcare, elder care, skills development will see a quantum jump. In such a scenario, people across the country will gravitate to place that offer the best facilities that enrich their quality of life and experience of living. Naya Raipur is the perfect destination : Built over area of 80 square kilometres, Naya Raipur offers residents a quantum jump in terms of ease of living, better education infrastructure, healthcare and opportunities for growth. Challenges of the century: The 21st century has also brought us face to face with twin challenges of maintaining economic growth and checking environment degradation. In the last 15 years, the voice raising concerns for climate change and environment pollution have become louder and for good reasons. The impact of global warming is being felt on every aspect of our life and lifestyle. The consensus that is emerging around the globe is that the way things have been done till now- Our way of manufacturing, living and extraction of resources or business as usual scenario - is not going to stand us is good stead. This has led to the development of a new paradigm of sustainable development - development that extracts resource from nature in a way that it meets its need without jeopardising future generation. The concept of sustainable development has spawned a new generation of entrepreneurs, government officials and town planners that have evolved smart and green living.
As cities will host most of the population in 21st century, experts globally think that managing them will be the backbone of sustainable development. Town planners are of the opinion that densely populated areas offer a unique chance to achieve resource efficiency, energy efficiency, and maximum utilisation of land and economic disposal of waste. So why live in chaos and concrete jungle when you have an opportunity to dwell in a clean Naya Raipur?