By Mr. Anuj Puri, JLL
India
While a lot is being discussed and written on Smart
Cities, these discussions tend to focus on lofty urban planning perspectives
and complicated economic hypotheses.
Mr. Everyman...!
This has resulted in Smart Cities becoming something
of an unfathomable doctrine rather than something that makes sense to Mr.
Everyman.
There are some fundamental questions that people
have been asking about Smart Cities, and they need to be answered.
•
Which are the services that a smart city will offer which are not
available in ‘normal’ cities? Are we just talking of township level services
provided at the level of an entire city, or is there something more that
citizens of Smart Cities can look forward to?
The objective of Indian government’s Smart Cities
initiative is to improve the quality of urban living for all residents with the
use of smart technologies. That said, the transformation from a ‘normal’ city
to a ‘smart city’ is more evolution than revolution.
A smart city is different
than normal cities in terms of liveability, workability and sustainability. The
information and communications technology (ICT) component used in
infrastructure will do most of the heavy-lifting work such as improving
infrastructure, environment and governance through data-driven systems.
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| Anuj Puri, JLL India |
Smart Cities advantages ..!
Apart from highly advanced infrastructure and
evolved residential experience, citizens of Smart Cities will also get
advantages like:
·
Overall digital connectivity, which means that broadband communications
infrastructure and innovative services will combine to meet the needs of the
Government and its employees as well as citizens and businesses
·
Collective intelligence, which not only helps urban planners and
increases the city’s competitiveness but also provides opportunities for active
participation from citizens in processes that make Smart Cities smarter
· Open
government thanks to open data.
Tech-savvy..!
• It
has been said that Smart Cities will need smart citizens to be truly viable.
What does this mean? Will only tech-savvy younger citizens be able to derive
and enjoy all the benefits of a smart city, or can people without a
technological background also benefit?
It would be a mistake to assume that only
high-earning college graduates or tech-savvy younger citizens will receive the
benefits in Smart Cities. The objective of this movement is to improve the
quality of urban living for all residents, not just the young and rich.
Nevertheless,
Smart Cities will still have to ‘sell’ themselves to the common man, who will
need to be made aware of how this transformation could improve their lives.
With the deep penetration of smartphones into our society, getting citizens to
understand the value of connectivity should not be too big a challenge.
Townships..!
•
Given the level of services that will be offered in Smart Cities, will
it in fact be more expensive to live in them? Will residents have to pay a big
share of the implied expenses (as they do in townships) or will government
subsidies take care of it?
To think that better services will come with
additional costs is a mistake, since the smart initiatives employed in these
cities will reduce many costs and improve productivity, in turn reducing the
burden on their residents.
Also, Smart City implementation will mostly come as
a government subsidy and not as a loaded expense on residents.
Greenfield’ smart city ..
• Is
it easier and more viable to launch a ‘greenfield’ smart city in an untouched
location from the ground up or convert an existing ‘brownfield’ city into a
smart one?
The evolutionary transformation (an existing city’s
development into a Smart City) will prove to be more affordable than
revolutionary (Greenfield) development.
However, revolutions inspire a lot more
emotion and commitment than evolutionary changes. India needs more retrofitting
of existing cities and infrastructure through the Smart Cities initiative, and
not just development of Greenfield cities.
It would be easier to develop Greenfield Smart
Cities, except for the aspect of land acquisition. The current controversies
associated with land acquisition bill and the lack of an environment that
enables land acquisition easily, seamlessly and without delays would be a serious
bottleneck in positioning these Greenfield Smart Cities.
The advantages for
positioning Greenfield Smart Cities are numerous: proactive planning and design
would mean that there are little or no difficulties related to upgradation
and / or improvement of smart systems. Greenfield Smart Cities would also allow
for better management and forecasting for budgetary expenses, and it would be
easier to expand capacities, with minimal disruption of city operations, at a
later stage.
• Will
the formation of one smart city cause property prices to rise unnaturally in
adjoining areas, even if these areas do not provide the quality of life that
the smart city does? This has been observed happening with large integrated
townships.
Areas with better infrastructure will fetch better
real estate value due to higher demand and hence, in Smart Cities formation,
land and property values will increase. The implementation of Smart Cities will
have to be looked at in totality instead of a few locations in isolation.
Speculative investors..!
•
Given the pattern we have observed in all newly-emerging locations, will
property rates in Smart Cities be driven up by speculative investment, or is
there some kind of built-in factor which will prevent this?
If Smart City principles are implemented strictly,
these property markets will address demands of the end-users and not
speculative investors. The formation of housing development corporations and
other authorities as part of smart governance will prevent speculation from
these real estate markets.
About the author
Mr. Anuj Puri is Chairman & Country Head at JLL India
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