Round table talk organized on “Sustainability and Smart cities Development” on Nov 23, 2019 at Root Logix, Conference Hall, Noida Office
Sustainable smart cities development focuses on areas like air and water pollution control, sewage disposal and management, connectivity that ensures low pollution emission on the roads, a maintenance and management system which includes e-governance and internet-based solutions for citizens and also using construction material that is ‘eco-friendly’ which should not create ecological imbalance.
- (1888PressRelease) December 02, 2019 - Root Logix organized a round table talk organized on “Sustainability and Smart cities Development” on Nov 23, 2019 at Root Logix, Conference Hall, Noida Office. The said meet brought academic scientists, researchers, urban and environmental planners, information technology experts, regulators, administrators and developers and in fact all stakeholders involved in the designing, planning and implementation of this noble idea and share experiences so far in line with the Smart Cities Mission. The meet has been a platform to evolve innovative recommendations for achieving the goals and objectives of sustainable development of smart cities as being envisioned under a broad framework of Smart Cities Guidelines, Government of India.
Background
As per one of the reports by McKinsey Global Institute (2015), India will have 68 cities with a population of over one million by the year 2035. The increasing urban population and ever increasing migration towards the urban clusters has put additional pressure on the availability of natural resources. This has caused several environmental and resource depletion issues. Increasing human activities, intervention and industrialization has led to increase the toxic elements in the resources viz. Air, Water and Soil; affecting the balance of habitat. This is posing a great challenge on the existence of the living and non living organisms in the ecosystem. There is a great need to create systems and networks to ensure optimum utilization of resources.
Discussion: Management of Resources through Smart Cities
The management of resources with this additional pressure on the urban areas would become a great challenge. An efficient and sustainable solution for serving urban areas is need of the hour. The concept and model of smart cities is of significant importance. A smart city integrates the information and communication technology (ICT) and internet of things (IOT) to manage city’s resources cum assets. This includes managing local departments’ information system, schools, libraries, transport, hospitals, power plants, water supply networks, waste management, law enforcement and other community services through ICT based services. The sustainable management of resources with efficient system will help in improving life standards of this population. As India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Government of India carrying forward the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has started taking steps to develop smart cities, which will be self sustainable habitats with maximum resource mobilization, optimized energy supplies and efficient public transportation system with a healthy quality of life.
The sustainable smart cities development focuses on areas like air and water pollution control, sewage disposal and management, connectivity that ensures low pollution emission on the roads, a maintenance and management system which includes e-governance and internet-based solutions for citizens and also using construction material that is ‘eco-friendly’ which should not create ecological imbalance.
As the infrastructure development possess one of the major GDP contributing sectors and the sector avail around 40% of the total energy supply and 30% of the total water consumption; Sustainable building concept incorporating Green building guidelines may achieve the defined targets of resource savings. Not only savings but green building focuses on way of continuous improving the sustainable practices throughout the design, construction and operation phase of a development. For example, it focuses on recycling garbage to form compost for gardens, to create methane gas to power utilities, to harness wind and solar power to provide a part of power requirements. It is also about recharging the water table through rain water harvesting, sewage treatment which provides treated sewage in form of water for gardens and construction/ cleaning purposes. It is about smart architecture which ensures being in sync with wind and natural light resources, so that load on HVAC and luminaries is reduced.
Way forward
Reuse, recycle and replenish are the key words to be brought in the mainstream development process. Smart urban development and sustainable growth requires the every possible sustainability advantage we may get over the unplanned development process. With the smart city mission, an urban renewal and retrofitting program; the government is developing 100 smart cities. Central government, state government, planners, AI (Artificial Intelligence) professionals, other stakeholders and most importantly the citizens are required to become smart in terms of use of resources efficiently. The way forward entails improving the citizens’ quality of life, strengthening and diversifying the economy while prioritizing environmental sustainability through adoption of smart information and communication technology based solutions.
For more info, please feel free to connect with us at bd ( @ ) root-logix dot com or visit us at www.root-logix.com
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