Smart Cities in developing economies: A literature review and policy insights

Now-a-days all the cities of developed and developing countries feel the need to provide public services in a most effective and efficient way. It is also noted that a considerable number of rural population is converging to the cities to relish the fruits of development and this pace of migration is increasing rapidly. From global experience it is seen that pace of growth of urbanization up to 30% is not very fast but thereafter at least up to 60-65% this pace of growth increases rapidly. Statistics highlights that now the urban population in India is 31%. As a result, pace of urbanization would speed-up to combat the need of inhabitants of those cities. In this context the Government of India has decided to set up 100 “Smart Cities” in India (as observed from the budget speech of Finance Minister of India in 2014) to face the situation since if this is right now not achieved, the existing cities would very soon become unlivable. However to achieve this, “Smart Technology” is essential which in particular, means improvement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) along with other essential services. Now some basic principles are required to be adopted by the cities marked for converting them as “Smart Cities”. These are Coalescence, Practicality and Involvement. In this paper a sincere attempt has been taken to characterize the essentials of “Smart Cities” in the context of developing countries and to find out the main constraints apprehended to stand on the way to convert cities to “Smart Cities” or to denevo create “Smart Cities”. Criteria have been proposed to identify as to which cities would be construed to be fit for conversion to “Smart Cities”. In the conclusion part it has been inferred that out of other barriers literacy and fund constraint are the principal barriers and it has been suggested that Government should sincerely pique the people to come out from the veil of illiteracy and Government should essay to explore wealth resources needed for establishing “Smart Cities”.