Need to make smart city mission citizen-centric felt

There is a need to transform Indias smart city mission into a 'citizen-centric system' like in many foreign countries to ensure greater public participation, former secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development M Ramachandran said on Friday. Inaugurating the 'Smart City Workshop: Sustainable Urban Development' here, he said the purpose of a smart city was improve the quality of life of its people.

He said such an endeavour should provide clean environment, jobs and and safety. Ramachandran said the public transport systems in the country were inadequate and providing smart transport solutions was a big challenge to the government and policy-makers.

He emphasised the need for a comprehensive planning in all aspects to create better cities with smart solutions to solve the problems. The conference was organised by Heidelberg University (Germany), Observer Research Foundation, School of Planning and Architecture and IMPRI in Delhi in collaboration with the Centre for Public Policy Research, Kochi.

It was supported by Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. Senior Fellow, ORF, Rumi Aijaz stressed that whatever be the goals or how smart are the technological solutions, it is the awareness of the people which is the key to success of the smart city mission.

Former Mayor of Kochi K J Sohan said only rationalisation of public transport system can make the smart city mission in cities like Kochi a success The day-long conference had sessions on smart governance: inclusive cities, built environment: planning and design, mobility and natural resources management. Policy-makers, planners, experts and scholars besides members of the general public attended the conference..

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