Chetan Vaidya
Former Director, School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), New Delhi, India
Book Recommendations:
Recommended by Chetan Vaidya
“The volume titled Smart City in India: Urban Laboratory, Paradigm or Trajectory? authored by Dr Binti Singh and Prof Manoj Parmar is a comprehensive and persuasive presentation of the smart city narrative currently operational in India. It is empirically rich in primary data from second tier smart cities like Lucknow, Jaipur and Varanasi, compiles secondary research from several sources and presents updated data up to the Ease of Living city rankings of 2018. The authors explain that planning and designing of smart cities in India necessitates an inclusive collaboration among residents, designers, and policy-makers. This volume opens new discussions, highlights human and sociological dimensions, and reimaginations in urban design and planning while offering workable solutions and views the smart city mission in India as an opportunity for every selected city to chart its own destiny based on its context.” (from Amazon)
by Binti Singh, Manoj Parmar·You?
by Binti Singh, Manoj Parmar·You?
This book is a critical reflection on the Smart City Mission in India. Drawing on ethnographic data from across Indian cities, this volume assesses the transformative possibilities and limitations of the program. It examines the ten core infrastructural elements that make up a city, including water, electricity, waste, mobility, housing, environment, health, and education, and lays down the basic tenets of urban policy in India. The volume underlines the need to recognize liminal spaces and the plans to make the ‘smart city’ an inclusive one. The authors also look at maintaining a link between the older heritage of a city and the emerging urban space. This volume will be of great interest to planners, urbanists, and policymakers, as well as scholars and researchers of urban studies and planning, architecture, and sociology and social anthropology.