Indian smart cities and cleaner production initiatives – Integrated framework and recommendations

Abstract

The need to focus on smart city initiatives across the globe seems to vary, as modern cities today are identified as complex ecosystems grappling with the management of several social, economic and environmental issues. Smart city development needs to embrace cleaner production initiatives to balance the demands placed on the key sectors of health, energy, education, media and other services. Following upon document and content analyses, the present study presents a comprehensive review of the existing smart city frameworks and cleaner production initiatives in the Indian context. Smart city planning processes, cleaner production practices, cleaner production problems and associated policies in practice are outlined in the results section. The drivers and challenges in smart city development and cleaner production initiatives are discussed in detail; recommendations for closing the identified political, economic, technical, human, social, physical and ethical gaps are outlined alongside a suitable integrated framework for the development of smart cities in the Indian context. Theoretical, methodological, practical and social implications of the study are outlined, alongside the limitations of the present study and avenues for further research.