Planning for Integrated Command and Control Centre in Indian Cities

The 100 Smart Cities Mission in India have received significant attention from the researchers and policymakers globally. This chapter examines the imposing challenge of development of command and control centres that are at the focal point of the smart cities discourse in India with as many as 83 cities investing substantially to capture and use big data through such technologically advanced facilities. A thorough account of the genesis of the Smart Cities Mission in India is presented here to establish the context behind the development of centralised big data command and control centres. This chapter presents the very first analysis of the technical architecture and systems being adopted by the Indian smart cities for creating the command and control centres and highlights their innovations in collecting and integrating big data through a range of audio, video, sound, sensing and crowdsourcing devices. While identifying the domain and application areas incorporated within the command and control centre projects, this research reveals that the focus by the Indian smart cities is more on controlling and surveilling rather than improving the delivery of public services. This chapter also critically assesses the potential of building synergy between different local and state agencies through the command and control centres and how much they can influence the urban planning processes in rapidly growing Indian cities. The outcomes from the research suggest that the command and control centres in Indian smart cities are predominantly privatised and there is an inclination towards big data corporatisation. The chapter argues for public ownership over these big data and command and control centres so that publicly funded high-value datasets can be made openly available for use by the app developers, businesses, innovators, startups and citizens that could open up opportunities for creative collaborations and the development of a data-driven innovation ecosystem.

Napjainkban a városokkal foglalkozó társadalomtudományi kutatások tekintélyes része fókuszál azokra a városokra, amelyek a globális gazdaságban meghatározó irányító és ellenőrző funkciókkal rendelkeznek. Az 1980-as évek közepétől ezekben a kutatásokban sokszor világvárosokként vagy globális városokként azonosítják a gazdaságirányítás csomópontjait (John Friedmann és Saskia Sassen hatására), elsősorban a „fejlett termelést segítő szolgáltatások” mennyiségi koncentrációja alapján. A tanulmányban visszatérek a világvárosok meghatározásának 1960/1970-es évekre jellemző, Peter Hall nevével fémjelzett irányzatához, és a multinacionális/transznacionális vállalatok, regionális nagyvállalatok, bankok és egyéb pénzpiaci szervezetek koncentrációja alapján definiálom a világgazdaság vezető csomópontjait. Az elemzésben a Forbes „The Global 2000” rangsorát, vagyis a világ 2000 legnagyobb tőzsdei cégét és azok főbb adatait (forgalom, piaci érték, profit, eszközállomány) tartalmazó adatbázist dolgozom fel. A globális irányító és ellenőrző központok rangsorát egy komplex mutató, az irányítás és ellenőrzés index segítségével vizsgálom meg. Alapvető célom egyrészt azt bemutatni, hogy 2012-ben mely városok voltak a világgazdaság irányító és ellenőrző központjai, másrészt azt megvizsgálni, hogy a feltörekvő gazdaságok, különösen a BRIC-országok vezető városai milyen viszonyban állnak a fejlett országok tradicionális gazdaságirányító központjaival.

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has affected around 216 countries and territories worldwide and more than 2000 cities in India, alone. The smart cities mission (SCM) in India started in 2015 and 100 smart cities were selected to be initiated with a total project cost of INR 2031.72 billion. Smart city strategies play an important role in implementing the measures adopted by the government such as the issuance of social distancing regulations and other COVID-19 mitigation strategies. However, there is no research reported on the role of smart cities strategies in managing the COVID-19 outbreak in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach This paper aims to address the research gap in smart cities, technology and healthcare management through a review of the literature and primary data collected using semi-structured interviews. Findings Each city is unique and has different challenges, the study revealed six key findings on how smart cities in India managed the COVID-19 outbreak. They used: Integrated Command and Control Centres, Artificial Intelligence and Innovative Application-based Solutions, Smart Waste Management Solutions, Smart Healthcare Management, Smart Data Management and Smart Surveillance. Originality/value This paper contributes to informing policymakers of key lessons learnt from the management of COVID-19 in developing countries like India from a smart cities’ perspective. This paper draws on the six Cs for the implications directed to leaders and decision-makers to rethink and act on COVID-19. The six Cs are: Crisis management leadership, Credible communication, Collaboration, Creative governance, Capturing knowledge and Capacity building.

Managing the ongoing COVID-19 (aka Coronavirus) pandemic has presented both challenges and new opportunities for urban local body administrators. With the Indian government's Smart City mission taking firm roots in some of the Indian cities, the authors share their learnings and experiences of how a Smart City Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) can be extended to become the nerve centre of pandemic-related operations and management, leveraging the Smart City IoT infrastructure such as surveillance cameras for monitoring and enforcement. The authors are of the opinion that the lessons learned and experiences gained from these cities are extremely valuable and can easily be replicated in other cities in a relatively short time period, thus providing a standard and uniform method across the nation for handling epidemics in the future.

Three decadal urban drought variability risk assessment for Indian smart cities

Purpose Smart cities are an attempt to recognize the pioneering projects designed to make the cities livable, sustainable, functional and viable. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate funding released by the government city wise and sources available for finance for the development of the smart cities. The impact of fund released by the government for the development of smart cities (Chandigarh, Karnal, Faridabad, Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Delhi, Lucknow and Agra) in India has been studied in detail. Urbanization is a continuous process, which is taking place throughout the globe, especially in developing countries like India. Design/methodology/approach The research is descriptive in nature. The sources of funding for smart cities in India have been taken into consideration, and χ2 test of independence has been employed to study the impact of fund released by the government for smart city development in India by using IBM SPSS. Findings The total investment, area-based projects, pan-city initiatives and O&M costs for smart cities ranged between Rs 133,368 and Rs 203,979 lakh crores, Rs 105,621 and Rs 163,138 lakh crores, Rs 26,141 and Rs 38,840 lakh crores, and Rs 1,604 and Rs 1,999 lakh crores, respectively, in the year 2016 (for 60 smart cities) to 2017 (for 99 smart cities), which shows an increasing trend. The investment in retrofitting projects, redevelopment projects, greenfield projects and area-based projects ranged between Rs 94,419 and Rs 131,003 lakh crores, Rs 8,247 and Rs 23,119 lakh crores, Rs 2,955 and Rs 8,986 lakh crores, and Rs 105,621 and Rs 163,138 lakh crores, respectively, in the year 2016 (60 smart cities) to 2017 (99 smart cities), which shows the division of projects funding for smart city development in India. The funding released for smart city development such as other sources, loans from the financial institution, private investment, convergence, state government share funding and Central Government Funding ranged between Rs 14,828 and Rs 15,930 lakh crores, Rs 7,775 and Rs 9,795 lakh crores, Rs 30,858 and Rs 43,622 lakh crores, Rs 25,726 and Rs 43,088 lakh crores, Rs 27,260 and Rs 45,695 lakh crores, and Rs 29,207 and Rs 47,858 lakh crores, respectively, in the year 2016 (60 smart cities) to 2017 (99 smart cities), which reflects the different sources of funding for the development of smart cities in India. The χ2 test of independence has been applied, which shows that there is no impact of fund released by the government on cities for smart city development in India as the p-values of Chandigarh (0.213), Karnal (0.199), Faridabad (0.213), Pune (0.199), Chennai (0.213), Ahmadabad (0.199), Kanpur (0.199), Delhi (0.199), Kolkata, Lucknow (0.213) and Agra (0.199) are greater than 0.05. Research limitations/implications For the Smart Cities Mission to be financially sustainable, the right policy and institutional framework should be implemented for modernization and aggregation of government landholding. Consolidation of all the landholdings under the smart city project should be properly implemented, and the role of private sectors should be encouraged for public‒private partnership projects to make Smart City Mission more successful. Practical implications The benefits of smart cities development will help provide affordable, cleaner and greener housing infrastructure for all, especially the inclusive group of developers belonging to the lower middle-income strata of India, and the benefits will be replicated when adopted on a smaller scale in the rural part of the country. Originality/value The research paper is original and χ2 test has been used to study the impact of fund released by the government for smart city development in India.

The Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in which the SDG 11 promotes inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and human settlements; SDG 7 encourages efforts to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all and SDG 12 ensures sustainable consumption and production patterns. For achieving these goals, various models have been experimented amongst which Circular Economy (CE) is one of the economic models facilitating key policy objectives for generating economic growth and reducing environmental impacts. In economies, cities are focal points of strengthening the transition of linear to a circular economy by smart practices towards a regenerative system. By consuming the assets at their highest utility, there will be an increase in economic resilience of the city and its citizens. The Smart Cities (SCs) and Smart Cities Mission (SCM) of India, Make in India, Digital India, and the Swachh Bharat Mission has potential to integrate CE principles in a pronounced way to pave the way towards a circular transition. To fulfill the SCs objectives, Indian cities have been integrating smart practices (like waste management, e-governance, and smart mobility) with circularity. For the challenges faced by the cities from the design until the implementation phase, circular economy calls for a refit in resource management. These would require policy-level reforms, institutional capacity building, uplifting infrastructure, and financing mechanisms. In India, there is already an existing repair and refurbish culture with strong local traditions integrating the 6Rs. The paper reviews the role of CE in Indian SCM for achieving SDGs by finding opportunities for circular economy and providing recommendations based on them. A matrix has been developed between the ReSOLVE framework and the opportunities of CE in cities. The SCM has increased the pace of transition, yet the recommendations are given to implement the CE principles efficiently.

Major urban corridors in Indian cities are carrying significantly high traffic leading to near saturated conditions for extended peak hours. As mixed landuse and major trip attracting/generating establishments are generally observed to be located along such corridors for better accessibility, significant side friction is also observed along these corridors. Among various measures to improve the throughput along such corridors, signalized intersections seem to be the most preferred intervention for intersection control. Although frequent occurrence of such traffic signals and non-coordinated signal phases have in turn made the whole situation more complex. To overcome this challenge, variations of smart signals are being proposed by technology and traffic enterprises globally. Generally, smart interventions in operation of signalised intersections require communication among vehicles and control system through various sensors and applications of Intelligent transport services (ITS). Smart signal operations require the sensors grouted in pavement or attached with camera to share the relevant data in real time basis with central command and control centre. With adaptive signal operations, it is attempted to schedule signal phases in such a way that green phase of every cycle generally experiences near saturated flow conditions. The smart cities mission (SCM) of India, covering around 100 cities also focuses upon improving the urban mobility through various measures including smart signals. Some of the popular proposals relating to smart operation of signalised intersection across shortlisted smart cities include adaptive and coordinated traffic signals. It is understood that traffic signal optimization is not a one-time action but rather a continuous process, as data archiving, data crunching, research and adaptations are indispensable for its success. As the geometry, location and setting of each intersection in every network is bound to be unique, the optimization process needs to consider the same. The literature and case study of Indian city Bhubaneswar (ranked first in nationwide smart city challenge) revealed that challenges specific to Indian driving conditions are major cause of worry for yielding stated benefits of smart signals. Factors like varying hierarchy and functions along major arterial corridors, fluctuating carriageway width and quality, considerable side friction within right of way, heterogeneity in vehicular mix, significant variation in peak hour directional flows leading to tidal flow, surrounding network characteristics and efficacy of optimisation techniques are responsible for limited rewards out of the whole process. The study reflects upon these challenges and concludes with recommendations to improve the performance of signalized intersections along corridors with heterogeneous traffic conditions.

As a result of their rapid economic growth, several powerful corporate giants have emerged in developing countries, especially in China, operating not only in the traditional manufacturing sector, but also in high-tech industries and finance. Major cities in developing countries have gradually become important command and control centres of the global economy, and have also become powerful enough to be in the same tier as major cities of developed countries around the world. In this paper, I examine the position of cities as command and control centres on the basis of the power of their headquartered corporations. The result shows that until 2012, New York, London, Tokyo, and Paris; i.e. the global cities, were the leading command and control centres. However, the gap between these global cities and Beijing gradually closed, and by 2015, the Chinese capital outranked all the global cities. The outstanding performance of Beijing-based corporations that operate in financial, energy, and construction services sectors is the driving force behind Beijing’s increasing global power. In addition, the leading position of the global cities as command and control centres has been threatened by the San Francisco-San Jose metropolitan region, a newly emerging economic hub in the United States.

Smart Cities Mission is one of the flagship programmes of the Government of India launched in 2015 with an aim to develop a total of hundred Smart Cities in different states of India. The primary objective of this programme is the urban redevelopment and retrofitting to make existing cities smart, sustainable, and citizen-friendly which will ultimately lead to economic growth and improvement in the quality of life. The Smart City Mission, however, lacks to incorporate resilience as one of its objectives. India is vulnerable to disasters of all types, ranging from earthquakes, floods, droughts to terrorist attacks. The risk of disaster is compounded in an urban area due to densely populated areas, lack of planned development, stress on existing infrastructure, socio-economic imbalance including others. The focus of this study is to develop a holistic resilience maturity model for a smart city in India that can be used to incorporate resilience in planning, development through a stage-wise maturity. This paper used three Indian Smart Cities—Chennai, Surat, and Pune, all of which are a part of the Rockefeller 100 resilient cities, as the basis of the study. A detailed analysis of the proposals of these three cities was carried out and based on the same a resilience maturity model was developed. Though Indian cities are studied, the maturity model can be applicable to other developing countries having similar smart cities.

India is at the forefront of Asia’s urban transformation, with its urban population projected to reach 814 million by 2050. The Smart Cities Mission (SCM), launched in 2015, aimed to modernise 100 cities by integrating smart technologies to enhance governance, infrastructure, and quality of life. Initially influenced by Western smart urban models, SCM implementation followed a top-down approach, yet over time, cities have adapted smart initiatives to local needs. At the same time, centralised projects such as Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCCs) shaped early implementations, decentralised, community-driven adaptations have gained prominence. Cities like Bhubaneswar, Indore, and Varanasi have prioritised inclusive urban services, including transportation, sanitation, and cultural heritage conservation. Despite significant achievements, future smart urbanism must prioritise smaller cities, marginalised communities, and ecological sustainability. Emphasising participatory governance, gender-sensitive planning, and nature-based solutions can foster a more inclusive, equitable, and resilient urban future for India.

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There is a growing consensus that the initiatives taken under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in India should be used as an opportunity to prepare models for Environmentally Sustainable Smart Cities (ESSC). While developed countries have earlier worked towards Sustainable Cities and now are moving towards Smart Sustainable Cities, the conditions in developing countries are different. In their current form, SCM guidelines appear to emphasize more on social and economic development along with governance issues using modern tools of information and communication technology (ICT). To ensure environmental sustainability of such large-scale development planning, after a two-stage screening process, 24 environmental indicators have been finalized (including 11 from the existing guidelines), which can be used to monitor various environmentally sustainable elements of smart cities. Accordingly, in the present study; a tentative framework has been developed using these indicators to arrive at a Smart City Environmental Sustainability Index (SCESI) on a 0–100 increasing scale, and the city’s environmental sustainability has been classified under five categories: Excellent; Good; Fair; Poor or Critically Low; based on decreasing SCESI. Using this framework, five Indian cities, which are currently being developed under SCM (Delhi; Patna; Allahabad; Varanasi; and Bhubaneswar), have been examined. The analyses indicate that while three of them (Delhi, Allahabad, and Bhubaneswar) are found in the Fair (SCESI = 40–60) category of environmental sustainability, two (Varanasi and Patna) are in the Poor (SCESI = 20–40) category. The SCESI developed may be used as a monitoring and diagnostic tool for planning and managing services connected with the environment surrounding human life.

PurposeDespite striving for resilience and a sustainable urban future, European cities face a multitude of crisis caused by both natural and human-induced risks. This paper asks two key questions: How have cities experienced and managed crises situations they encountered? and What are the plans and actions for embedding sustainability at a local level within a clear decision-making structure? Hence, it aims to examine urban resilience in the context of urban crisis and the associated health concerns that took place because of crisis situations, while identifying sustainable urban development initiatives and strategies that were conceived and implemented beyond crisis.Design/methodology/approachAn evidence-based analytical approach is undertaken following two lines of inquiry. The first is case-based and identifies 11 cities that have experienced crisis situations and a further 10 cities that have instigated urban resilience strategies. The second is theme-based and engages with identifying strategies relevant to sustainable urban development at city and project levels. The outcomes of the two lines of inquiry are verified by mapping the lessons learned from the analysis to recent international guidance and a further co-visioning workshop with 6 experts.FindingsThe evidence-based analysis reveals key lessons which were classified under two primary types of findings: (a) lessons learned for a future urban resilience resulting from the 1st line of Inquiry (case-based) and (b) lessons learned for a future sustainable urban development resulting from the 2nd line of inquiry (theme-based). The verified lessons provide four areas that can be utilised as key priorities for future urban resilience and sustainable urban development including (a) Governance, effective communication, and decision making for city resilience and urban sustainability; (b) the social dimension of resilience and participatory practices for sustainable urban development; (c) from implicit strategies for health to positive impact on health; and (d) diversification of initiatives and localisation of sustainable development endeavours.Research limitations/implicationsThere is always limitation on what a bibliometrics analysis can offer in terms of the nature of evidence and the type of knowledge generated from the investigation. This limitation manifests in the fact that the analysis engages with the body of knowledge but not based on engaging physically or socially with the contexts within which the cases took place or through empirical investigations including systematic observations, focused interviews, and attitude surveys. While the study does not generate empirical findings, the rigour of the bibliometrics analysis offers a credible and reliable evidence on how cities experienced and managed crises situations and their current plans and priority actions for embedding and localising sustainable development measures.Practical implicationsThis research conveys significant implications for policy, practice, and action in that it crystalises the view that understanding urban resilience and sustainability, at the city or urban level, requires coupling the two. The findings offer a solid foundation for a more contextualised, evidence-based examination of urban resilience and sustainability during and beyond crisis. Highlighting urban and health challenges that emerged from experienced crisis situations, how these were managed and developing an understanding of sustainable urban development and local resilience strategies elucidate insights that can be adopted and acted upon by city councils and built environment practitioners.Originality/valueThe analysis provides comprehensive insights into urban resilience and sustainable urban development at both city and continental Europe scales in the form of key lessons that represent the first step towards developing rudiments for building a better urban future. Little is known about resilience and sustainability at these scales. The originality of this work lies in the breadth and depth for capturing an inclusive understanding of urban resilience and sustainable urban development based on systematic inquiry and scrutinising the body of knowledge emerged over the past 2 decades.

Abstract. A city is a geographic entity and should be efficiently analysed and optimised through the use of geo-spatial technology. The certification for a city to be ‘Smart’ is measured on the basis of the liveable index, adequacy of water supply, assured supply of electricity, proper sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility, public transport, affordable housing, robust information technology connectivity, transparent and good governance, safety and security of citizens, modernised health and education infrastructure and citizen participation which will lead to sustainable development. Smart Cities require a perfect balancing of modernisation of city infrastructure and leveraging technology. Smart cities require Geo-smart mapping and visualization capabilities with applications for protecting groundwater resources, locating schools and health centres, locating garbage dumps and toilets, designing bus routes. The indigenously developed integrated platform of GIS, Image Processing, Photogrammetry and CAD, called IGiS has been leveraged by Scanpoint Geomatics Limited, Ahmedabad (SGL), India for implementing the Enterprise GIS for 7 smart cities in India. A centralised geo spatial database with a standard data model compliant set of maps/layers has been created for each city. The spatial layers are derived from 30cm resolution satellite data. Point data (locational information) is generated using DGPS surveys. The city assets are geographically mapped at a scale of 1:2000 and organised in a spatial database. Inputs required for operations and maintenance of every utility/facility are geo tagged and stored in the database. Web & Mobile GIS applications & Citizen portal are developed using the indigenous platform. Integration with other e-governance applications and spatial layer requirements of the Integrated Command and Control Centre are supported through RestAPI & OGC compliant web services. SGL’s Mobile GIS framework named Qpad comes handy for spatial data verification. IoT devices are used to gain insights for real-time handling of critical situations or emergencies. Having laid the foundation for driving smart cities in terms of the spatial database at a scale of 1:2000, the stage is set to look forward to the results. Plugging revenue leakages, better traffic management, information at a click during peak of the Corona pandemic, effective usage of open spaces and barren areas, planning the utility requirements by the corporation to accommodate for the urban explosion is the kind of harvest that is anticipated with abated breath. This paper demonstrates the suitability and capability of the indigenously developed common platform for image processing and GIS (IGiS Enterprise Suite) in building Smart City Applications and quantifying the results.