What Makes Indian Cities Smart? A Policy Analysis of Smart Cities Mission

Abstract

Despite widespread practices worldwide and increasing research centred on smart urbanism, there is no universal definition for ‘smart cities’. More importantly, a growing line of research warns about the north-centric notion of smart city research which underestimates the fast rate of uptake in the global South. In a search for a contextually informed definition of smart cities, the paper focuses on India: Home to one-third of the global South population, and the cradle of the ambitious Smart City Mission to develop 100 smart cities nationwide. It investigates the Smart City Proposals (SCPs) prepared for the first 20 smart cities prioritised, as part of the Mission. Findings offer a typology of smart city approaches; and shed light on the smart dimensions prioritised (e.g. smart governance, smart citizen and smart infrastructure) versus those overlooked (e.g. smart environment and smart economy) at the smart city policymaking level in India. The paper calls for further empirical research to investigate how the typologies pan out at the implementation of smart cities across the nation.