What makes a Smart City- New, New Delhi!!!

We need visionaries for our city to be transformed into a Smart City, not really putting focus on a concrete jungle, but going little steps forward and thinking about how technology can be used to transform the lives of the citizens. When I am referring to citizens, I am referring not only to those citizens like me who live in the city, but also to the companies who are part of the city. We need to have a social dream, which is to transform the city in a generation’s time through technology. Hopefully this is the only way to create a sustainable model of living.

Objective of a smart city is to Improve citizens’ quality of life and stimulate new Smart City economy including smart water, smart buildings, smart energy, smart parking, and more. Strategy is to Use new ICT (Information and communications technology) technologies cross- directionally to transform the city. It would require Citywide sensors to capture vital information for smart water, smart lighting, and smart energy management projects

Let us see what actually makes Barcelona a Smart City:

Smart City Barcelona seeks to efficiently provide city services at multiple levels to all citizens by harnessing information and communications technology (ICT) through development and implementation of the Barcelona Smart City Model. The model identifies 12 areas under which Smart City projects are initiated: environmental, ICT, mobility, water, energy, matter (waste), nature, built domain, public space, open government, information flows, and services. Currently, the city has 22 major programs and 83 separate projects that fit into one or more of these 12 areas. Some of these projects include smart lighting, smart parking, smart water management, and smart waste management.

Barcelona currently has more than 500 kilometers of fiber-optic network, development of which began more than 30 years ago when the city networked two municipal buildings with optical fiber. It was upon this initial network that current Smart City efforts were established. In 2012, the city government structured its Smart City projects under the umbrella of “Smart City Barcelona.” In addition to implementing smart technologies, the city has also utilized these connectivity projects to deliver coordinated services across departments. This has helped to eliminate departmental silos and improve the resident experience in Barcelona.

The Barcelona Municipal Institute of Information Technology, played a key role in this initial organizational formation, which emphasized involvement of the government, residents, and the business community in developing and shaping the city’s technological initiatives.

Barcelona is currently using an open tender procurement process to identify a developer to build what the city calls its City OS(operating system). This operating system will sit atop the city’s established network of sensor technology to collate and analyze data that is collected across the network. City officials envision this OS as an open platform working across the various specific smart technology projects operating in the city. The city sees this platform as the key to unlocking IoE(Internet of Everything) benefits associated with data analytics and predictive modelling.

The seed for Barcelona’s Smart City program began more than 30 years ago when the city first installed fiber-optic lines to connect two municipal buildings. Since that time, the city has continued to develop its fiber-optic network. In 2011, began a comprehensive Barcelona Smart City program. The first overarching goal was to improve efficiency of city services and to address sustainability and environmental concerns. Second was to transform the lives of the citizens and the companies who are part of the city.

The Barcelona Smart City program aims to provide city services at multiple levels to all citizens based on the use of Internet and telecommunications technology. Underlying Barcelona’s approach to its Smart City efforts is the idea that the city functions as a “network of networks.” A blueprint was established to connect the different city- affiliated “networks” — for example, transportation, energy, and technology. One key step has been the establishment of a Smart City Strategy team within the mayor’s office. This office is charged with promoting and coordinating Smart City application development throughout the city organization. This senior-level political support has been crucial to Barcelona’s ability to develop its Smart City projects. Increased government transparency has also been a critical component of the Barcelona Smart City strategy, helping city officials communicate and explain why they are developing new smart applications or publicly sensitive solutions, such as newly reconfigured bus routes. This has been helpful in gaining public support for projects, especially in a difficult fiscal environment.

For implementing Smart City project successfully for New Delhi, the political desire to examine and create a Smart City is vital. Smart city initiatives are required with leaders from around the country who clearly embrace the movement and are in positions to make positive changes. No one else but these are the people who can make it a success, others can just dream and write about it. It is only possible with top-down political vision, we can start thinking bottom-up, but the big, final push will be at the political level. If we don’t have political willingness, it is impossible. Coordinating across the various city departments shall be a great challenge.

The key to success shall of course be the top-level support from the CM, which shall help to cut through various layers of city bureaucracy and bring departments together. The city will also have to adapt to dealing with large multinational companies that may not be accustomed to working at the municipal/ local level. Partnering with key technology firms shall be a crucial part of developing New Delhi’s Smart City capabilities. All these developments cannot be done only by the city; we shall have to follow a strong and well-thought-out public/private partnership approach in which government has to encourage for both large and small private sector participants. Lot of food for thought as of now shall cover more details in next post!!

What is a Smart City ?

Understanding a Smart City. This year June, we had a family holiday in Barcelona, little did I know till then that we were visiting not only a Smart City but also the world’s first Smart City.

The Smart City is a new concept, defining a city that works to improve the quality of its citizens' lives by guaranteeing sustainable social, economic and urban development. A smart city is based on the use and modernisation of new information and communication technologies (ICT), to provide more efficient management of the city's services and resources.

The smart city concept means the development of a city with a higher quality of life. It is a broad concept integrating many of the interacting areas of a city: from mobility, energy and environment to governance. A type of city that is more liveable, functional, competitive and modern through the use of new technologies, the promotion of innovation and knowledge management, bringing together 6 key fields of performance: the economy, mobility, the environment, citizenship, quality of life and, management.

Smart city is a city in which all the initiatives are aimed at improving the quality of life, the sustainability and the efficient management of services, innovating with technology in materials, resources and models. Smart cities should be regarded as systems of people interacting with and using flows of energy, materials, services and financing to catalyze sustainable economic development, resilience, and high quality of life; these flows and interactions become smart through making strategic use of information and communication infrastructure and services in a process of transparent urban planning and management that is responsive to the social and economic needs of society.

Smart city uses new technologies to make it more efficient, functional, competitive, modern and liveable for its citizens. Underlying characteristics of the city, its old heritage and culture, have to be integrated as a part of the new development, this facilitates its evolution into a smart city and as a destination (i.e. the starting position of the city). Projects and policies put in place by the various city stakeholders, which act in the right direction for a future evolution into a smart city.

SMART CITY IMPROVES QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ITS CITIZENS ACROSS THE WHOLE OF SOCIETY. A SUSTAINABLE AND SELF-SUFFICIENT CITY NOURISHED BY INNOVATION AND NEW TECHNOLOGY.

In practice, a smart city has the capacity to meet the needs of its citizens (in terms of the environment, mobility, businesses, communications, energy and housing) and it thereby improves their daily lives. It is a city that facilitates the interaction of its citizens with its administration; where open information is available in real time; and where it is possible to be enterprising. Smart city is definitively a place that supports and fosters personal and business development.

Our PM, Mr. Narendra Modi has announced and given the vision of such smart cities in India, and New Delhi shall also be one of these projects in times to come. We associate ourselves with the dream project of our PM and look forward for its turning into a reality. It would require lot of efforts and above all the innovation, involvement and participation of each Delhiite’s in its own unique way. 

A city that wishes to aspire to being a truly Smart city must develop all of its key areas (transport, energy, education, health, waste management, security, economy…) simultaneously and transversally. Essentially the following three ideas establish the criteria that differentiate a Smart City:
• Efficient management of services and resources
• New tools and places for people, groups and institutions to interact with each other
• 
Use and integration of new technologies (ICT)

Some key elements on Barcelona ́s Smart City strategy-
Some learning’s from Barcelona ́s experience:
1. Government, Mobility, website for procedures and council services (Virtual office of the City Council).
2. “Open Data Multi-ayuntamiento”, a common site for the data diffusion of each municipality
3. Fiber optic installation in the whole city
4. Establishment of a public bicycle sharing system
5. Promotion of the electric car through the development of the necessary infrastructure (e.g. charging points)
6. The impulse of economic advantages (e.g. subsidies for the circulation tax)
7. Sensors to facilitate the parking search.
8. Free public Wi-Fi (the biggest network in Spain and one of the biggest in Europe)
9. Free Wi-Fi service for the users of the three railway stations of the Generalitat in the Eixample district
10. Intelligent traffic lights, with audio for blind people
11. Optimized traffic control through sensors for flow control
12. Trash containers sensors that optimize the collection routes
13. IT equipment for safety

14. First electric bus in Spain
15. “Manzanas autosuficientes” project: a new model for the construction and rehabilitation of buildings aimed at more energy autonomy and a more sustainable management.
16. Touristic guides through apps (e.g. Official Guide to BCN, Barcelona Restaurants, official audioguides, iBarcelona-Smartour, etc)
17. Touristic buses with Wi-Fi
18. Underground transport system guides, such as Barcelona Metro AR and Barcelona Metro
19. Augmented reality apps linked to the touristic buses
20. Videomapping sessions in emblematic buildings
21. Public-private collaboration
22. Vision and Long term Strategy
23. An integrated approach to drive change within the City Council organisation
24. Innovation and citizen ́s involvement
25. International promotion

If experts are to be believed, Spain has come forward to assist in transforming Delhi into a Smart City and a MoU may be signed shortly between the two countries accordingly. We look forward for a Barcelona in New Delhi.