There is no Chennai without Chennaiites. Hence by definition, for a 'Smart Chennai', it is therefore the citizens who are vital in determining whether or not the project turns out successful and effective.
A. Shankar, National Director & Head (Operations), Strategic Consulting, Jones Lang Lasalle, one of the project consultants who helped prepare a Rs 1,366 crore proposal to convert Chennai into a smart city and which included an area development proposal for T Nagar, is of the opinion that the smarter a city becomes, the greater will be its dependence on equally efficient, smart citizens.
In an interview, Shankar tells us why external factors cannot stop the transformation of Chennai into a smart city and how citizen participation is necessary to keep it that way.
Q How are 'smart citizens' integral to the success of a smart Chennai?
A: A city is a reflection of how its citizens perceive it, and a smart city actually is how a city behaves as an innovative ecosystem. A smart citizen is one who has civic sense and respects the law. Without smart citizens, the Smart City proposals will hold good only for documentation and not implementation. But also, with the implementation of smart projects, there will be a lot of technological advancements that come with it. Citizen participation ensures citizen satisfaction, which in turn ensures maximum efficiency of the proposed technology.
Q What role does a local body play in educating or creating that awareness among citizens?
A: It is the responsibility of the Special Purpose Vehicle, which will have local body officials, elected representatives, citizen participants and also a private entity who may be investing in one of the proposed projects, to create awareness among the citizens.
Citizen education ideally should happen in three stages. The first stage is over, this happened during preparation of proposal. The second stage will be during implementation and the final stage will have to be during the process of implementation. Because, the entire smart city plan cannot be implemented in one go. So, when it is executed in phases, it is important to keep the citizens engaged through the course.
Q What are the technological advancements that citizens have to learn/get used to?
A: The first part of technological interface will be of use to the authorities, say, an engineer trying to figure out a pipeline leak or a higher official tracking the waste management system. The second part is the one which will benefit the end user. For instance, logging into figure out if there is an open parking slot available in T Nagar and if it is on road or off road etc.
Imagining out-of-the-world technological advancement is not sound because that is not what we are trying to do here. The major problem with all Indian cities is that they lack basic infra. So, to apply technology on top of it will be very difficult. Most developed countries and its cities are strong on ground level infrastructure. That is why they are able to reap maximum benefits with the application of technology. For Indian cities to reach that level, it will be a long drawn out process.
Q As with any long drawn out process, there is some pessimism surrounding execution of smart city.
A: One thing is certain. If Chennai doesn't become a smart city, it will at least become an uber city. Meaning, some sort of development has to happen and will happen too. There is a lot of private investment that is going into some of the projects included in the smart city proposals as well as in terms of real estate and industrial expansion.
So, transformation will happen even if there is a change in political scenario. Because, as we found out during the proposal stage, cities are competing. Bengaluru is fighting it out with Chennai on a variety of fronts be it life style wise or in the race to develop global living standards. We are, as one would say, at the crossroads of urbanisation and where city management without technology is just not possible.
