The Smart City Mission, launched in 2015, was aimed at giving Indian towns and cities a modern-day revival. These changes were not only cosmetic in nature, but encourage a systematic upheaval of urban infrastructure by way of remodelling, retrofitting older structures with new, and making way for digital infrastructure.

Indore is the second most populous city in Madhya Pradesh, with an average population of 30 lakh. Formerly a trading hub between Delhi and Deccan, Indore was a core commercial unit under the Maratha Holkar Empire. It is a commercial hub for various goods and services, houses two premier educational institutions – IIM and IIT, and even has India’s third oldest stock exchange. In recent times, Indore has been focusing on urban redevelopment. It has been ranked India’s cleanest city for four years in a row, from 2017 to date. The city was also among the first to be chosen as part of the Smart Cities Mission, and has been part of the Swacch Survekshan since 2016.

When Aditi Garg IAS became the CEO of Indore Smart City Development Ltd (SCDL) last year, she was excited thinking about the challenge that lay ahead of her. Primarily, her mandate involves retrofitting and redevelopment of Indore, but Garg is hopeful that the ever-growing reliance on technology will broaden the scope of urban redevelopment and allow for better integration with governments and technology solution providers.

“Smart city projects are not run-of-the-mill. They are complex, capital intensive, involve long gestation periods and rely on multiple agencies and stakeholders to succeed. On the other hand, our reliance on technology is more than we would like to let on. The way I see it, technology can be a dependable resource for consolidation of resources for civil redevelopment work.”

A Makeover for Indore's Iconic Landmarks

Garg has spearheaded several projects in her tenure as CEO of Indore SCDL, notable ones include the Chhappan Dukaan and Rajwada Palace. Chhappan Dukaan, which literally translates to 56 shops, is the food-street of Indore, attracting citizens far and wide everyday. The common perception is urban redevelopment work is subject to delays for various reasons, the brunt of which is largely borne by citizens. But Garg wanted to alter this perception. “We gave ourselves 56 days, to complete the Chhappan Dukaan project. And we did it!” she explains with pride. What helped her assimilate all the moving parts was not only effective project management, but harnessing the spirit of community in Indore. Being a resident of Indore herself, she understands the significance of resurrecting the city’s iconic symbols in a more sophisticated and chic manner – a style that upholds the grace of the bygone era and yet, incorporates the modernity of India’s rising middle class that nests in cities like Indore. Another milestone project was refurbishing the dilapidated Rajwada Palace. Built by the Maratha Holkars more than 200 years ago, and the pride of Indore, the seven-storied structure lay in neglect and ruin. “Each storey is uniquely designed, and the entire structure was so dilapidated that the walls were coming apart,” explains Garg. Using GIS and 3D maps, the team practically hemmed together the structure using generative images and began the reconstruction process.

(Chhappan Dukaan in Indore. Source: ISCDL)

Making History With Carbon Credits For Public Works Projects

One of her biggest successes was facilitating carbon credits for three eco-friendly projects, making Indore the first smart city in India to do so. “Urban works require a high level of investment, and there is no guarantee of immediate or medium term returns. We wanted to challenge this model, and figure out a way to monetize our projects for carbon credits.” Indore SCDL registered three projects - a bio-methanation plant, a compost plant and 1.5 MW solar plant, under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) programme of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The projects helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 1.7 lakh tonnes. With one tonne of carbon dioxide equalling one carbon credit, gross earnings received from these projects was paid at the rate of $0.05 per tonne. Now, Indore SCDL is helping other municipal bodies identify projects that could generate revenue through carbon credits. “Maybe there are ways AI can help us in this process – be it finding the right bidders, or projects that qualify for carbon credits. The possibilities are endless and we are keen to find such novel, technology-driven solutions to existing challenges in urban works.”

While reorganizing existing assets and supervising urban works is a fairly traditional process under civil works, Garg is optimistic about the use of technology for pan-city initiatives, such as tracking buses and public transport vehicles during peak hours on high transit routes and arterial roads; door to door garbage delivery and disposal, and other municipal tasks. In addition, work on developing a digital command centre or control centre, driven by data analytics is underway and will help monitor the city more adequately.

(A digitally repurposed image of Rajwada Palace. Source: ISCDL)

Why Digital And Data Is Key To Success of Smart Cities

As CEO of Indore SCDL, Garg believes the next leg of development and innovation in smart city management lies in harnessing digital tools. Indore was recently shortlisted in the G20 Smart Cities Alliance, under the aegis of the World Economic Forum, as a pioneer city. Indore shares this honour along with 35 other cities like London, Dubai, Toronto and Melbourne. “The work we have done so far has brought us to this global platform, but this also means we have to now level our efforts based on global standards to position Indore as a veritable hub for India. One of the main topics that get discussed in these meetings is the use of IoT, AI and data analytics to improve the reach of smart city goals,” she says. 

“We collect a lot of non-specific citizen data, but we require the skills and strategy to leverage citizen data for their benefit. Technologies like AI and IoT can hugely aid smart city planning. First, we need to start thinking of citizens as the key beneficiaries of governance services. If our resources can be realigned and corporate strategies for executing technology solutions can be adopted, it will have a sizeable impact on urban planning."  

While the promise of data analytics, IoT and AI is high in urban development, one of the fundamental challenges remains the availability of data. Lack of properly documented urban planning data can prove to be challenge to plan and execute long-term digital strategies. In addition, it is imperative to harness human capital for laying a digital framework – something other countries are heavily investing in and India should too.

By working together collaboratively, with inputs and strategies from technology leaders, it is possible to redevelop India’s cities with digital hues, she believes.