The World is growing at a rapid pace and the majority of the population are living in cities. But with growing demand, the cities also need to adapt to the citizens living in those cities. With this aim, Smart Cities Mission was launched by the Prime Minister on 25 June 2015. The main objective of the Mission is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment, and give a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’.

6th Smart Cities India Expo 2021

As India is one of the fastest-growing economies and the majority of the workforce is shifting towards cities. The Smart city mission is helping the nation to meet the growing demand with the help of technological advancement. To showcase the latest technological advancements and to talk about Smart cities and their future, the 6th Smart Cities India Expo 2021 under 28th Convergence India 2021 is undergoing in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The event started on 24th March and will conclude on 26th March 2021. 

Why Smart cities are the need of the Hour

Almost 31% of India’s population lives in urban areas and contributes 63% to India’s GDP. Therefore, building cities that are smart will contribute to our economy. India’s urban population needs comprehensive development of physical, institutional, social, and economic infrastructure. The development of ‘Smart Cities’ is a step in that direction. 

CEO & Whole-time Director (DLF Ltd.) Rajeev Talwar touched upon the factors that can have a positive impact on our overall housing development for the citizen. He said “Junctions are the best place to start the development in terms of housing as they are the connectivity and transport oriented development is what will change the whole scenario”

India is in its golden period for development- 37 years of demographic dividend

India’s working-age population (people between 15 and 64 years of age) has grown larger than the dependant population — children aged 14 or below as well as people above 65 years of age. This started from the tear 2018 and will last till 2055, or 37 years. This equation is also known as the demographic dividend.

The demographic dividend is considered as a correlation with an economic boost of a particular nation. Joint Secretary and Mission Director (Smart Cities Mission), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Kunal Kumar elaborated on this very concept in the inaugural session of the 6th Smart Cities India Expo 2021. 

Kunal Kumar said that “Majority of the economies in the world got a boost in their period of Demographic dividend like Japan, so we are in this period and are working towards the development of the nation.” 

One of the important elements of the developed economies is their cities. Kumar said “we should look at Smart cities as Softwares that can de be upgraded to its newest version. People usually look at Smart cities as a product but we need to realize that the concept of the smart city is different. A smart city is not a product. The Smart city uses Teacholnolgical advancements to connect people which can adapt to nature and are future-ready.”

Smart cities mission 2.0 will also be coming and will clever around 4,000 cities with more innovative ideas to cope with the growing demand of citizens in the cities and will reshape our current equation.