KOCHI: To ensure greater public participation, like foreign countries, there is a need to transform India’s Smart City Mission into a ‘citizen-centric system’, said Dr M Ramachandran, former secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development.
He was speaking while inaugurating the Smart City workshop on ‘Sustainable Urban Development’ in Kochi on Friday. “The purpose of Smart City is to improve the quality of life of its people in all aspects. Such an endeavour should provide a clean environment, give jobs to people and ensure safe cities,” he said, adding that the public transport systems in India are inadequate to meet the demands of people and providing smart transport solutions is a big challenge to the government and policy-makers.
The conference was organised by Heidelberg University (Germany), Observer Research Foundation (Delhi), School of Planning and Architecture (Delhi) and IMPRI (Delhi) in collaboration with the Centre for Public Policy Research (Kochi). It was supported by Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.
The sessions were mainly on ‘Smart Governance: Inclusive Cities’, ‘Built Environment: Planning and Design’, ‘Mobility’ and ‘Natural Resources Management’. It was participated by policy-makers, planners, experts and scholars.
Dr Pablo Holwitt, Resident Representative, Heidelberg University, Delhi branch office; Dr Rumi Aijaz, Senior Fellow, ORF; Former Kochi Mayor K J Sohan; P J Shaji, General Manager (water transport) of KMRL; G P Hari, Additional General Manager (Urban Transport); Chennai Smart City Ltd CEO Raj Cherubal; Dr Uday Shankar of IIT Kharagpur and Dr Joy Elamon, Director, Kerala Institute of Local Administration; were the key speakers.