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Welcome toSmart Cities, Smart Urbanization Event
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), organized a series of events pursuant to the clarion call given by Hon'ble Prime Minister to commemorate 75th anniversary of India's Independence as Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM). The conference Smart Cities, Smart Urbanization organized during 18-20 April 2022 at Surat (one of India's leading Smart Cities) portends to be a watershed event - a confluence of ideas, innovations and partnerships to inform the future trajectory of smart urban development in India.
Focused on five sub-themes viz. Reimagining Public Spaces, Digital Governance, ClimateSmart Cities, Innovation and Smart Finance, the conference disseminated the learnings from Smart Cities to other cities and towns of the country.
Digital governance emphasized the importance of data and technology for improved urban governance and service delivery. Nationwide activities were conducted to promote use of open data and geospatial technologies for solving pressing challenges. The Digital Governance space at the Smart Cities, Smart Urbanization expo brought together some of the digital solutions that were conceptualized at the Mission and leveraged by cities for digital transformation. Multiple sessions and activities were conducted under the Digital Governance which led cities to unlock their data, enabled peer-to-peer learning across cities, created multi-layered partnerships, and empowered communities through the practice of 'Open Government'.
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The Innovation Pavilion hosted cutting edge solutions from leading startups in the urban tech sector, with interactive activities and sessions designed to aid in comprehension and awareness of programs, with a dash of gaming to make learning fun. The sessions promoted the usage of City Innovation eXchange (CIX) and the SmartProcure Guidelines, the Smart Cities Mission is pursuing the institutionalisation of innovation in smart cities.
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ClimateSmart Cities focused on discussions such as Collective Carbon Trading, Climate adaptation plan, strategies to promote climate actions and communicate climate-related risks and challenges. The sessions also discussed how Indian smart cities have successfully implemented projects to mitigate climate challenges by acknowledging their key role and building coordinated efforts.
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The Smart Finance theme focused on innovation in urban finance helping cities identify untapped sources of revenue. The section showcased an exhibition of 20+ successful and innovative PPP projects of Smart Cities Mission, a section with MUNIFY (where ULBs learned their budgets and understood finance overviews), Invest India Grid section, National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), and an Output and Outcome Monitoring Framework (OOMF) Clinic. 29 Global/National experts presented on diverse urban finance issues.
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The public realm defines the character of a city and gives birth to an identity that its people associate themselves with. In urban areas, it consists of streets, parks, playgrounds, forests, beaches, river- and lake-fronts, as well as public amenities like anganwadis, municipal schools, primary health centres, and service hubs like transit nodes. While many of them may fulfil basic utilitarian purposes, the way they are designed and planned, are not inclusive of needs of different genders, age groups, accessibilities – and thus remain underutilized or further accentuate societal divides. In a country like India, where nearly 50% of all residents live in inadequate housing, the public realm is of even more consequence.
Our public realm needs reimagination – not just in the way they are conceived, but also in the way they get implemented. To bring urgent attention to public spaces and sustainable mobility, we curated opportunities for learning by doing in cities across India through 'Placemaking Marathons' and through four transformative challenges - 'Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge', 'India Cycles4Change Challenge', 'Streets4People Challenge' and 'Transport4All Challenge'. Now at the conference are encouraging learning by experiencing through a pop-up 'Smart Neighbourhood-Amaro Padosh' created at the event venue, through a series of dialogues among city leaders and experts.