KL-SMARTCITY

Need to make smart city mission citizen-centric felt
Kochi, Sep 20 (PTI) There is a need to transform Indias
smart city mission into a 'citizen-centric system' like in
many foreign countries to ensure greater public participation,
former secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development M
Ramachandran said on Friday.
Inaugurating the 'Smart City Workshop: Sustainable
Urban Development' here, he said the purpose of a smart city
was improve the quality of life of its people.
He said such an endeavour should provide clean
environment, jobs and and safety.
Ramachandran said the public transport systems in the
country were inadequate and providing smart transport
solutions was a big challenge to the government and
policy-makers.
He emphasised the need for a comprehensive planning in
all aspects to create better cities with smart solutions to
solve the problems.
    The conference was organised by Heidelberg University
(Germany), Observer Research Foundation, School of Planning
and Architecture and IMPRI in Delhi in collaboration with the
Centre for Public Policy Research, Kochi.
    It was supported by Friedrich Naumann Foundation for
Freedom.
    Senior Fellow, ORF, Rumi Aijaz stressed that whatever
be the goals or how smart are the technological solutions, it
is the awareness of the people which is the key to success of
the smart city mission.
    Former Mayor of Kochi K J Sohan said only
rationalisation of public transport system can make the smart
city mission in cities like Kochi a success
    The day-long conference had sessions on smart
governance: inclusive cities, built environment: planning
and design, mobility and natural resources management.
     Policy-makers, planners, experts and scholars besides
members of the general public attended the conference. PTI TGB
NVG NVG

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)