Housing in Smart City - The Emperor has No Clothes

Abstract

The idea of ‘smart cities’ is being implemented in India through Smart Cities Mission (SCM). This paper, taking an example of Ahmedabad, critically assesses as to whether smart city, as conceptualised in global literature, would be achieved amidst lack of necessary data and land governance system necessary for planned city development on one hand and state support to rent-seeking and speculative real estate interests on the other. The case study is of Ahmedabad city, declared a smart city, essentially has only a small pocket of 2 km2 of area under the SCM, wherein the In-Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR) component of the Prime Minister’s Awaas Yojana (PMAY) is being implemented. This paper, therefore, presents the dynamics of smart cities in India, and how this global idea, is being implemented on one hand and how the PMAY’s ISSR component is being implemented on the other.