Empowering Urban Evolution: The Smart Cities Vision in India

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has made a recent announcement regarding the India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) 2022. This event is held as a part of the broader Smart Cities Mission (SCM). The contest has recognized and honored 66 winners across diverse categories.

Notably, Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Chandigarh have taken the lead in the ISAC 2022 awards. These cities have been acknowledged for their remarkable achievements in various aspects of urban development.

National Smart City Award:

Indore clinched the prestigious national smart city award, reflecting its remarkable strides in urban development strategies. Following closely were Surat and Agra. Indore's dedication to enhancing sanitation, water supply, and the urban environment earned it recognition as a front-runner in these critical domains.

State Award:

The state award was secured by Madhya Pradesh for its holistic approach in promoting smart city initiatives within its jurisdiction. Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan followed suit, demonstrating commendable efforts in this field.

Union Territory (UT) Award:

Chandigarh was bestowed with the UT award, acknowledging its relentless endeavors to shape itself into an exemplar of a smart city.

Other Categories:

• Coimbatore stood out in the built environment category.
• Ahmedabad excelled in the culture and Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) segment.
• Jabalpur showcased its prowess in the economy category.
• Chandigarh shone in governance and mobility.
• Indore led in sanitation, water, and urban environment domains.
• Vadodara was recognized for its achievements in social aspects.
• Hubbali Dharwad claimed the top spot in the innovative idea category.
• Surat's efforts in the Covid innovation category were highly appreciated.

What is ISAC:

The ISAC acknowledges and commends cities, projects, and innovative concepts that advance sustainable development within the 100 designated smart cities. It fosters cities that are not only driving inclusive, equitable, safe, healthy, and collaborative urban environments but also elevating the overall quality of life for their residents.

Having been held three times previously in 2018, 2019, and 2020, the fourth edition of ISAC was inaugurated in April 2022 during the 'Smart Cities-Smart Urbanization' event in Surat, Gujarat.

The ISAC 2022 awards incorporated a dual-phase submission process. The first phase, termed the 'Qualifying Stage,' encompassed a comprehensive evaluation of each city's overall performance. Subsequently, the 'Proposal Stage' required smart cities to nominate themselves for recognition in six distinct award categories.

These categories encompassed:

• Project Awards with ten diverse themes,
• Innovation Awards spanning two distinct themes,
• National/Zonal City Awards,
• State Awards,
• UT (Union Territory) Award, and
• Partners Awards with three varied themes.

Smart City Mission:

The Smart Cities Mission is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme that was launched in June 2015 with the objective of transforming 100 cities in India by providing essential core infrastructure and creating a clean and sustainable environment. This transformation is achieved through the implementation of "Smart Solutions" to ensure a decent quality of life for the citizens. The mission's primary focus is to fulfill the aspirations of India's urban population by undertaking various urban development projects.

Key Features:

• Area-Based Development: The mission's strategic components include area-based development, which involves retrofitting, redevelopment, and greenfield development to enhance cities. Additionally, a pan-city initiative is applied to cover larger parts of the city with smart solutions.
• Focus Areas: The scheme prioritizes the construction of amenities such as walkways, pedestrian crossings, cycling tracks, efficient waste management systems, integrated traffic management, and assessment mechanisms.
• Indices Tracking: The Smart Cities Mission evaluates multiple indices to monitor urban development progress. These indices include the Ease of Living Index, Municipal Performance Index, City GDP framework, and Climate Smart Cities assessment framework.

Achievements:

• Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCC): One of the major achievements of the mission is the establishment of ICCC in all 100 smart cities. These centers act as operational hubs for urban management, utilizing technology to enhance various aspects of city operations. ICCCs have notably improved crime tracking, citizen safety, transport management, waste management, water supply, and disaster preparedness.
• Sectoral Progress: The Smart Cities Mission encompasses projects across various sectors, including mobility, energy, water, sanitation, public spaces, social infrastructure, and governance.
• Smart Mobility: Completion of 1,174 projects.
• Smart Energy: Successful completion of 573 projects.
• Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH): Over 1,162 projects completed.
• Public Spaces: Development of more than 1,063 public spaces.

The Smart Cities Mission is a significant initiative aimed at transforming urban areas in India into more efficient, livable, and sustainable environments through innovative technological interventions and holistic urban planning.

The India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) 2022 stands as a testament to the remarkable strides made in urban development through the Smart Cities Mission. The recognition of cities, projects, and innovative ideas that foster sustainable growth is a vital step towards creating inclusive, equitable, and thriving urban environments. As we celebrate the accomplishments of Indore, Chandigarh, and other cities, we are reminded that the journey towards smart cities is a collective effort, rooted in the core principles of progress, innovation, and collaboration. With initiatives like ISAC and the broader Smart Cities Mission, India continues to pave the way towards a future where urban areas are not only technologically advanced but also enriched with quality of life for all its citizens. This positive trajectory promises to shape our cities into vibrant hubs of creativity, efficiency, and well-being.

City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain 2.0 (CITIIS 2.0)

Objective:

✓ Promote circular economy practices and integrated waste management at the city level.

✓ Implement climate-oriented reform actions at the state level.

Strengthen institutions and disseminate knowledge at the national level.

✓ Period of Scheme – The scheme will be implemented from 2023 to 2027 for a period of 4 years.

Components:

✓ Financial and technical support for climate resilience projects in 18 smart cities.

✓ Support for states and union territories in establishing climate centers, data observatories, and capacity building.

✓ Interventions to enhance climate governance at the central, state, and city levels.

Collaboration with:

✓ French Development Agency (AFD),

✓ Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW),

✓ European Union (EU), and

✓ the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)

Funding:

✓ Loan of Rs. 1,760 crore (EUR 200 million) from AFD and KfW.

✓ Technical assistance grant of Rs. 106 crore (EUR 12 million) from the EU.

Impact:

✓ Complements India's climate initiatives and contributes to sustainable habitat, urban development, and cleanliness missions.

✓ Aligns with India's commitments under INDCs and COP26.

Urban Flooding

Recently, many parts of Chennai have been flooded by heavy rainfall and faced a wide range of urban flood related issues repeatedly over last few years.

✓ Urban flooding is the inundation of property in a built environment, particularly in densely populated urban areas, caused by intense rainfall (on impermeable surfaces) which overwhelms the capacity of drainage systems.

✓ Urban flooding is significantly different from rural flooding as urbanization leads to developed catchments, which increases the flood peaks from 1.8 to 8 times and flood volumes by up to 6 times. Consequently, flooding occurs very quickly due to faster flow times (in a matter of minutes).

Why in spite of Chennai being a well-developed city faces issue of Urban Flooding:

✓Geographical reasons: low-lying topography, relatively flat terrain and close to sea-level.

✓Man-made reasons: Encroachment of wetlands for settlement and agriculture; Concretization leading to reduced percolation of rainwater; Wetlands clogged with sewage impacting their buffer role.

✓Politico-Administrative reasons: Lack of funding and functions with urban local bodies; Poor design and construction and inadequate carrying capacity of the city’s streets and storm-water drains; Lack of scientific Disaster management plans and roadmaps etc.

Impacts of urban flooding:

Socio- Economic impact:

✓ Damage to urban infrastructure and temporary disruption of utility services;

✓ Economic losses due to disruption in industrial activity and supply chains;

✓ Risk of epidemics due to spread of waterborne diseases;

✓ Can trigger mass migration or population displacement, especially of people in low lying areas etc.

Environmental: 

✓Destruction of biodiversity and wildlife habitats by floodwater and contamination of rivers and habitats.

Measures required to control urban flooding:

✓ Water-Sensitive Urban Design and Planning and a green infrastructure approach for stormwater management.

✓ Prepare drainage master plans for cities to augment stormwater infrastructure in cities.

✓ Integrating Flood mitigation plans (floodplain, river basin, surface water, etc.) within the overall land use policy and master planning of a city.

✓Participatory approach for a risk-based early action coordination among stakeholders to mitigate flood risks.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) guidelines on urban flood management:

✓ CWC (Central Water Commission) should maximize the real-time hydrometeorological network to cover all the urban centers in support of the emerging priorities in dealing with urban flooding.

✓ Doppler Weather Radars to be expanded to cover all urban areas in the country.

✓In situ flood management approaches should ensure community preparedness. This includes participatory urban flood planning and management involving both local government and the community.

✓ Stormwater drainage concerns will be made a part of all Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) norms.

✓National Urban Information System (NUIS) to cover infrastructure facilities at community level integrated with socioeconomic data.

Related concept: 

Flood plain zoning (FPZ):

✓FPZ is aimed at demarcating zones or areas likely to be affected by floods, and specify types of permissible developments in these zones, to minimize damage caused by floods.

> Floodplains are crucial for regulating flow of water in a river.

✓However, in recent years, floodplains have become sites for urban development resulting in alterations like increase in impervious surfaces, development in-filling on and near floodplain, construction of embankments etc.

FPZ policies in India:

✓ FPZ is within state government’s ambit as it is deals with land along the riverbanks and land is a state subject.

✓ Union Government circulated a Model Bill for Flood Plain Zoning (MBFPZ) which provides for surveys of floodplain area, notification of limits of floodplains, prohibition or restriction of the use of the floodplains etc

✓ National Disaster Management Guidelines for floods includes regulation of floodplains and enforcement of FPZ.

Government initiatives to tackle urban flooding:

✓Sponge Cities mission: It aims to promote positive interactions between socio-economic systems within the cityscape and with the urban water cycle to enhance local urban resilience, particularly in the face of increasingly volatile water-related disasters.

✓Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)

✓Flood management programme: It provides financial assistance to the state governments for undertaking flood management works in critical areas.

✓ Integrated Flood Warning system like IFLOWS-Mumbai: It is a state of art Integrated Flood Warning system for Mumbai which makes it possible to have an estimate of the flood inundation three days in advance, along with immediate weather updates.

Green Field Development V/S Brown Field Development

Greenfield Development :

Greenfield sites are often on the fringes & may have better access, with less traffic congestion, with a pleasant environment and extra space to sprawl. Large family houses with gardens are more likely to be able to be built on Greenfield sites. New sites are easier to construct on and is more attractive to retail parks, housing developers, etc. On the other side of the coin, using Greenfield sites is often not sustainable, as these sites take the core from towns and locate them on the fringes. In such sites new infrastructure has to be provided. Wildlife may suffer as many lose habitats, trees may have to be cut down, and history speaks that environmentalist protest to Greenfield developments.

Brownfield Redevelopment:

Brownfield redevelopment eases pressure on Greenfield sites and is more sustainable – it’s good to reuse land. House prices would increase in core city areas as people are encouraged back into the area. Infrastructure already exists in urban areas. New employment opportunities come up. New housing can lead to redevelopment (old housing – area becomes trendier & more affluent) so the neighbourhood will improve. Providing public transport networks is easier in central areas where the population densities are high – investment is focused in central areas. Towns & cities do not want their areas to decay – redevelopment results in more people coming to the area, which helps local businesses. Redeveloping Brownfield sites can bring a ‘dead’ area back to life. On the other side of the coin, increased house prices due to core city redevelopment might mean that local people cannot afford the houses, & the authority will have the problem of providing for them. Clearing rubbish from Brownfield areas is expensive. There may be an issue of contamination & making sites safe for development, given what the land may have been used for before. In cases of “Hyperlocal” neighbourhoods – all brownfield sites can have a usage in each locality for one or the other usage.

Role of E-Governance in Citizen Centric Services

Urban Local Bodies like Municipal Corporations, Municipalities or the Town Improvement Boards etc. are mandated to provide primary /basic services a city needs. Such bodies deliver services based on the needs of the people they serve. Urban Local Bodies  can increase public satisfaction and reduce costs in delivering the services. Tasks like Water Supply, Sanitation, Roads, Electricity, Parks and playgrounds, paying taxes and applying for benefits are the most tangible interactions citizens have with their government. Services are therefore critical in shaping trust in and perceptions of the public. Citizens today expect more transparent, accessible, and responsive services from the Govt. and the expectations are rising. 

Many ULBs have made efforts to improve service delivery through online portals like centralized call centers, but find they are still unable to meet the public’s expectations. Citizens complain and convey through several means including social media that they feel frustrated by cumber some procedures as well as confusing websites. They also resort to speak with multiple parties before their questions are answered or request is completed. As a result, governments/ ULBs face declining citizen satisfaction and lose the public trust. Conversely, the Government despite bearing increased costs fail to meet the public expectations. It is also a part of the problem is that despite their best intentions, many ULBs continue to design and deliver services based on their own requirements and conventional patterns instead of the needs of the people. Some local bodies have success fully implemented a customer-centric approach to service design and delivery.

Change does not happen over night. Identifying which services citizens find most problematic and measuring the extent of dissatisfaction is one way the municipal organization can prioritize areas for improvement. Transforming service delivery begins with understanding citizens’ needs and priorities. We may draw an interactive and proresponsive approach to better understand the needs, as Let citizens tell matters need most, Asking people which aspects of service delivery are most and need improvement is the first requirement. Most people will say every aspect is equally important but it is not always correct to assume. It infers that rather than asking citizens to rank the importance of different aspects, it will be in the fitness to listen as to what they want across the services. This method may provide more reliable insights into users’ needs and priorities. The Govt. may accordingly work on such aspects to first, know the sentiments of people and concentrate on the basic needs of the citizens.

Identify areas for customer satisfaction:

Resources vis-a-vis the citizens’ need and measures to achieve a balance are most important. It is well known that the money lies under the authority of the legislature. Nothing can be met if adequate funds are not earmarked for an aspect. Municipal councillors and Peoples’ representatives in the Government can find a balance between delivering high quality, responsive services and managing resources effectively by using citizen-satisfaction services to determine acceptable service levels. One way to do that is by identifying break points—the point at which delays or service shortfalls cause customer satisfaction to drop significantly. Using this technique there may be optimal chance to identify the citizen satisfaction.

Converging energy management and urban planning will play a crucial role in carving out a path for net zero emissions

✓ India is poised to become the world‘s most populous country in 2023. With such a thickly inhabited land, enabling infrastructural facilities becomes indispensable for fostering growth. 

✓ Recent data published by Central Electricity Authority (CEA) highlights that around 10,022 electrical accidents were reported and approximately 55 per cent of these were due to faulty electrical installations. 

✓ A possible solution to mitigate such losses is by adapting a strong approach towards integrating utility services that include electricity, gas supply, water supply, transport, etc. with urban planning, while keeping the security of its citizens at its core. 

✓ With costs being a major deciding factor in urban planning, integration of services is a possible solution to combat the cost vs quality trade-off. 

✓ As large-scale urbanisation is undertaken, converging energy management and urban planning will play a crucial role in carving out a path for net zero emissions. 

✓ With the help of integrating utility services, urban planning will offer higher efficiency, alignment between city planning and capital allocation, thereby, improving customer satisfaction as well as safety. 

✓ Considering the scale of India‘s geography and population, urban planning requires massive restructuring of policies in order to ensure a long-term, successful, sustainable, safe and secure future of its citizens.

Urban Hierarchy in India: An Analysis of Size-Class Distribution of UAs/Towns

As per the Population Census of India 2011, there were 7,933 individual cities and towns in India. This included 4041 statutory towns and 3,892 census towns. There were 474 urban agglomerations (UAs) and 981 outgrowths. If urban agglomeration is taken as a unit, there were 6,173 cities/towns and UAs in India. Based on the size of the population, the Census of India groups cities and towns into six size classes from Class I to Class VI. The urban areas which have a population above one 100,000 (100,000) are termed as cities while those which have a population less than one 100,000 are termed as towns.

The analyses on size-class distribution have been carried out taking UAs and cities/towns as opposed to individual towns and cities as a unit. Therefore, in this chapter, the urban frame constitutes 6,173 UAs and cities/towns instead of 7,933 individual cities and towns. Class I cities have a population above 100,000 (0.1 million). Towns are the sum of Class II, Class III, Class IV, Class V and Class VI towns, i.e. all those urban centres with a population of less than 100,000.

While there was an increasing concentration of urban population living in the metropolitan UAs/cities of India in the decade 2001–11 the proportion of urban population in non-metropolitan India and towns of India declined during the same decade (Table 4). The percentage share of population in metropolitan cities increased from 37.8 to 42.3 per cent in 2001–11.

Urbanisation in India is top heavy with 70.19 per cent population living in Class I UAs/towns in 2011. The main reason for a higher concentration of urban population in Class I UAs/towns is the real expansion of these UAs/towns due to the addition of new census towns and expansion of municipal boundaries. The pattern of population distribution across size-classes remained the same over the Census years with a decline in the proportional share of population in all size-classes except Class I. The 2011 Population Census shows a slight reversal of this trend in Class V and Class VI towns. These classes reported an increment in their proportional share of urban population. This is again due to the emergence of new census towns in these size-classes.

Components of Urban Growth:

There are four main components of urban growth in India, namely: a) natural increase, b) net rural-urban migration i.e. difference of rural-urban and urban-rural migration, c) net rural-urban reclassification i.e. reclassification of villages in towns and declassification of towns in villages, and d) jurisdictional changes or changes in municipal boundaries. In the present study, the last two components are merged together. It has been discussed in studies (Visaria, 1997; Bhagat and Mohanty, 2009; Bhagat, 2012) that natural increase, which was the most important component of urban growth in India, has lost its dominance since the 1970s with a corresponding increase in net rural-urban migration and net rural-urban reclassification which includes jurisdictional changes and outgrowths. During 2001–11, net rural-urban reclassification including jurisdictional changes emerged as the most important factor in urban growth, because of the unprecedented increment in the number of census towns.

Use of Technology in Urban Planning

Urban planning is the process of both developing and designing open land, urban areas, and the built environment. Urban Planning dated back its history since the town and cities have existed. Early city planning revolved around some essential and significant elements like building structures and bastions with fortification, and has experienced a huge change throughout the centuries. Urban planning is a many-sided process involving infrastructure like physical and social, utility systems, communication networks, distribution chains, and more. Urban planners, also known as city planners, design cities and create plans for future improvements and growth. The plans are in the form of a land use plan. These plans comprise things in an urban environment like streets, parks, public spaces, and more.

It has never been easy to make plans that address various city challenges holistically. Nevertheless, in the modern era, the rapid boom of Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence has more significant potential to incorporate diverse issues of city planning into a general platform, as well as leading to a better way to deal with the challenges of complexity. The use of Information Technology has helped urban planners in many aspects, especially with softwares based on GIS (Geographic Information System).

There are various urban planning apps that can be used by urban planners, and that use contemporary technologies as well as open data to build up comprehensive and lively spaces for inhabitants and commercial businesses. There are various planning tools which help in the urban design process and assist to generate areas that the population of a city needs. GIS in urban planning is becoming gradually more helpful over time. Initially, it had a huge cost, but now in today's world with open source data, many open source Various GIS softwares have come up as a free and open-source cross-platform desktop GIS application that supports the viewing, editing, printing, and analysis of various data and is freely available for all to use. With the help of GIS improved mapping along with locational attributes, this has been possible, which was missing in the earlier drawing and mapping software. GIS is being used in all the Government offices for record keeping, such as property mapping, utility services like water supply and sewerage networks for seeing the coverage of water supply and sanitation system; it is also used in Municipal Solid Waste Management to identify the zones in order to manage the MSW Management system. GIS is also used in network fo analysis by transport planners in order to analyse the road network, to identify the conflict points at various junctions, to identify the various road hierarchies, T etc. Various predictive models, like 3D models can be  made with the help of GIS through its tools, where 3D analysts help in assessing the topography of the town or city by making virtual models. These points help the city planners to analyse the various situations in the city and identify the problems, thus GIS helps in decision-making and policymaking decisions.

Urban planners, decision-makers, policymakers and the general public now have the means to envisage unconventional futures for their cities and regions. In contemporary time, we have moved away from complex and complicated computer architecture, or less important memory or storage devices in the 1950s and 1960s, where huge processor computers were used to process data, with punched cards or magnetic tapes serving as input and output, and at that time, the primary concern was a lack of hard disks. There were no developed operating systems like we have today. In today's time, there are considerable developments in 3D visualisations software as well as the ongoing evolution of analytical capacity of GIS.

There has been a great development and expansion in the accessibility of data and information resources. The speedy development of an information system has fed on hardware and software developments. These topologically correct line files, first used in the 1990 US Census, have proven invaluable to planners and analysts, representing a broad depiction of communities from the viewpoint of their roads and railways. There has been an unbelievable development in satellite imaging, with resolution as fine as one meter now available, thereby meaning that individual vehicles can be counted in a parking lot. The internet has shown immense potential for group interactions. The new technology involves all the stakeholders, ranging from communities, local residents, shopkeepers and NGOs in the development of a town or city. The Information Technology will help in analysing the perception of each stakeholder and providing solutions accordingly through the analysis of databases and their decisions.

Various apps, open source as well, are handy for maps to be used offline, site design-level apps which allow creating and editing the drawings on the phone, presenting 3D models on mobile phone. There are certain apps that allow collecting data in the field, analysing various aspects of the problem. There are certain apps to perform these functions as well, like collecting and accessing data wherever you are through photographs, videos, location and is available to the network of other team easily. There are apps which help planners to provide specific templates like transportation, sustainability, as well as accessibility on mobile and helps to make field reports and punch lists for planners, engineers, and architects with the help of onsite inspections, checklists, and photos. Reports are available on the tap of your mobile phone.

Technology may be used by urban planners to enhance their processes and build better urban areas where people can live and work. Urban planners can establish a database to get information about specific metropolitan regions using cloud technologies. Cloud computing technologies can also aid in the planning of bigger infrastructure projects. Internet: Urban planners may use the internet to create cities that are accommodating to distant workers. As a result, urban designs have better transportation alternatives and reduced traffic congestion.

Source: Yojana Magazine May 2023

Challenges to Urbanization in India

 

Uneven urbanisation: 

The distribution of urban centres and the pace of urbanisation is not uniform across the country. States such as Bihar, Odisha, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh continue to be at a lower level of urbanisation than the national average of 31.1%. Over 75% of the urban population of the country is in 10 States: Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Kerala.

Statutory Towns Growing Without ‘Master Plans’:

Master plans are critical for managing urbanisation. They are statutory instruments to guide and regulate the present and future urbanization (like utilisation of land, expansion, and zoning of cities for 20–25 years). According to the NITI Aayog Report, ~50% of India’s statutory towns are expanding without any master plan to guide their growth and infrastructure. Urban economic activity is growing rapidly in these towns but there is no local government responsible and accountable for infrastructure development or service delivery. They continue to be governed as villages and do not have an urban local body. Haphazard growth, unplanned construction, and ad-hoc provisioning of infrastructure, over a long period of time, will put them at major risks of urbanisation.

Even when master plans exist, there are several challenges during their implementation like delays, disputes in courts etc. Some master plans also get amended more than a thousand times during their implementation.

Sub-Optimal Utilisation of Urban Land: 

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) noted that paradoxically congested land parcels of high population densities co-exist with vast parcels of under-utilized lands. A major reason for this is the fragmented and poorly recorded ownership of urban land. Moreover, multiple public sector organizations/agencies (ports, railways, ULBs, etc.) own land under their jurisdictions. This hinders holistic planning and development. Non-optimal utilization creates scarcity of land which raises land price and reduces space for affordable housing.

Magnitude of Population Living in Slums: 

According to Census 2011, 17.3% of the total urban population was under slums in India and about 70% of this slum population was concentrated in 6 States: Maharashtra (18.1%), Andhra Pradesh (15.6%), West Bengal (9.8%), Uttar Pradesh (9.5%), Tamil Nadu (8.9%) and Madhya Pradesh (8.7%). The proportion of slum population is rapidly rising. Lack of affordable housing is contributing to creation and expansion of slums.

Increasing Risk of Water Scarcity in Cities: 

The World Wide Fund for Nature India (2020) has found that Indian cities dominate current and future lists of global cities with the highest overall water risk. This situation is further exacerbated by the lack of adequate infrastructure in cities and towns to handle their own wastewater and solid waste. NITI Aayog in its Composite Water Management Index noted that hunt for additional water resources to sustain Indian cities will lead to “serious harm to the country’s biodiversity, environment, and ecological balance” (2019).

City Planning for Disaster Mitigation: 

The aspect of disaster mitigation is missing in growth of Indian cities. NITI Aayog notes that the way urban areas are planned, developed, and managed; can create long lasting impacts on the local water availability and vulnerability to disasters. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs in its report observed that the encroachment of lakes and riverbeds had played a major role in urban flooding in Chennai.

Pressures on Coastal Habitations: 

The coastal cities are home to 14% of the population in India and are vulnerable to floods due to multiple causes, that include faulty urban design and planning, dynamic coastline, flash floods, storm surges, cyclones, and tsunamis. Coastal habitations and infrastructural investments are vulnerable to rise in sea levels due to climate change and cyclones.

Urban Fires

Urban fire occurs primarily in cities or towns with the potential to rapidly spread to adjoining structures. These fires damage and destroy homes, schools, commercial buildings, and vehicles.

Urban fires have a devastating impact on:

✓ People's health due to asphyxiation, release of the toxic gases and explosions/bursts caused by it.

✓ Communities due to the breaking up of economic activities and environmental destruction.

Fire safety regulations in India: 

✓ Constitutional Provisions: Fire Services come under Twelfth Schedule (Article 243W), so either municipalities or the State Government/UTs look regulate it through local building bye laws.

✓ National Building Code of India 2016 (published by Bureau of Indian Standards) was issued to the States to incorporate the recommendations in their building byelaws with detailed provisions under Part – IV “Fire & Life Safety” on fire prevention, life safety and fire protection including General Exit requirements and Standards for construction.

✓ In 2020, Ministry of Health & Family welfare circulated strict guidelines stipulating third-party

accreditation for fire safety.

✓ NDMA has stipulated requirements for fire safety in public buildings, including hospitals.