What is a Smart City?

• Smart Cities focus on their most pressing needs and on the greatest opportunities to improve lives.
• They tap a range of approaches – digital and information technologies, urban planning best practices, public-private partnerships, and policy change – to make a difference. They always put people first.
• In the approach to the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.
• The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a lighthouse to other aspiring cities.
• The Smart Cities Mission is meant to set examples that can be replicated both within and outside the Smart City, catalysing the creation of similar Smart Cities in various regions and parts of the country.

Core Elements of Smart City:

• Adequate water supply,
• Assured electricity supply,
• Sanitation, including solid waste management,
• Efficient urban mobility and public transport,
• Affordable housing, especially for the poor,
• Robust IT connectivity and digitalization,
• Good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation,
• Sustainable environment,
• Safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, and
• Health and education.