What is smart city? Describe its main characteristics.

Meaning

• Internationally, a smart city is not only high-rise or Wi-Fi; it is a city that integrates information and communication technology with physical networks so that water, power, transport, and safety respond in near real time.
• India’s Mission treats a smart city as one that provides core infrastructure, a decent quality of life, a clean and sustainable environment, and the application of ‘smart’ solutions, chosen through a city challenge rather than a single imported template.
• Implementation is through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with municipal, state, and private equity, so the definition is institutional as well as technical.

Main characteristics

• Area-based development — retrofitting, redevelopment, or greenfield — concentrates streets, housing, and utilities in a demonstrable pocket, while pan-city solutions spread intelligent transport, e-governance, or CCTV across the municipal limit.
• Digital public services: online birth and tax records, Integrated Command and Control Centres, and grievance apps are meant to cut discretion and delay.
• Sustainable urbanism: LED street lighting, solar rooftops, non-motorised streets, organised solid-waste and septage, and water metering address the resource side, not only gadgets.
• Mobility and safety: bus rapid corridors, common mobility cards, pedestrian design, and women’s safety audits are listed characteristics in many city proposals, including Lucknow and Varanasi among Uttar Pradesh selections.
• Inclusion and economy: the Mission text asks for affordable housing, start-up space, and citizen consultation; without those a city may be wired yet not smart for street vendors or slum tenants.
• Limits: several audits have noted delayed projects and a risk that smartness stays in a small ABD island while the rest of the city remains unserviced.