Addressing Citizen’s Demands Crucial To Build Smart Cities

With the understanding that citizen’s engagement crucial for smart cities, knowing and addressing citizen’s demands is the need of the hour. According to a survey from international research firm Garner, more than infrastructure, citizen engagement and the enhancement of services and experience will be critical to the success of smart cities.

Nilesh Marathe, CX-Specialist, Avaya Technologies while giving an industry presentation shared that citizens from the smart cities want ease of use, to make it social, make it mobile, and access from their channel of choice. Marathe quoted the Prime Minister, we need to put citizen’s engagement into the smart cities.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this year’s budget has announced five more smart cities that is reported to develop on the model of Gandhinagar’s Gujarat International Finance Tec-city (GIFT). The model suggests metro corridors, energy-conserving buildings, walkability elements and state-of-the art design elements. 

Analysing the status in the way cities are being built, Marathe brought to notice that an important challenge is to make service available to all the channels. He introduced the concept of ‘one city, one identity’ - one number for availing all administrative services. The model integrating infrastructure is said to reducing response time. He notified that it is not just the citizens, but the system should also reach out to people – vouched for the concept of ‘proactive notification,’ where the government services will made aware proactively to citizens.

The above industry expert were presenting at the BW Businessworld organized 8th Smart Cities Conclave.

Navneel Maji

BW Reporters The author is Jr Copy Editor with BW Businessworld