<p>Five minutes, Five ideas! BW Smart Cities asked speakers at a recently held THINKATHON in New Delhi to ditch PowerPoint presentations, put their thinking caps on and share their five big (or small ideas) for making Indian cities smarter. Speaking at the inaugural session, the guest of honour and former urban development secretary M. Ramachandran mapped the journey from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to its successors Atal Misison for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and the proposed 100 Smart Cities Mission, kicking off the discussion.<br><br>Some of the big ideas that were shared included the supremacy of better infrastructure planning on which a smart city edifice can rest; a strong legislative framework with a strong regulatory regime; a resolution of conflict for public spaces via shared infrastructure, vertical segregation and multi-modality; building more humane cities that are climate resilient; financial self-sustainability for cities to get fitter; and the need to think ‘safe’ before we think ‘smart’.<br><br>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 02-11-2015)</p>
