City’s future depends upon responsible urban planning. Effective and creative planning along with proper implementation of major projects will benefit the population by providing them environmental protection and economic development. India struggles to incorporate environmental and social sustainability into its planning and management of resources. This is due to inadequate evaluation by the regulatory/implementing agencies or the lack of concern for environmentally friendly products and services. The Smart City Mission aims to bridge the gap between citizen, their need, social cohesiveness, social securities, environment & technology by providing innovative means for increased interaction among citizens and local governments and other groups. It calls for new greenfield projects, for sustainable growth, and for area-based development (ABD), which involves targeting specific areas of the city for transformation based on their specific needs, through redevelopment schemes or through retrofitting amenities that were not taken care when the areas were first developed or certain undesirable development occurred in due course of time.
Indore Smart City is one of its kind where Master Plan was initially developed by REPL (Rudrabhishek Enterprises Ltd.) for ABD with two main approach – Retrofitting and Redevelopment. Retrofitting approach is adopted for the congested areas like Rajwada area, Sarafa area etc and redevelopment approach is adopted for the dilapidated condition / under utilise / riverside areas. For inner area, the main emphasis is on central rajwada area to decongest, heritage building conservation, encouragement of non-motorized and pedestrian movement and strengthen the parking facility and increasing the aesthetic of area. For outer area, the main emphasis is on housing, health and recreation facilities.
Due to time constraints and infrastructure conditions of the existing city, today smart city approach has been narrowed down to infrastructure developments projects only. Once the basic infrastructure gap with the smart solutions is fulfilled, then the aim of smart city will be achieved through intervention of various smart city approaches & integration.