Envisioning Sustainable

Infrastructure for Smart Cities

By

Dr. C.S.SURYAWANSHI
Abstract

drcss5@msn.com

We see cities today grappling with the impact of climate change, while at the same time
tackling issues of waste management, health, outdated infrastructures, resource scarcity, air
pollution, congestion and inadequate housing, etc. The international community has realized
the urgency linked to various urban challenges leading to exploration of diverse approaches to
deal with urban management issues. As information and communication technology (ICT) has
shown considerable promise for improving efficiency in the urban domain, the concept of smart
sustainable cities (SSC) has been heralded as the savior for urban residents.

Introduction
The world is increasingly urban and by 2050 the global urban population is expected
to reach 6.3 billion, which is almost double the 2010 figure. In addition, over 60
percent of the land projected to become urban by 2030 has yet to be built with most of
the growth is expected to take place in small and medium sized cities.
In addition, cities already consume almost 80 percent of the worlds energy and carbon
emissions and rapid urbanization will exert additional pressures on water supplies,
waste systems, biodiversity and other crucial resources upon which cities depend.
In India, as per the data from Census 2011, the population living in urban regions
contributes 63% of the countrys GDP. By the year 2030, cities are forecast to have
40% of the countrys population and account for 75% of the countrys GDP. Thus,
cities are likely to continue being the powerhouses and talent warehouses of India.

Concept of Smart City

A smart sustainable city (SSC) is an innovative city that uses information and
communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life,
efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it
meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social,
environmental as well as cultural aspects
A smart sustainable city cannot be established overnight. It is a continuing and
evolving long-term process that each city embarks upon voluntarily. Importantly, there
is a need to continuously update SSC research to keep up to date with new emerging
technology.
Because cities depend on a complex network of infrastructure, institutions, and
information the City Strength Diagnostic first evaluates resilience on a sectoral basis
and then brings together the findings to think holistically about the citys resilience.
This process leads to the identification of critical gaps or areas of weakness that
should be prioritized to unlock opportunities within the city. With this in mind, the
City Strength Diagnostic is structured around sectoral modules that cover topics
within the city and metropolitan area purview, including Community and Social
Protection, Disaster Risk Management, Education, Energy, Environment, Health,
Information and Communications Technology, Local Economy, Logistics, Municipal
Finance, Solid Waste, Transport, Urban Development, and Water and Sanitation. The
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City Strength Diagnostic can be used in any city regardless of size, institutional
capacity, or phase of development.
Smart cities A bright future for Indias tomorrow
The meaning of the term smart city differs across each of the geographies, based on
the levels of development, willingness to change according to the new reforms in the
society, natural resources and aspiration levels of the residents. It is evident that
consumer/citizen is the focus of all such efforts and the entire system has to be
designed around his needs. One of the key components of the smart cities is to use
data and intelligent tools to generate knowledge, information to better manage the
services delivered to people who will drive the change towards a better quality of life
and a sustainable future.
DESIGN plays an important role in this ecosystem as designers are trained to think
how people think, act, consume, conserve and live. Designers add value through their
skills of understanding the consumer, mitigating risk by well crafted value proposition
for services, help marketing and branding and create sustainable solutions.
The design element of smart cities helps the city to gain an edge over traditional cities.
The Smart Cities Mission of the Government is a strong and new initiative, meant to
set example, catalyzing replication of similar infrastructure in the surrounding
vicinity.
In the approach to the Smart Cities Mission, the Governments objective is to promote
cities that provide core infrastructure and offers a decent quality of life to its citizens,
a clean and sustainable environment and application of Smart Solutions.
Government has set a target of covering 100 cities within the duration of next five
years (2015 2020). The mission will continue post thorough evaluation conducted by
the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD). It is projected that urban India will
contribute nearly 75% of the national GDP in the next 15 years. Therefore cities are
referred to as the engines of economic growth ensuring efficient functioning critical
to the economic development. Constructing a smart city is a daunting task, connecting
government, civic and private organizations to work in a collaborative way and
enhance the basic functioning of a city is of utmost importance. India not being a
country having pre-existing smart cities, might find it difficult to establish that very
first smart city.

Infrastructure Systems & Community

Today, for the most part, our communities infrastructure systems are developed and
managed separately, by separate utilities and agencies. Sustainable infrastructure, on
the other hand, blurs boundaries between our energy, transportation, water and waste
systems to implement complementary strategies that benefit more than one system.
Among our most important, and difficult, challenges will be reforming institutions and
their funding mechanisms to enable and incentivize integrated, whole-system
solutions that benefit our communities the most.
Envision-A new approach
In contrast to traditional sector-specific methods that focus solely on sustainability
within one type of infrastructure (streets, for example), Envision takes a new approach
by establishing a holistic framework for evaluating and rating infrastructure projects
ensuring that sustainable development is addressed by considering the entire life cycle
of projects at a systems level. Nationwide, several prominent communities are
exploring the benefits of the tool on their projects.
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Envision can be used by design teams, infrastructure owners, urban planners,

community groups, regulators, environmental organizations and policy makers to

Meet their sustainability goals as outlined in the planning document or

strategic plans

Be publicly recognized for high levels of achievement in sustainability

similar to LEED or SITES

Help communities and consultants/engineers to collaborate and understand

if they are on the right track and making the right decisions

Make choices about the investment of scarce resources and natural capital
like water.

Involve community in civil infrastructure projects

In addition, this infrastructure rating system encourages and rewards
sustainability performance by recognizing efforts that restore natural capital and
ecosystems. The system has ratings for design and planning, construction,
operations, and decommissioning.

A long-term vision for our cities

Cities occupy only three percent of the worlds landmass, but consume over two-thirds
of the worlds energy. By 2030, 40 percent of India's population will be living in cities.
Infrastructure is the backbone of a citys economy, and urban development projects
help to create a livable, sustainable, smart city, with automated and intelligent
infrastructure technologies.
A key factor in the development of modern cities is an integrated, digital
infrastructure. Software both standalone and embedded is an integral part of
almost every product.
Cities require a reliable, economic and efficient power infrastructure and a stable
energy infrastructure. Present energy management solutions need to ensure efficient
and smart energy transmission and distribution.
The automation of infrastructure leads to increased efficiency, lower operational costs,
and a reduced environmental footprint.
Across the world, comprehensive infrastructure solutions already help city planning,
contributing to cities that are more sustainable, resilient and accessible. Integrated
systems and automated technologies such as smart grids, intelligent buildings and
mobility solutions to keep people on the move help to create a smart infrastructure
built to last. Solutions from Siemens are helping to create metropolitan areas worth
living in - places where people can enjoy a high quality of life.

Infrastructure
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word infrastructure has been used
in English since at least 1887 and in French since at least 1875, originally meaning
"The installations that form the basis for any operation or system".
The word was imported from French, where it means subgrade, the native material
underneath a constructed pavement or railway. The word is a combination of the Latin
prefix "infra", meaning "below", and "structure". The military use of the term achieved
currency in the United States after the formation of NATO in the 1940s, and was then
adopted by urban planners in its modern civilian sense by 1970.
The term came to prominence in the United States in the 1980s following the
publication of America in Ruins, which initiated a public-policy discussion of the
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nation's "infrastructure crisis", purported to be caused by decades of inadequate

investment and poor maintenance of public works. This crisis discussion has
contributed to the increase in infrastructure asset management and maintenance
planning in the US.
That public-policy discussion was hampered by lack of a precise definition for
infrastructure. A US National Research Council panel sought to clarify the situation by
adopting the term "public works infrastructure", referring to:
"... both specific functional modes highways, streets, roads, and bridges; mass
transit; airports and airways; water supply and water resources; wastewater
management; solid-waste treatment and disposal; electric power generation and
transmission; telecommunications; and hazardous waste management and the
combined system these modal elements comprise. A comprehension of infrastructure
spans not only these public works facilities, but also the operating procedures,
management practices, and development policies that interact together with societal
demand and the physical world to facilitate the transport of people and goods,
provision of water for drinking and a variety of other uses, safe disposal of society's
waste products, provision of energy where it is needed, and transmission of
information within and between communities."

Present Scenario
Cities are the economic engines of the world. With more than 50 per cent of us living
in cities and more of us heading to them every year we cant afford to let those
engines stall. Our collective well-being depends on it.
Yet the challenges are immense, including increasing density, climate change and
rising demands on limited natural resources. A well-run city needs efficient
transportation networks, sustainable infrastructure and systems for reducing wastes
such as greenhouse gas emissions.
Smart Cities & Critical Infrastructure Challenge:
How do we deal with threats increasing density, climate change, limited natural
resources to a citys quality of life?
Solution: Build efficient and sustainable infrastructure.
It is evident that in the next 20 years, 70 percent of the Indians will be concentrated in
urban areas. At the given rate of rapid and unprecedented urban development, India
will need some 500 new cities in the next two decades. Therefore, there is a great need
to re-address its new upcoming cities having sustainable relationship between them
and the region that they epicenter. A time has come to focus on developing solutions
for sustainable infrastructure in these cities. With the growth of population
sustainable city infrastructures, urban systems governance also has to deliver vital
services such as transportation, healthcare, education and public safety in addressing
a huge pool of demands covering the other side, which is Livable Habitat based on a
range of domains like affordable housing, better education, greener programs,
accessible governance, and many other programs inclusive of the deprived, the
handicapped and the senior citizens.
There are many successful cross functional sustainability projects related to policy
implementation, buildings and development, green procurement, transportation,
employee engagement, waste management, and carbon management.
The increase in urbanization, climate change impacts, and aging infrastructure,
combined with the ready availability of new capabilities to use urban data, have given
rise to a flurry of standardization activities at the national, regional, and international
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levels in relation to smart and sustainable cities. In 2012, the International

Organization for Standardization (ISO) launched technical committee on Sustainable
Development in Communities. In 2013, the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and ISO/IEC Joint
Technical Committee (JTC) on Information technology, all convened strategic groups to
assess current and needed standards for smart and sustainable cities. ISO followed
suit in 2014. Regional and national standards bodies in Europe and Asia also have
undertaken strategic initiatives to explore this area.
The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads,
and power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.
"the social and economic infrastructure of a country"
Infrastructure is a collection of physical or virtual resources that supports an overall
IT environment: server, storage and network components.
Smart & Sustainable Infrastructure
Making use of our multidisciplinary expertise in energy, water, infrastructure,
buildings and mobility worldwide, we are committed to taking a lead in the
development of eco-districts, innovative buildings, green mobility and smart cities.
Smart infrastructure is technology that increases the efficiency of infrastructure.
On roads, for example, modern signaling and traffic monitoring allows for traffic flows
to be adjusted according to the time of day, making more lanes accessible during peak
time.
This technology increases the efficiency of new roads. But in some cases, smart
technology can also make existing roads so efficient there is no need to build new
ones.
Under the present day Government, road project proponents will need to demonstrate
they have incorporated smart infrastructure and at least considered the alternative
option of using technology to improve existing roads.
This will ensure we squeeze every drop of efficiency out of existing infrastructure and
that new projects meet worlds best practice.
Citizens are clamouring for jobs, wage increases and long-delayed improvements to
services ranging from transport to healthcare. In this context, can elected officials
justify using scarce public resource to build low-carbon, climate-resilient
infrastructure?
We believe the answer is a resounding yes. In the near-term, such spending can
generate demand for labour and supplies, providing the stimulus that developing
economies desperately need. In the longterm, it serves to simultaneously modernise
and increase the efficiency of energy, manufacturing, mobility and logistics. This will
in turn raise productivity and competitiveness, fostering domestic drivers of growth.
The convergence of these two needs creates an extraordinary opportunity to get things
right. Many of the requirements for a radical expansion of sustainable infrastructure
are already in place. The managers of trillions of dollars of capital and pension fund
assets are looking for predictable returns. Interest rates remain at historic lows.
Critical technologies, from large-scale solar to clean transport, are mature and
continue to drop in cost.
What is missing, in many countries, are the policies, institutions and financial
partners necessary to generate a pipeline of projects such as wind farms, bus-rapidtransit systems, or geothermal power plants.
"Hard" and "soft" infrastructure
"Hard" infrastructure refers to the large physical networks necessary for the
functioning of a modern industrial nation, whereas "soft" infrastructure refers to all
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the institutions which are required to maintain the economy, health, and cultural and
social standards of a country, such as the financial system, the education system, the
health care system, the system of government, and law enforcement, as well as
emergency services.

Uses of the term

Engineering and Construction
Engineers generally limit the use of the term "infrastructure" to describe fixed assets
that are in the form of a large network, in other words, "hard" infrastructure. Recent
efforts to devise more generic definitions of infrastructures have typically referred to
the network aspects of most of the structures, and to the accumulated value of
investments in the networks as assets. One such effort defines infrastructure as the
network of assets "where the system as a whole is intended to be maintained
indefinitely at a specified standard of service by the continuing replacement and
refurbishment of its components".
Critical infrastructure
The term critical infrastructure has been widely adopted to distinguish those
infrastructure elements that, if significantly damaged or destroyed, would cause
serious disruption of the dependent system or organization. Storm, flood, or
earthquake damage leading to loss of certain transportation routes in a city, for
example bridges crossing a river, could make it impossible for people to evacuate, and
for emergency services to operate; these routes would be deemed critical
infrastructure. Similarly, an on-line booking system might be critical infrastructure for
an airline. These elements of infrastructure are often the focus of recovery efforts in
the aftermath of natural disasters. Damage to critical infrastructure could also result
in a public safety hazard.
Urban infrastructure
Urban or municipal infrastructure refers to hard infrastructure systems generally
owned and operated by municipalities, such as streets, water distribution, and sewers.
It may also include some of the facilities associated with soft infrastructure, such as
parks, public pools, schools, hospitals and libraries. From 2016, EPFL, one of the top
universities in the world, is offering an open online course on Management of Urban
Infrastructures[14] which covers the main characteristics of urban infrastructures and
basic principles of urban infrastructure management.
Urban infrastructure is largely built without giving much thought to ecological
sustainability. A resource-intensive consumer society drives urban lifestyles,
contributing significantly to the pressure on the planets ecosystems. Humanitys
ecological footprint already exceeds the planets carrying capacity by 50 per cent, while
biodiversity is on a gravely negative trend. The ecosystem services we depend on for
survival and human welfare are at risk of critical levels of degradation.

Green infrastructure
Green infrastructure is a concept that highlights the importance of the natural
environment in decisions about land use planning. In particular there is an emphasis
on the "life support" functions provided by a network of natural ecosystems, with an
emphasis on interconnectivity to support long-term sustainability. Examples include
clean water and healthy soils, as well as the more anthropocentric functions such as
recreation and providing shade and shelter in and around towns and cities. The
concept can be extended to apply to the management of stormwater runoff at the local
level through the use of natural systems, or engineered systems that mimic natural
systems, to treat polluted runoff.
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Public works and public services

The term public works includes government owned and operated infrastructure as well
as public buildings such as schools and court houses. Public works generally refers to
physical assets needed to deliver public services. Public services include both
infrastructure and services generally provided by government.

Investing In Nature
According to the World Resources Institute (WRI),
over the next 15 years, $10 trillion will be invested
globally in water infrastructure alone (WRI, 2013).
Natural
infrastructure,
an
interconnected
network of natural areas, open spaces and
constructed features such as green roofs, green
streets, bioswales, and constructed wetlands,
planted in rich water-retaining composted soil, is
poised to make a major contribution. Natural
infrastructure can reliably augment the functions
of conventional engineered systems (gray
infrastructure), often at much lower cost by
shrinking the need for water filtration plants,
reservoirs, chillers, and dikes and levees (Gartner,
2013).
Restoring natural processes in coordination with
built infrastructure, can improve performance,
enhance adaptive capacity and resilience, and
create cost-effective infrastructure solutions. The WRI studied six U.S. cities, which
saved 60 percent on their water infrastructure investment using natural infrastructure
strategies. In addition, these systems increased the longevity of conventional systems
(WRI, 2013).
Smart Energy, Smart Water
Saving energy saves water, as does switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy
sources. Nuclear, coal and gas (especially deep shale gas) energy facilities require
enormous amounts of water 48 percent of all U.S. water withdrawals in 2000,
according to U.S. Geological Survey (U.S. DOE/NREL, 2006) while wind and solar
PV require very little water. A typical coal plant, for example, can require seven times
more water in its lifetime than the annual consumption of the entire city of Paris,
according to Michael Liebriech, CEO of Bloomberg New Energy Finance (Liebreich,
2012). Reliance on huge supplies of cool water is a significant risk factor for these
power plants, as well as the Northwests hydropower facilities, into the future,
especially as climate change impacts hydrologic patterns.
Saving water, in turn, saves energy. Drinking water and wastewater systems alone
consume an estimated 3 to 4 percent of all energy in the U.S., resulting in 45 million
tons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. EPA (USEPA, 2013). A recent
study by the Pacific Institute of the potential for water-use efficiency in droughtstricken California found that solutions harnessing existing, cost-effective technologies
in four areas urban, agriculture, water recycling and storm water capture can
save roughly a third of current statewide demand (Pacific Institute, 2014).
Water systems consume a lot of energy, but can also be tapped for energy. For
example, wherever water flows downhill through pipes there is potential energy, and
new miniturbine technology, such as that pioneered by Portland-based Lucid Energy,
could make it profitable for water utilities to tap it. Wastewater utilities are
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increasingly harnessing methane generated at their treatment plants via anaerobic

digestion, as well as deriving value by transforming the carbon and nutrient-rich
biosolids that are left over after the treatment process into a marketable, biologicallyrich soil amendment.

Intelligent Infrastructure
IT and automation are expanding the potential of infrastructure across the world.
Solutions for sustainable power distribution, efficient traffic systems and efficient,
intelligent buildings are becoming more flexible and adaptable to new conditions.
A key factor in the development of modern cities is an integrated, digital
infrastructure. Software both standalone and embedded is an integral part of
almost every Siemens product. With our know-how, we can intelligently manage the
masses of data generated along the entire infrastructure value chain, helping to
interpret data correctly. The automation of infrastructure leads to increased efficiency,
lower operational costs, and a reduced environmental footprint.
Across the world, comprehensive infrastructure solutions already help city planning,
contributing to cities that are more sustainable, resilient and accessible. Integrated
systems and automated technologies such as smart grids, intelligent buildings and
mobility solutions to keep people on the move help to create a smart infrastructure
built to last. Solutions from Siemens are helping to create metropolitan areas worth
living in - places where people can enjoy a high quality of life.
Infrastructure is the backbone of a citys economy, and urban development projects
help to create a livable, sustainable, smart city. With automated and intelligent
infrastructure technologies, Siemens expertise is helping to integrate hardware and
software that work holistically, to improve quality of life, capacity and efficiency in
metropolitan areas
A smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and
communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life,
efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it
meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social,
environmental as well as cultural aspects

Smart infrastructure is the key to sustainable development

Will 2015 be a watershed in the human effort to solve global problems, or just another
chapter in the history of collective inaction?
The answer will soon become apparent on construction sites around the world.
The two most ambitious international agreements of 2015 the UNs sustainable
development goals (SDGs) and the Paris climate accord amount to a historic decision
to build a world that reconciles improving human welfare with the reality of climate
change.
The SDGs chart a path for eliminating poverty and securing a better life for all by
2030. The Paris accord seeks to stabilise global carbon emissions by the second half of
the century, through a rapid move away from high-carbon energy, transport, housing
and land use towards efficient, low carbon, climate-resilient alternatives.
But as nations set out to reflect these commitments in planning and budget processes,
they face difficult choices: coal or renewables? Highways or public transport?
Suburban sprawl or compact cities?
And the window for making such choices is narrow. Existing and projected carbon
emissions show the urgency of implementing the Paris commitments. But
infrastructure projects are time-consuming and long-lasting. Power plants, for
example, take from five to 15 years to plan and build and can then last for half a
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century. And 70% of the forecast increase in emissions from developing countries is
expected to come from infrastructure that has yet to be built.
This means that infrastructure decisions we make in the next few years could cement
our ability to meet the Paris goals or condemn us to a future in which global
temperatures rise well above 2C. In the latter scenario, environmental conditions
could be so hostile that development goes into reverse, leading to rising poverty and
social conflict.
Unfortunately, infrastructure planning is largely disconnected from climate change
agendas for many governments and the current economic downturn threatens to
widen this disconnect.
The core infrastructure elements are: 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, Storm water drains to reduce flooding, Pedestrians, nonmotorized and public transport facilities and parking spaces, Safety and security of
citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, and Health and education.

Conclusion
Govt. believes Commonwealth investment and leadership can shape the productivity,
sustainability and liveability of Indian cities.
We recognise that the decisions governments make can influence the opportunities
available to people. If we want our cities to reach their full potential and compete with
their global counterparts, then we need to invest in society.
Evidence shows that designing connected and compact rather than sprawling cities
can save trillions of dollars globally. Recent thinking about urban planning highlights
the need for: a) efficient public transport systems that can reliably move city residents
to their destinations, b) high-quality, walkable public spaces, and c) environmentally
sustainable infrastructure such as reliable water supply and sewer systems.
Envision has similarities to the LEED rating system for sustainable building but with
a broader focus on civil infrastructure and how projects integrate with community
goals and policies, economic goals and the environment.
Focusing on renewable energy to fuel Indias growth has big advantages. Given the
increasing affordability of new technologies, renewable sources will provide greater
energy security for a country struggling to maintain its rapid economic growth, while
also reducing the environmentally harmful impacts of current energy usage

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