Indian Smart Cities: A

throwback to Historic
times”?
N. Sridharan
Professor in Reg iona l Planning,
School o f Planni ng and A r
chitecture, 4 Block
B, IP Estate, Ne w De lhi, In dia,
dr.nsridhara n @ g m a i l . c om
In India, urban planning
usually eulogizes the
Mohenjadaro-Harrappa period
and
shifts to the post-independence
urbanization and city planning,
skipping an important
historical time period of Indian
civilization that placed the
sub-continent at the global
stage. From Harappan
Cities to pre Mughal period,
cities of India had smart
technologies such as ship
building, textile weaving and
some of the unique crafts that
enabled them to globally
network with the Roman,
Persian and other emerging
global
cultures of that time. Deccan
Kingdoms that ruled little
more than four centuries
influenced the art, architecture
and city development
processes that attracted traders
from across the globe.
Techniques used in the
production systems that
existed in
urban centers, got
transmitted world over
generating more demand
for these
commodities, consequently
perpetuating spatial spread of
these urban centers. The
concept of ‘Make In India’
was well established and
global products were produced
in
every urban centers at that
time. We analyses some of
the elements of ancient,
medieval and colonial
urbanization in the Indian
context that are necessary
to
understand urbanization in
today’s India, especially the
concept of Smartness of our
cities. The cities at that time
unlike the present were not
based on population size but
on the culture and craft that it
had. We summarise at the end
the lessons that can be
learnt from our historic past
for our present SMART
CITIES that depend heavily on
just Digital Technology.
Glorious Past
Indian urban history reveals
the number of smart urban
centers that existed from
Mohenjadaro-Harrappa period
in the Western side of the sub-
continent, to more than
36 Buddhist urban centers that
existed during the Satavahana
period in Andhra alone.
Periplus of the Erythrean Sea,
reveals the existence of
‘Minnagara’, during the period
of Scythian occupation of
India (Law:1954). India,
according to Kavyamimamsa
and
Bhuvanakosa section of the
Puranas (quoted by Law:1954)
states that there were five
major divisions. For example
Aparanta was the northern
Konkan of present day and
had its capital Surparaka or
modern Sopara, which was a
well planned town. On the
other hand, Pali Sutta Pitaka
mentions that in Jambudipa
(India) 16 great states or
Mahajanapadas existed. It
lists: Anga, Magadha, Kasi,
Kosala, Vajji, Malla, Ceti,
Vamsa, Kuru, Pancala,
Maccha, Surasena, Assaka,
Avanti, Gandhara and
Kamboja.
Again each Mahajanapadas
had its own well-planned
capital protecting it from its
enemies. Baranasi, the current
day Banaras, which was the
capital of Kasi was located
on the river Varana and was
prosperous, populous and
extensive. It attracted scholars
globally even at that time. It
was a multi-religious and
cultural city. Buddha delivered
his first sermon “ Wheel of
Law” in this great city (Law:
1954)