Keywords

1 Introduction

The basic and universal corner stone of good governance are quality of service, quick response mechanisms and above all accountable and transparent process mechanism. The first generation e-governance initiatives resulted in computerization of the legacy systems/practices in government with limited ability to internalize the advances in information and communication technologies (ICT). M-government aims to make the interaction between government and citizens (G2C), government and business enterprises (G2B), and inter-agency relationships (G2G) more friendly, convenient, transparent, and inexpensive in designing, managing and administering public realm in urban local body as per Diatha [1]. New Urbanism principles and transect analysis should be conducted, followed by formulation of regulation plan, built form standards, public space standards, architectural standards, landscape standards, environmental resource standards and administration for the study area and are presented in the web for responses from public and to seek alternative design from citizen or friends of the city living world over. Experts examined how different types of knowledge are incorporated in governance processes, a swell as the extent to which spatial dimensions are included in such knowledge-building processes (e.g. GIS-based; maps, visualizations). Baud [2] examined mainly digitized processes of knowledge management. These are hybrid KM systems, with several modes of interaction (mobile phones, internet, face2face) coordinated by municipal administrations. Today’s cities not only have to be interconnected, transit oriented, walkable and cycle-able, they have to be the smart cities of the future. As per Datta residents can drive urbanization through the back of your mobile phone [3]. Pfeffer provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of geo-technologies for spatial knowledge co-creation (crowdsourcing) and management for urban governance focusing on (1) the kinds of geo-technologies that feature in the urban governance area; (2) the discourses with respect to geo-technologies in urban governance processes; (3) the kinds of knowledge produced, used, exchanged, and contested in relation to quality of life, economic development and the ecosystem; and (4) the transformative potential of geo-technologies in urban governance processes. Through this review it draws out the capacities and challenges of geo-technologies for inclusive and sustainable urban development [4]. Janowski examined a range of digital technologies have become available to potentially help address such pressures including: government as a platform, i.e. “a common core infrastructure of shared digital systems, technology and processes on which it’s easy to build brilliant, user centric government services”; mobile platforms to provide mobile apps to mobile devices; local big data and data mining; wearable devices and mobile health apps; and ad-hoc networks, compute continuum and Internet of Things [5]. Even more remarkably, these citizens are not necessarily concentrated in large cities (as in the case of the cluster “Countryside citizens”). This population may represent an important “market” to target in order to develop a habit of e-Government usage, for instance through innovative platforms and systems(e.g., mobile apps). As per Lamberti (2014) a balanced multichannel PA service provision, where online and offline channels are opened is required to meet the diverse expectations and needs by the different profiles [6]. Mobile App for Urban Local Bodies should be for three actors – Citizen, Technical Person, and City Stakeholder. This paper provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of geo-technologies for spatial knowledge production and management for urban governance.

2 Mobile Governance Ecosystem

Mobile Governance ecosystem consists of following stakeholder – Residents, Telecom Service Providers, Urban Local Body management, System Integrators, Special Interest Groups (like environmental groups, animal rights groups, Differently abled groups, senior citizen groups, women empowerment groups, cyber security groups, data privacy groups, academia and the likes), Regulators (TRAI), and Mobile Vale Added Service Providers (like Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Mygov.in, City Open Data, and the likes). The Smart City Mobile Data Ecosystem consist of (Fig. 1) namely - Mobile Value Added Service Providers (Telcos, GIS service providers, advertisers, and the likes), Basic Free Mobile Service Providers (DBT, Waste Monitoring, Water Delivery, Public Safety, Public Toilets, Services for Senior Citizen and the likes), Premium Mobile Service Providers (Traffic congestion, Utility Bill Payment, Weather data, Air quality data, Job data, Entertainment data, and the likes), Data Service Provider s (Google, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Snapdeal, Amazon, Flipkart, Oyorooms, Zomato, DHL, FedEx, and other supply chain companies), City Open Data and APIs. Smart City Mobile Data Ecosystem is an intersection of mobile value added services, basic free mobile services, premium mobile services, data services, and city open data-APIs. The seamless flow of flow data/information will generate city knowledge for the city’s residents, city’s students, city tourists, city’s senior citizens, city’s pets and animals, city’s economically weaker section, and other demographic segments.

Fig. 1.
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Mobile app stakeholders in smart cities /urban local bodies

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3 Smart City Ranking and Number of Mobile Apps Proposed in Smart City Proposal

Service driven indices may be helpful in categorizing city into leader or laggard. Extending Linders (2015) [7] these are based analysis of Transformation Index, Customer (User) Index, and Environment Index of planned Mobile App of Top 20 Indian Urban Local Bodies (Table 1). These indices are leverage for Qualitative analysis and competitive analysis of top 20 urban local bodies in India. Transformation Index refers to relative impact of the mobile governance adoption by top 20 urban local bodies on transforming the governance, service delivery, and accountability of the urban local body, as assessed by the researcher. Customer (User) Index refers to relative impact of the mobile governance adoption by top 20 urban local bodies on resident engagement, resident collaboration, crowdsourcing, and community development within the urban local body precinct, as assessed by the researcher. Environment Index refers to relative impact of the mobile governance adoption by top 20 urban local bodies on air quality, energy saving, water quality, efficient water usage, waste collection-reuse-recycle-reduce, as assessed by the researcher. Urban local body of Bhubaneshwar, Pune, Jaipur scores highest in our research on urban governance using mobile app. Urban local body of Surat, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Sholapur score relative second highest. Urban local body of Dhavanagere, Delhi NDMC, Coimbatore, Belgaum / Belgavi, Udaipur, Chennai, Bhopal lowest among the urban local bodies planning mobile app. Urban local bodies of Kochi, Vishakhapatnam, Indore, Kakinada, Guwahati, and Ludhiana have not mentioned mobile app in Smart City Proposal.

Table 1. Qualitative analysis of top 20 Indian urban local bodies
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Summary.

Top 20 Indian urban local bodies who have planned mobile app in the Smart City Proposal for governance, citizen collaboration and grievance redressal, energy efficiency, revenue collection efficiency, seamless service to tourists, and healthcare delivery. Transformation Index reflects transformation is urban local body governance, financing, and transparency. Customer (User) Index reflects ease of delivery urban local body services, complaints & redressal, and accountability of officials. Environment Index reflects cost saving due to efficient energy distribution, power distribution, water distribution, waste management, and the likes. This index also reflects air quality, water quality, and sustainable living.

Smart City Proposal of several urban local bodies carries plan to roll out mobile app for citizen engagement, service delivery efficiency, and innovative value added services. The competitive position of top 20 Indian urban local bodies in terms of Technology Adoption and Governance for Transformation Index, Customer (User) Index, and Environment Index, as assessed by the researcher (Figs. 2, 3 and 4). Based on discussion with experts (urban planning experts, policy experts, technology experts, and environment experts), this papers demonstrates high technology adoption in Bhubaneshwar, Pune, & Jaipur is translating higher degree of transformation. In the cities like Surat, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, & Solar marginally low technology adoption (as compared to high technology adoption cities), demonstrates marginally low transformation. Cities likes Dhavanagere, Delhi NDMC, Belgaum, Udaipur, Chennai, & Bhopal low technology adoption, however mid-range transformation, because of matured municipal service delivery processes. Cities like Kochi, Vishakhapatnam, Indore, Kakinada, Guwahati, & Ludhiana are low on technology adoption, and so low on transformation. As per experts there is high technology adoption in Bhubaneshwar, Pune, & Jaipur and is translating higher degree of customer (user) index. In the cities like Surat, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, & Sholapur substantially low technology adoption (as compared to high technology adoption cities), demonstrates marginally low customer (user) index, since in these cities customer (user) participation. Cities likes Dhavanagere, Delhi NDMC, Belgaum, Udaipur, Chennai, & Bhopal are low on technology adoption, and low on customer (user) index. Cities like Kochi, Vishakhapatnam, Indore, Kakinada, Guwahati, & Ludhiana are relatively high on technology adoption, however low on customer (user) index, because in-efficiencies in delivery of municipal services. As per experts there is high technology adoption in Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur, & Surat and is translating higher degree of environment index. In the cities like Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bhopal & Sholapur marginally low technology adoption (as compared to high technology adoption cities), demonstrates marginally low environment index, since in these cities environment data is effectively analyzed. Cities likes Jabalpur, Dhavanagere, Delhi NDMC, Belgaum, and Udaipur are low on technology adoption, and so low environment index, since environment data not properly collected. Cities like Kochi, Vishakhapatnam, Indore, Kakinada, Guwahati, & Ludhiana are very on technology adoption, and so low on environment index, because environment monitoring infrastructure is in-efficiencies and in-effective.

Fig. 2.
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Competitiveness of top 20 Indian smart cities on Transformation Index

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Fig. 3.
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Competitiveness of top 20 Indian smart cities on Customer (User) Index

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Fig. 4.
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Competitiveness of top 20 Indian smart cities on Environment Index

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4 Conclusion

The rapid uptake of mobile technologies in remote locations and “base-of-the-pyramid” communities – together with the emergence of many innovative mobile applications and services, has increased the potential for ICTs to play a positive role in supporting and establishing good governance. In upcoming time, urban local bodies worldwide will be challenged by the need to look into developing m-government by adopting strategies that will enable them to harness the opportunities offered by mobile technologies and maximise their benefits (energy saving, water saving, power saving, and human capital saving) in order to provide better governance of the urban local body. Despite all its promise though, m-governance in urban local bodies still in its nascent stages and needs more research to improve the effectiveness of m-services development and to attain wide public acceptance and there are still limits in the capacity of m-governance in urban local bodies to reach out to “base-of-the-pyramid” segments of the population, and in order to not widen the digital gap, urban local bodies should avoid enforcing the use of mobile channels, and provide access to new technologies only to those who are willing to use them.