Analysing the Role of India’s Smart Cities Mission in Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11 and the New Urban Agenda

Abstract

India is in a state of significant urban transition and transformation, which has resulted in the share of the urban population increasing from 18% in 1960 to 31% in 2011. It is expected that this growth would further accelerate, centred around cities, which are the existing centres of economic, social and urban importance. Recognizing the significance of cities in its future, the Government of India (GoI), in June 2015, launched the Smart Cities Mission (SCM), which focuses on the sustainable and inclusive development of Indian cities. This research aims to assess and analyse the synchronisation achieved between the two global treaties namely Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11) and New Urban Agenda (NUA) and SCM, twenty months post the commencement of SCM. The research analyses secondary data from existing SCM statements and guidelines and assesses them with respect to SDG 11 and NUA. Subsequently, it focuses on top nineteen cities under SCM. The research examines synergies between SDG 11, NUA and SCM, benchmarks the achievements and lacunae of the mission in pursuit of developing safe, resilient and sustainable cities.

Appendices

Appendix 1: SDG 11 and Its Targets

SDG goal 11 targets
11.1	Ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums
11.2	Provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving 11.2 road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons
11.3	Enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries
11.4	Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage
11.5	Significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations
11.6	By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management
11.7	By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities
11.8	Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning
11.9	By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and 11.9 adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels
11.10	Support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials

1. Source UN (2015a, b). SDGs

Appendix 2: Other SDGs and Transformative Commitments of NUA

SDG	SDG description	NUA Sr. No.	NUA description
SDG 10	Reduced inequalities	1.4	Promoting equally shared opportunities and benefits that urbanization can offer; achieve their full human potential
SDG 10	Reduced inequalities	1.5	Ensuring full respect for the human rights of refugees; strengthening synergies between international migration and development at the global, regional, national, subnational and local levels by ensuring safe, orderly and regular migration through planned and well-managed migration policies, and to supporting local authorities in establishing frameworks that enable the positive contribution of migrants to cities and strengthened urban-rural linkages
SDG 8	Decent work and economic growth	2.1	Sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, with full and productive employment and decent work for all
SDG 8	Decent work and economic growth	2.15	Increasing economic productivity
	Decent work and economic growth	2.16	Promoting, as appropriate, full and productive employment
SDG 12	Responsible consumption and production	2.17	Commit ourselves to promoting an enabling, fair and responsible business environment based on the principles of environmental sustainability
SDG 8	Decent work and economic growth	2.18	Recognizing the contribution of the working poor in the informal economy, particularly women, including unpaid, domestic and migrant workers, to the urban economies, taking into account national circumstances
SDG 9	Industry, innovation and infrastructure	2.19	Sustaining and supporting urban economies to transition progressively to higher productivity through high-value—added sectors, by promoting diversification, technological upgrading, research and innovation
SDG 4	Quality education	2.20	Harnessing the urban demographic dividend, where applicable, and to promoting access for youth to education, skills development and employment

1. Source UN-Habitat (2016). New Urban Agenda

Appendix 3: Standalone Commitments of NUA

Stand alone commitments
1.12	At the appropriate level of government, including subnational and local government, increased security of tenure for all, recognizing the plurality of tenure types, and to 1.12 developing fit-for-purpose and age-, gender- and environment-responsive solutions within the continuum of land and property rights, with particular attention to security of land tenure for women as key to their empowerment, including through effective administrative systems
2.21	Addressing the social, economic and spatial implications of ageing populations, where applicable, and harnessing the ageing factor as an opportunity
4.1	Require enabling policy frameworks at the national, subnational and local levels, integrated by participatory planning and management of urban spatial development

1. Source UN-Habitat (2016). New Urban Agenda