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Evaluating the Environmental Sustainability of Smart Cities in India: The Design and Application of the Indian Smart City Environmental Sustainability Index

Author

Listed:
  • Shruti Shruti

    (Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi 221005, India)

  • Prabhat Kumar Singh

    (Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi 221005, India)

  • Anurag Ohri

    (Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi 221005, India)

Abstract

There is a growing consensus that the initiatives taken under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in India should be used as an opportunity to prepare models for Environmentally Sustainable Smart Cities (ESSC). While developed countries have earlier worked towards Sustainable Cities and now are moving towards Smart Sustainable Cities, the conditions in developing countries are different. In their current form, SCM guidelines appear to emphasize more on social and economic development along with governance issues using modern tools of information and communication technology (ICT). To ensure environmental sustainability of such large-scale development planning, after a two-stage screening process, 24 environmental indicators have been finalized (including 11 from the existing guidelines), which can be used to monitor various environmentally sustainable elements of smart cities. Accordingly, in the present study; a tentative framework has been developed using these indicators to arrive at a Smart City Environmental Sustainability Index (SCESI) on a 0–100 increasing scale, and the city’s environmental sustainability has been classified under five categories: Excellent; Good; Fair; Poor or Critically Low; based on decreasing SCESI. Using this framework, five Indian cities, which are currently being developed under SCM (Delhi; Patna; Allahabad; Varanasi; and Bhubaneswar), have been examined. The analyses indicate that while three of them (Delhi, Allahabad, and Bhubaneswar) are found in the Fair (SCESI = 40–60) category of environmental sustainability, two (Varanasi and Patna) are in the Poor (SCESI = 20–40) category. The SCESI developed may be used as a monitoring and diagnostic tool for planning and managing services connected with the environment surrounding human life.

Suggested Citation

  • Shruti Shruti & Prabhat Kumar Singh & Anurag Ohri, 2020. "Evaluating the Environmental Sustainability of Smart Cities in India: The Design and Application of the Indian Smart City Environmental Sustainability Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:327-:d:473353
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rezaei, Jafar, 2015. "Best-worst multi-criteria decision-making method," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 49-57.
    2. G. Venkatesh, 2014. "A critique of the European Green City Index," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(3), pages 317-328, March.
    3. Chiara Garau & Valentina Maria Pavan, 2018. "Evaluating Urban Quality: Indicators and Assessment Tools for Smart Sustainable Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, February.
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    1. Noé Villegas Flores & Yelinca Saldeño Madero & Camilo Alberto Torres Parra & Isidoro Fasolino & Hugo Alexander Rondón Quintana, 2021. "Multi-Criteria Approach for Prioritizing and Managing Public Investment in Urban Spaces. A Case Study in the Triple Frontier," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-24, March.

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