Chapter 1
Perspectives of Smart Cities: Introduction
and Overview
Poonam Sharma and Swati Rajput
AbstractThe modern form of urbanization began around early nineteenth century in
developed countries. Early cities of world New York, Boston and Philadelphia were
the largest in 1790. At this stage only 3% of global population lived in cities. By 2000
the mega cities (cities with 10 million Population) rose to sixteen and the number is
expected to reach around 27 by 2025. Massive urbanization creates opportunities on
one hand and poses challenges on the other hand. The cities which are magnets for
small and medium town population slowly steadily face resource and infrastructure
crunch. The scarcity of resources coupled with environmental pollution chokes the
urban environment and makes the cities unhealthy and unsustainable. According to
Word Urbanisation Prospects, United Nations by 2050, nearly 70% of the world’s
population would live in cities and there would be many cities with more than 10
million population. India too is experiencing the upsurge of population especially in
urban areas. To accommodate and resolve the problems associated with rapid
urbanization, the Government of India has planned to build hundred new Smart cities.
Building Smart cities in India is challenging yet imperative solution for managing
massive urbanization and optimizing resource availability and distribution processes.
1.1 Introduction
The modern form of urbanization began around early nineteenth century in
developed countries. Early cities of world New York, Boston and Philadelphia were
the largest in 1790. At this stage only 3% of global population lived in cities. By
2000 the mega cities (cities with 10 million population) rose to sixteen and the
number is expected to reach around 27 by 2025. Massive urbanization creates
P. Sharma (&)S. Rajput
Department of Geography, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College,
University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
e-mail:
[email protected]
S. Rajput
e-mail:
[email protected]
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
P. Sharma and S. Rajput (eds.),Sustainable Smart Cities in India,
The Urban Book Series, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-47145-7_1
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