INTERROGATING SMART CITIES IN INDIA: DISCUSSING STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF ITS IMPACT ON HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

ABSTRACT

This paper attempts to explore the determination of health and environmental outcomes of smart cities mission (MoHuA, India) and other urban development programs in India. It assesses the programs, evaluates their successes and failures, outlines their complications and gaps in addressing the urban health and environment concerns specific to India and its potential health and environmental impact. The paper further looks at how models adopted by the WHO, World Bank and urban health experts seek to address these gaps, which projects in India could potentially benefit from. The paper concluded by calling for what urban health experts call, 'descriptive urban health frameworks' which addresses some of the challenges posed by India's Smart Cities programs. This paper finally concludes by suggesting that a more qualitative and equity informed urban health framework is necessary to address the gaps that smart cities program in India fail to address. By highlighting issues of sanitation, water, housing, poverty, marginalization and inequalities, the paper calls for a more nuanced approach in addressing the needs of cities, within the context of urban health and environment.