Smart Cities and Urban Infrastructure for Sustainable Development in India

Abstract

The Smart Cities Mission (SCM), launched by the Government of India in 2015, plays a significant role and transformative initiative aimed at promoting sustainable and inclusive urban development through digital innovation, improved infrastructure, and citizen-centric governance. The study follows specific objectives are: i) to analyses and performance of smart cities in India; ii) to examining to digital transformation, infrastructure enhancement among the major cities; and iii) to suggest suitable policy measures to improve of the sustainable urban development. The study uses a combination of secondary data collected from government sources such as Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, NITI Aayog, and Census of India and have been choose for the statistical analysis of 100 selected smart cities for statistical analysis. The analysis evaluates the progress, challenges, and future directions for India’s urban transformation. The findings indicate significant progresses have been made in areas like smart governance, waste management and urban improvements representing the positive growth fort the digital and infrastructural interventions. So, the study identifies persistent disparities among cities in terms of operation efficiency digital inclusion, and environmental resilience. The study suggests that the need for stronger institutional capacity, good governance and technological integration to reached in balanced outcomes.  The study concludes that the strategic policy recommendations for ensuring equitable, future-ready, and sustainable smart city development in India.