“The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in mid-air, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life”. This is what Jane Addams, the famed Progressive Era sociologist/philosopher and Noble Prize winner said in 1892.  Her observations were in the context of the early industrial city of Chicago during the 1890s reeling under chronic health crises, poor living conditions for major sections of the working populations, stark inequalities, squalor, misery, and death.

200 years hence not much has changed except for the overpowering presence of digital technologies. As the world reimagines new ways of working, interacting, schooling, shopping and entertainment with the help of digital technologies; the Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCCs) have already turned into War Rooms fighting the challenges posed by the pandemic city. India marked its urban transition officially with the launch of Smart City Mission in 2015 that stood on the deployment of digital technologies for dashboard governance and citizen proximity like never. Barely five years into the Mission and the much-coveted Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCCs) have turned out to function and cater to the emergency requirements of the city ravaged by the COVID 19 pandemic. The Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCCs) work on four fronts namely: Testing and Quarantine, Containment, Health Advisory, and Provision of Essential Services. 

Smart City Thane, for instance has used its already instituted Digi thane app to rise to the occasion. Digi thane, that had already received much recognition in the past for its efforts in bringing governance at the doorstep of the citizen has included many more services digitally. 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house