Cisco estimates that the market for smart city products & services is likely to be $2.57 trillion by 2025 at a Cagr of >18%. You have to delve into figures to realize how fast our environment is growing, today.

Cities accounted for 29% of world pop in 1950....rising to 50% in 2008,

& projected to grow to 65% by 2040, in just 21 years. Cities will perforce have to be smart if they have to shoulder such population intensities.

India's smart city focus can't be lost by for any reason. It has to become even more target based & time bound as we threaten to become the most populous country in less than 2 decades.

Statistics show 1.3 million people shift to cities every week worldwide.

While this has consequences for rural life, it portends a huge strain on city life. City planners need to see the writing on the wall.Housing/ water/ power/ transport/ sanitation/parking, are all coming under duress.Municipalities worldwide, have huge weekly challenges to confront to accommodate the large ingress.

Min of urban development needs to open dialogue with all 500 plus municipalities, in India, to ensure they measure up to this task.  

Today, Globe has 21 megacities with 10 million plus population with Tokyo housing 36 million, the largest...

8 more cities are inching towards the 10 million marks of which 3 are in  China alone and 2 in Asia, namely Shenzhen, Chongqing, Guangzhou & Jakarta, Lahore.

These cities pose serious challenges to their administrators.

Latin America has 2, Bogota & Lima & Africa adds 1, Kinhasa.

UNEP needs to first look at these 8 cities in terms of their Environment impact on their burgeoning growth. Liveability will pose serious law & order issues in some of these ghettos.

The next focus is on million-plus cities.

There were 500 globally in 2011.

Estimates reveal that of these,

221, one million plus cities, will be in China alone by 2025.How do u cope with food/ clothing/ shelter/ pollution/ / transport/power /water, challenges.

The top 600 cities in the universe also account for 60% of world GDP.

City planning then is a must If growth has to be sustained.IT infra will be a huge challenge for the success of these 600 populated cities.100 of these will be in India. Holistic planning & time bound execution of works is the only recipe for success.

.1 billion people live in slums today estimates Visual capitalist. By 2030, this figure will double. How do u handle sanitation, transport & law & order challenges here? Slum administrators need to be sensitive about what works & what doesn't fit, as each slum is a veritable time bomb, waiting to explode.

Mumbai / Kolkata/ Delhi/Bengaluru have huge issues to confront.

.By 2011, 5 billion mobile connections have been witnessed in the universe. This also throws up huge IT opportunities .$34billion is the estimate by Cisco.

Smart city solutions will be required in plenty e.g.

-Smart lighting as 19% of all power worldwide io9os expected

-Smart buildings as efficient energy use incl solar becomes the norm.

-Smart utilities, implying smart energy & water meters

-Smart transport as a felt need for charging stations grows for EVs.Also, autonomous vehicles see the light of day in some countries like Japan & the USA.

-Smart environment as control of air/water pollution & efficient waste management is mandated.

-Smart life with the widespread use of Wi-Fi,

  real-time weather updates,& smart parking spaces.

The Millenials will live in these cities. City administrators can't get away with traditional solutions to complex population density issues.

Smart Administration will determine how smartly we live on mother earth, in the next few decades. The next buzzword in the world then is SMART.

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