The Government of India has decided to develop 100 SMART cities in the country. Bloomberg Philanthropies has partnered with the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India to support a cohort of Indian cities undertake ambitious transformations to improve the quality of life of citizens. It is expected to result in more job opportunities, vibrant market for agro and industrial products, better medical facilities, paramount effect in development of surrounding areas, better education opportunities to surrounding rural areas and incubate culture.
PRIA with Bloomberg Philanthropies will co-create content around citizens for participating cities to develop innovative, impactful SMART city plans, meaningfully engage citizens in the process, and help cities with the best ideas to stretch, strengthen and further develop their initial proposals.
Specific target groups
Municipal leaders and civil servants
Methodology/Key components
As has been experimented by PRIA in many cities while preparing participatory City Development Plans or city-wide Sanitation and Solid Waste Management plans, or even Area Plans, different sections of citizens, interest groups and stakeholders can get involved in participatory surveys, local area level workshops, and city level consultations to identify specific problems and generate proposals. At the planning stage, citizen engagement would be much wider and intensive.
At the design stage, city managers from municipalities will be encouraged to mobilise a cross-section of citizenry to exchange ideas, prioritise development issues, and prepare broad contours of various prospective projects.
At the stage of assessment, citizen engagement will be designed to provide individual and collective feedback to municipal authorities and service providers regarding services and governance performance.
Key outputs/Deliverables
• The following four modules are to be delivered:
o Envisioning the city
o Mapping of citizen priorities
o Generating solutions through citizen government collaboration
o Recruiting and collectivizing citizen volunteers
• In 30 Indian cities, PRIA facilitated the formation of Slum/Settlement Improvement Committees and trained young people to collect information about settlements using GPS technology.
• In 6 Indian cities, PRIA trained local young women and men to participate in city-wide surveys and prepare citizen report cards on water and sanitation using mobile-to-web technology.
• Inclusive planning for services and facilities
• Innovative solutions that harness contributions and responsibility of citizens
Year/Period
2015
Client
Bloomberg Family Foundation Inc.
