India’s tech-driven Smart Cities Mission has destroyed the commons
When the Smart Cities Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, it promised to transform urban India into a network of high-tech, citizen-friendly spaces.
It came riding on the language of innovation, sustainability and modern governance, powered by the Internet of Things – a network of devices that share data.
On paper, it seemed like a visionary leap into the future. But a decade later, the glimmer has dimmed. Beneath the surface of command centres, digital kiosks and sensor-laden poles lies a deeper story of displacement, ecological degradation and the steady erosion of the urban commons.
Infrastructure trumps inclusion
The “smart city” became synonymous not with inclusive planning but an obsession for capital-intensive infrastructure, often designed without regard for the lived experiences of people.
It was driven by a narrow technocratic impulse, not ecological wisdom or community consultation. In city after city, footpaths, parks, lakes, and playgrounds – spaces that once formed the fabric of urban life – were appropriated, neglected or destroyed in the name of smart redevelopment.
Vanishing footpaths
Take Bengaluru, one of the pilot cities of the mission. Under the Smart City plan, the city saw the rapid construction of flyovers and signal-free corridors. While these projects boasted that they had eased vehicular movement, they quietly gobbled up footpaths or made them inaccessible. In...
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