Integration of the Smart City Concept in the plan
The Megapolis Development Plan is a government led initiative that is aimed at alleviating some of the socio-economic issues facing the people of Sri Lanka. It aims at completely transitioning the urban settlement from the dominant informal development to the formal developments by 2030 (The President, 2017). Now, there are some issues that have been highlighted as key corner points at which action plans should focus on and they include: The beautification plans; the living standards of the people; the traffic congestion menace; garbage disposal; formal housing facilities; and lastly provision of drinking water and sanitary facilities among others. Furthermore, once these issues have been fixed, there will be need to link up the urban settlement with sustainable technologies that would guarantee a near excellent living conditions hence boosting the quality of life in Sri Lanka’s urban development. Notably, one of the sustainable technologies that should be pursued concurrently with the plan is the increased use of renewable energy technologies across industry sectors and domestic utilities. Therefore, the sections hereinafter will greatly discuss how the above can be embedded and implemented in the mentioned plan and later, the earlier mentioned fundamental concepts of sustainable technologies will be elucidated. The aim of this report is to provide the legislative and policy making organs with a substantive material for consideration in the course of implementation of the said plan.
Implementation of the Megapolis Development Plan by integrating the smart city development plan
Firstly, worth noting is that this is a new concept that is gaining traction across the world, thanks to the reality of global warming and climate change. According to Tötzer, Steinnocher, Jakutyte-Walangitang & Neumann (2014) the key elements of a smart city include: active buildings, smart energy grids, mobility networks, energy planning; optimized industrial and domestic supply technologies; urban planning; integrated urban traffic management system and ICT occupying the center.
The above-mentioned parameters are critical and hence they must be supported by a workable plan which often includes: energy efficiency measures; proper balance between centralized and decentralized energy production; proper treatment of waste water and solid waste; renewable energy technologies such as solar power generators; wind power; thermal collectors and smart thermal and electrical networks.
Fundamentally, however, the concept should be driven by a robust information and communication technology system as proposed by Brussel Smart City (2016) where elements such as urban energy management system, interconnected communication among the different technologies to be implemented and end-user consumer integration networks are incorporated.
Hence the proposed action plan for implementation of the smart city development concept can be configured as illustrated in figure 1:
Figure 1: Configuration Plan of the Smart City Development
However, the above can only be implemented under the right policies and legislations. The proposed policy framework must address the following (as part of laying the proper foundation): Population density control: It is expected that the urban establishments will continue to experience an influx of people from the rural areas as services get improved in the urban centers and opportunity are expanded. However, the planning committee will have to find a strategy to control this inevitable move. Notably, this should be matched with the available resources to minimize overpopulation in cities which may lead to further growth in informal settlements. This can be done by ensuring that equity and equality in resource mobilization and distribution is properly followed. Additionally, in the equity and equality front, the plan should consider gender and social parity as a strong point towards acceleration of the desired socio-economic prosperity of the country. According to Gunawardare (2012), Sri Lanka being part of Asian continent has expressly employed more men than women as 81% of men are employed while only 31% of women are in the productive labor force. If this is not addressed by lawmakers, then Sri Lanka is likely to miss out in her plan to improve the living standards of all her people. For example, more women should be encouraged to actively participate in elective political seats. In futuristic consideration, the forecasted expansion of the cities in terms of dwellers must appropriately be handled in the plan. For example, due to a number of factors, some cities are expected to grow faster than others hence when appropriating funds for projects, these considerations must be accommodated in the plan. Hence in support of the smart city development concept, the following critical components of the plan under the socio-economic pillar will have to be relooked by the Policymakers as well:
- City resilience
Policy Frameworks
According to ICLEI (2015) a resilient city is one which is prepared and ready to absorb the shocks associated with both natural and artificial causes while maintaining essential functions of the city such as traffic flow system, structures, and identity as well as being flexible to change. To realize resilience in the cities of Sri Lanka, the soon-to-be established urban settlements must be designed, established and maintained in accordance with the international green city codes of sustainability such as LEEDS and BREEAM. For example, in establishing systems and structures to manage the entire waste water and solid waste of the city, the proposed system must be based on the 3Rs that is recycle, reuse and reduce. Notably, the slum dwellers normally face problems such as clogged or blocked sewer system which compounds health hazards (Waidyaratna, 2013). In fact, the situation is normally made worse by lack of proper sanitary facilities hence contributing to public health risks. However, a resilient city should be able to proactively establish a system that effectively operates for the wellbeing of dwellers all year round.
- Boosting living standards of the people
According to the world bank (2016), Sri Lanka is currently ranked as a lower middle-income country whose per capita is at USD 3924 by 2015. However, she has experienced economic boom since 2009 with a growth of 6.4% between 2010 to 2015; largely due to the restored political stability in 2009. Notably, in her plan to lift all her citizens out of poverty, she must, in the proposed plan, address the following: a robust educational reform policy where there is an inclusion of the ICT skill development to ensure that the learners are ICT-equipped at an early age like the Kenyan case where digital literacy program continues to be rolled out in early learning centers (Anami & Oduor, 2016)
Sustainability of mega cities in South Asia against the impacts coming from global warming and climate change
About 60% of world population is in Asia (The Guardian, 2015). Notably, the mega cities such as Beijing and Colombo often times are faced with the pollution problem due to city congestions. In fact, the megacities in Asia are choking in polluted environments. The ever-increasing urban population greatly uses the available resources and huge amounts of wastes in the form of solid and waste water normally results. This would then pose greater risks to the dwellers with the most vulnerable being children and the elderly.
However, with the inception of the Paris climate deal, Asian countries have adopted an integrated approach towards mitigating the menace. According to Howes & Wyrwoll (2012), a huge amount of investment has been directed more in the areas of energy security, renewable energy technology development and addressing the local environmental problems. In the energy security front, for example, countries such as China have recognized the need to boost her energy capacity to meet the ever-growing demand. Besides, further economic growth is grossly dependent on energy generation capacity (Howes & Wyrwoll, 2012). More encouraging, however, the focus is now shifting to adoption of renewables thanks to the improved harnessing technologies. A part from improved conversion efficiency, renewables are also promising to cut down on the amount of carbon emissions and footprints. Significantly, therefore, investments in solar and wind generator technologies are expected to soar in the coming years.
Sustainability of Mega Cities in South Asia against the Impacts Coming from Global Warming and Climate Change
As mentioned above, renewable energy provides a potent solution to the current crisis in energy supply and the pangs of climate change due to the conventional energy generation from fossil fuels. Although some have argued that current harnessing technologies in the renewables prohibits its full harnessing potential, thankfully, however, significant technological breakthroughs in the field have recently been realized. It is expected that the renewables will fill the energy supply gap while at the same time fix the worsening world climatic situations. For example, the use of off grid power supply such as solar has increased in the tropical countries, thanks to its affordability. However, there is need to work on some aspects such as the storage capacities to ensure continuity of power supply even during cloudy conditions. China has doubled up her investments in wind energy technology where more wind turbines have so far been installed.
Propose possible actions to use the concepts on resilience and adaptability to improve the land usage of Kalani River Basin in Sri Lanka
The surrounding land requires a restoration and conservation plan. Typically, afforestation programs need to be encouraged as part of restoration efforts of the ecosystem. The river water will also get purified in the process. There is also need to set a local administrative authority to oversee the conservation and restoration efforts of the area. The area must support the river by protecting it against deterioration due to human activities. Furthermore, a public awareness campaign on the benefits of sustainable land usage techniques need to be inculcated to the dwellers. Implementation of such programs will then have to be coordinated by the local authorities under a special department established to deal directly with the conservation and restoration plans. Furthermore, there should be a proper waste disposal plan for both solid waste and waste water that guarantees resilience and adaptability. Notably, the local authority should engage various professionals in the project initiation stage. Additionally, public participation must be encouraged in all undertakings towards attainment of the said restoration plans.
Conclusion And Recommendations
The above discussions have focused on the ways and means in which the mentioned issues in smart city development concept can be integrated in the Metropolis development plan. Notably, energy is central towards the achievement of the mentioned issues. There is need to exhaust all possible sources of energy such as wind and solar. In fact, renewable energy technologies are becoming more lucrative for investments. Besides, hundreds of thousands of jobs are expected to be created hence providing more opportunities for the improved living standards of the people. However, even as the plan is being rolled out, it is recommended that the human resource capacity be increased so as to match with the emerging technologies in the sector. For example, government need to focus its attention on growing the SMEs as part of the grand plan to transform the entire economy from informal to a more formal appeal. They must be recognized in the plan as engines that will drive the growth plan forward and upward. Notably, the concerns that have been raised such as quality of delivery in the entire supply chain; it is upon the government to enact legislations to cushion both consumer and the startup companies in this arena. In other fronts, such as improvement of the urban housing, developers should take advantage of the affordable construction technologies that are also sustainable. As mentioned earlier, urban planning is among the tools that the government can substantially use to bring about order and sustainability in the establishment and maintenance of public utilities such as sanitary facilities. Therefore, the plan which is being implemented in three phases must consider the issues discussed in this report. Smart city development concept has successfully proven to be an excellent socio-economic development methodology. However, under various established committees, the issues will be tailor-made to match with the realities in Sri Lanka since it is not a guarantee that all issues mentioned will be achieved without localization of the Sri Lankan issues.
Reference
Anami, L & Oduor, A. (2016).11,500 Kenya Standard One pupils to get laptops today. Available from: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000200393/11-500-kenya-standard-one-pupils-to-get-laptops-today
Brussels Smart City. (2016). The Resilient City, the other Aspect of the Smart City. Available from: https://smartcity.brussels/news-139-the-resilient-city-the-other-aspect-of-the-smart-city
Citizen Poll Ludhiana. (no year). Smart City Proposal: For the Smart City Challenge. Available from: https://www.mygov.in/sites/default/files/mygov_1449566678190667.pdf
Filjar, R., Tesla, E.N., Zagreb., & Ericsson, C. (2016). Intelligent Traffic Management Solutions. Available from: https://www.mppi.hr/UserDocsImages/Renato-Filjar-Ericsson.pdf
Gunawardane, D.S.W. (2012). Gender Inequality in Sri Lanka. Available from: https://repository.kln.ac.lk/bitstream/handle/123456789/12052/journal1%20%281%29.64-81.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Kharagpur. (no year). Policy Planning, Legal Assessment and Governance of Smart City. Available from: https://www.facweb.iitkgp.ernet.in/~foc/pdf/Module-07-ID.pdf
The Guardian. (2015). The heat is on to ensure sustainable development in Asia’s swelling cities. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/sep/15/ensure-sustainable-development-asia-swelling-cities-climate-change
The President. (2017). Megapolis Development Plan presented to President. https://www.president.gov.lk/megapolis-development-plan-presented-to-president/
The World Bank. (2017). The World Bank in Sri Lanka. Available from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/srilanka/overview
Tötzer,T., Steinnocher, K., Jakutyte-Walangitang,D & Neumann, H.M. (2014). Integrated Concepts for Smart Cities: Workshop ‚Innovative space-based solutions for Future Cities. Available from: https://www.bavairia.net/fileadmin/Redaktion/Anlagen___Downloads/RFA/IAP/04_T_Toetzer_2014-07-08_IAP_Workshop_Vienna_Integrated_Concepts_for_Smart_Cities.pdf
Waidyaratna, (2013). Development of the Western Region Megapolis: The Sri Lankan Case Study. Available from: https://www.urbangateway.org/icnup/sites/default/files/ICNUP%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf
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