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Introduction
On January 26,2001 the earth shook. Within minutes, vast areas in Gujarat were laid waste. Tall concrete buildings, ancient heritage structures that once stood majestically sank into the ground, burying thousands alive and leaving many of them injured or permanently disabled - an act of nature though unavoidable could have been minimized had building regulations been followed, particularly in the cities.
The attack on the World Trade Center towers that brought about the death of an icon of the most powerful city of the world has put forward a topic for debate before the countries of the third world: Fortifying the metros: " Planning for Fear? ".
Cities are in transition. Within a generation the majority of the developing world's population will live in urban areas and the number of urban residents in developing countries will increase by 2.5 billion - the current urban population of the entire world. This rapid pace of urbanization is inescapable and irreversible.
The cities are the world's future. Cities of the 21st century while exhibiting the comfort and sophistication of an international economy and culture - thanks to the "globalization" mantra; have been ignoring the harsh realities, problems and paradoxical situations confronting them, more often trying to hide them under the carpets.
The rapid pace of urbanization has outpaced the abilities and resources of city administrators and planners to maintain adequate provision of services - The result: Infinite strain on the finite resources of the earth. The perils: overcrowding, congestion, shortage of housing, escalating land prices, slums & squatter settlements, degrading quality of life, environmental hazards and so on…
The day-to-day city life of an urbanite in any metropolis of our country has become unpredictable. In India despite all the efforts of our planning agencies, urbanization has not taken the desired direction. The rules of nature are overturned. One need not wonder if the dress code of the Urban Man of the 21st Century shown in the picture becomes a mandatory one for mere survival.
If this is the quality of life that our urban planning has been offering to our fellow urbanites in different metros of the world and if the present approach were to continue then our numbness, our silence, our lack of outrage in addressing this key problem, would mean ending up with monitoring humans as an extinct species.
Is there no way out to save our fellow citizens from the so-called veritable gas chambers and concrete jungles of the world? With the tremendous advancements in information technology offering a helping hand to several acute problems in diversified fields, including urban planning, the urban planners and city managers have started realising the mammoth potential of IT especially Geographical Information System (GIS) as a promising tool for Urban Planning.
The objective of this paper is to create awareness on the need to plan for Intelligent Cities where the City is not just planned and managed efficiently but also intelligently using GIS.
Intelligent City makes interdependent relationships more concrete and dynamic. Resource allocation will become more efficient as implementation of comprehensive planning becomes more tangible. Rather than existing largely as a separate and distinct function which is called upon during times of crisis as it is today, emergency management will become integrated into every facet of municipal planning and operations.
Urban Planning and GIS - An Overview
"Planning is a future-oriented activity" that links scientific and technical knowledge to actions in the public domain. It happens through a public discourse between all groups and individuals interested in and/or affected by urban development and management activities pursued by the public or private sector. Urban and regional planning agencies are rich and dynamic arenas where many societal problems and solutions are explored and addressed in a direct and tangible way. Planning-related decisions are made daily through a complex, often politically charged process involving plurality of interests. Moreover, the implementation of those decisions makes a long-term imprint on the urban structure, functionality, and quality of life in urban environments. Planners have always sought tools to enhance their analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capability. Adoption of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a more recent manifestation of the same effort to incorporate new tools and technologies.
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