Art, architecture, urban design, or impressions of cities that evoke an emotional response are not meant to be evaluated in quantitative terms. These just happen. They stay with you, in your memory, giving you pleasure.
Very often these creations are the result of what artists, architects, and planners would like to refer to as ‘intuitional’ work. A result of hard work, trial and error to achieve perfection. Like the paintings of Ajanta, the invention of perspective, the perfection of the arch and the vault, and the evolution of the flying buttress.
There was no mathematical equation behind these creations. Rather, the persistent quest, executed with the available resources and tools, helped push the boundaries of creativity and knowledge. Works of art, classic monuments, and unforgettable settlements and towns that grew in response to and accommodating socio-cultural transformations are known by the quality of outstanding artistic merit that evolves over time.
Love’s labour takes time. The Taj Mahal took 22 years to build, the Sydney Opera House 15 years, the temples of Ellora over 400 years, and the landmark Sagrada Familia cathedral is a work in progress for nearly 140 years now. Similarly, cities take their own time to grow and mature. Venice spans a history of 1500 years, Jaipur 300 years, and places such as Delhi have their origin in mythological tales. Indians take pride in the belief that Benaras is ‘timeless’. A lot of these cities have grown by accretion, immediate requirements guided mainly by a civil code of mutual consideration, available resources, and technology. And the intuition of citizens and artisans. Without the intimidation of the development authority, the book of bye-laws, and certainly no computers.
Human history is replete with examples of kings and power-hungry leaders who erect monuments to glorify themselves. If any monumental work got completed in an unrealistically short span of time, it would surely be for political expediency. Like the capital city Brasilia or the Central Vista Redevelopment Project.
The process of creative indulgence by people with imagination and mapping skills, as also the order of settlement planning, is being threatened to be radically altered—if not outright overrun—by a rapidly emerging technological order called Information Technology (IT).
A new era has now dawned upon our civilization.
Digital phones, smart cameras, drawing software, and essay-writing apps have taken out the thrill of discovery and the creative endurance that sometimes becomes a lifelong obsession. The sense of wonderment is taking on a new dimension.
In the current era of ‘instant’ karma, the input effort is meaningless if the results take long to materialise. Gone are the days when you had to wait two years to take delivery of a two-wheeler and perhaps longer to get a phone connection and line up for a bottle of milk. In less than five decades, we have come from an era of shortages to a ‘Blinkit’ moment.
Not only the availability of practically all items, but in a blink of an instant!
In addition, we are overwhelmed with easily available information and data. This incredible pace of transformation has left most citizens disoriented.
The induction of Information Technology (IT) is the most momentous event to happen after the Industrial Revolution and, just like the Industrial Revolution (IR), it is projected to usher in life-changing trends. IT has already made our day-to-day living easier in terms of time saved and the spread of services within one’s reach.
This transformation has not been without its share of reorienting our moral compass and our value system. From a time when the printed word in the newspaper or a comment on the radio/TV was considered gospel truth, we have reached the day when we question what or whom to trust.
“These are dangerous times. Never have so many people had access to so much knowledge, and yet been so resistant to learning anything.” – Tom Nichols, “The Death of Expertise.”
And this is where the comparison between the Industrial Revolution and IT ends. The extreme wealth generated by the prolonged British colonization of a quarter of the world funded and sustained the IR.
The results of the Industrial Revolution were centralised and had a huge impact on the global geopolitical scene. The industrial societies of the world obtained the power of machines to discover and colonise newer, underdeveloped, resource-rich societies. There was also the allure of the unprecedented hold one could exercise over the masses by the extensive outreach of the radio, the printed word, and other electronic communication systems.
In other words, the fruits of the IR in the hands of the West became a means of further subjugating the other half of the world.
The IT revolution, on the other hand, has unified the world in an entirely different way. Essentially an open system, IT has imparted the freedom and the power to every individual user to participate and be heard. An act that runs contrary to every State agency which hopes to impose control on these very users and control their voices. In today’s political climate, where many a democracy is leaning towards authoritarian rule, the technology is equally as valuable for the state as were the spoils of the Industrial Revolution at that time.
Thus, in a sense, the pool of data has become today’s most valuable resource, replacing the petroleum, coal, and other minerals of the Industrial Revolution era. Possessing, holding, manipulating, and trading in data is power. Like any other open system, it is highly susceptible to misuse both by the public at large and the State. Here is a tool with an unlimited potential to sway public opinion, build or destroy an image effectively, and nearly for free. In a very short time.
The remarkable rise of IT coincided with a landmark event of urbanisation. In late 2007, the global population balance tipped in favour of urban living compared to rural settlements. This information underlined the urgency about city planning. In a rapidly urbanising world, IT relies heavily on computers for collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, and sharing of large quantities of data rapidly. AI is a huge asset to govern and manage urban areas.
Soon afterwards, in 2009, India launched the system of Aadhaar—a basic identity database for 1.3 billion residents. Some general information like address and age, and some very specific personal information such as bio-identification, had to be submitted. Some people would say surrendered.
Though apparently unrelated, yet these two events are destined to get very closely integrated for a greater cause and concern.
IT and Artificial Intelligence have a huge potential to impact the status of city planning in the country.
One major system of city planning as practiced today, the preparation intervention of Master Plans, is fast losing its efficacy in a rapidly urbanising world, due to the sluggishness inbuilt in the process.
With a view to keep pace with the changing times as well as illustrate the power of IT, the Government of India announced the launch of “The Smart Cities Mission” (SCM), a renaissance of city planning and governance of sorts, with the help of IT. The ‘Smart City’ was meant to ensure that every pixel of the city would operate smartly.
The mission had objectives including promotion of sustainable and inclusive planning, provision and delivery of core infrastructure, use of smart IT-based solutions to reduce environmental degradation, introduction of citizen awareness by the use of IT, AI, and Geographic Information Systems, and generally improving the quality of life for the residents. Innovative use of technology is being used in many countries to achieve specific targets, such as early disaster warning in Japan, traffic management with a view to encourage more people to cycle in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, and generally an all-across-the-board dependence in all services in Singapore.
In a country where new ideas are usually opposed, the SCM in India was surprisingly well received.
In hindsight, of the 100+ cities handpicked, only a few have shown a partial rate of success. Pune and Jaipur have installed solar-powered street lights in some locations. Selective cities have reported success in specific areas such as garbage collection and disposal, general cleanliness, and introduction of online apps to help with matters of citizen involvement with local government offices.
Indore has shown a remarkable improvement in general city cleanliness, a large number of cities have introduced the system of property tax collection by geo-tagging property, and many cities have installed CCTV cameras for traffic surveillance and management. But many other cities have been either unable to use the allocated funds or have fallen short in their endeavour.
A network of CCTV cameras, for example, is said to be observing every move of every citizen in cities, and yet there is little hope of any direct benefit to the citizen. This only amplifies the discomfort of the general public who now openly display their displeasure towards the loss of their privacy and their potential helplessness in case of legal involvements.
While the traffic or roads remain as chaotic as ever, the spate of sending ‘challans’ to suspected offenders has been streamlined. The rising pollution is not under control, but the information that we are breathing much worse air is available. Taxes continue to rise, but the serving of notices for the delay or gap in the payment of taxes (property tax, income tax, GST) and renewal of PUC and KYC, etc., are issued promptly, projecting an image of an authoritarian society at work.
There are, however, stories of successful and efficient selective cases.
There has been, for example, an improvement in the matter of attempting crowd control of passenger traffic at the airport by face recognition technology and avoiding traffic pile-up at the toll booths via smart tags.
Cities continue to expand and grow at a rapid rate. And there is a perpetual shortage of trained manpower to deal with the situation by the traditional system of plan-making; hence, a simplified technological solution is widely seen as an alternative. Since resolving the problem of the city as a unified entity is a complicated task, achievements are now measured on a project-to-project basis. A road widening/beautification here, a slum rehabilitated there. The most spectacular one being the introduction of the metro.
It is now widely believed that all the data sharing and technology has not appreciably improved the quality of life. If the definition of better city living and management is the listing of all citizens in a digital register, sharing personal, financial, social, and civic details with the state, it has only induced a sense of helpless vulnerability among the citizens. The citizens feel that they are on the wrong end of the surveillance apparatus.
Deep down, it is humiliating for people to know that a computer algorithm, a process devoid of human intervention and values, is deciding their fate.
Woes of citizens apart, some astounding achievements in the field of science and biotechnology, and in general, actually tend to blur the line between ‘artificial’ and real intelligence!
Today, the world stands on the threshold of self-destruction brought about by the very products of the Industrial Revolution, starting with rapid urbanisation, the automobile, the easy availability of mechanical and electrical energy, and other polluting ‘benefits’. The skewed distribution of global wealth and power in direct proportion to the availability and access of IT and artificial intelligence has emboldened the conglomerates to take on not only the Governments but also Mother Nature.
IT is a double-edged sword. It helps create problems faster than finding solutions to control the same.
Our hope to be redeemed by a miracle cure by artificial intelligence from the threat of pollution, from debilitating diseases, adequate availability of food, shelter, and housing, and above all, the disaster of climate change, is the only light at the end of the tunnel.
And we are hoping to resolve the complex problems of city planning using artificial intelligence and the overabundance of data collected through IT.
Is an algorithm for our cities ready? Not a sterile, geometric city displaying a regimental discipline under strict surveillance, but rather one with a hallmark of controlled chaos, drama, and the spontaneity and dynamism of bazaars, the streets, and the ‘ghats’. A total sensory city experience. The ‘Indian Smart’ city?
Like a modern Indian version of the good old computer games of SimCity and Monopoly.
