much fanfare since panaji was included in the 98city rs 48000crore smart city project but no specifics have been announced no plans or blueprints shared with the public so what is all the fuss about smart cities are a con job architect dean dcruz said in an interview earlier this week while we do need to make our cities livable through public transport better communication etc the smart city movement is spearheaded by material and technology suppliers who offer easy solutions to lazy planners that message was echoed by rahul mehrotra one of indias leading architects professor at harvard university and the late charles correas soninlaw he told an interviewer i have no idea what a smart city means because this is a universal term that has no real value except for the people who are sloshing capital around the problem is that they are founded on capital and investment but dont consider the human being as part of the equation i fear these will end up being gated communities mehrotra says companies were looking to export their goods and politicians like narendra modi and others picked this up because it becomes a justification to invest huge amounts acquire lots of land emulate in a facile way dubai and shanghai which are autocracies smart cities are architectural expressions of autocracies not of democracies in other words so i can stand at a bus stop and know that the bus is going to arrive in 10 minutes and that will save me 10 minutes but if its an inhuman city then im not interested in saving those 10 minutes no urban development project has been more confusing and misleading than the smart city scheme writes a srivathsan professor at centre for environmental planning and technology university ahmedabad in a detailed critique of the government policy in the wire thewirein more chatter than plans with clear substance he says the smart cities project is a recipe for skewed development rather than a vision for a sound urban future as mehrotra pointed out the initial idea that modi became enamoured with was an updated sez concept a fortified real estate enclave created on governmentappropriated land where cheap real estate could be provided to private companies these greenfield projects could be equipped with advanced surveillance unlimited supply of subsidized utilities all kinds of enhanced technologies upscale malls hotels apartments and even freetrade zones this is precisely what modi has tried to create on former grazing lands in the controversial chinastyle gujarat international finance teccity gift over 886 acres near gandhinagar touted as one of his proudest achievements gift was the success story behind the bjp manifestos gaudy election promise to initiate building 100 new cities enabled with the latest in technology and infrastructure that line became a staple of modis speeches where he would pound the lectern promising to build 100 smart cities even after the bjp took over in 2014 its first budget accounted for building new cities because according to finance minister