British Prime Minister Theresa May is visiting India on her first significant overseas visit outside the EU – and there is real interest in how it could be a harbinger of Britain’s post-Brexit future. Analysts are cautious about any major breakthroughs or significant trade deals, especially given strained relations between the UK and India over issues of immigration, which affect students and professionals in particular.
But part of the UK’s agenda is to work bilaterally with India on a number of areas of mutual interest at the UK-India Tech Summit. Discussions will include the technological possibilities for “smart cities”, an area that has been identified by the UK delegation as a major focus for the event. This also resonates with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high profile smart cities initiative, launched last year.
Plans focus on making these urban settlements technologically-enabled, to ensure connectivity and communication using the latest information technologies. But what is missing is a sense of how cities may also be “ecologically smart” by securing the essential needs of their inhabitants – particularly clean air, especially important in smog-hit Delhi, and drinking water. It is also important to recognise that “ecological smartness” must include an understanding of the interests, aspirations and current circumstances of the different groups that live in these places.
Image Credit: Bhaskar Vira
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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