As the country, under the stewardship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads towards a society more defined by competitive labels and newer records, a big step towards that future is giving the country's city dwellers a city life that exceeds basic expectations. Proposed as the Smart City Mission, the Ministry of Urban Development intends to rehabilitate and house over 40% of the country's population in cities that exhibit a comprehensive and visible development of physical, social, institutional and economic infrastructure.

According to the 2011 census, records show that about 31% of the country's population was housed in urban landscapes - cities and towns across all tiers. The data also reveals that their cumulative contribution to the nation's GDP added up to roughly 63%. The Smart City Mission proposal claims that urban India's contribution can be drummed up to 75%, alongside housing about 40% of the population, promising a remarkable improvement from the last decade. The mission aims to cover at least 100 cities, across all states and union territories, and is likely to be completed by the financial year of 2020. The Ministry of Urban Development will continue its work on the Smart City Mission, adding and incorporating newer innovations, as it sees fit.

Needless to say, the advent of such programme also means a shuffle across all major industries in the country. The urban landscape, as we know it will change for the better, which also means the sectors that are in direct or indirect touch with this development will also undergo radical changes. The promise of a more advanced urban population, helped by infrastructure and policies would guarantee a spike in employment, standards of living, the luxury of disposable income and the ability to afford good medical care. If the quality of life for one city dweller is improved, this, in turn, holds the potential of boosting a line of allied industries. Starting from automobile to clothing retail, all the way to the beverage industry. No industry is likely to be left unaltered. This also means the real estate sector that exists in these cities.

Houses are the fundamental need for every city dweller. Owning a home marks an achievement for an average Indian - a new era of urban living where homes and desires have been made more affordable, owing to the infrastructural framework that makes it easier to sustain - the Smart City Mission.

This article intends to explore the relationship between the implementation of the Smart City Programme and what that could mean for the real estate sector. This would mean dissecting the Smart City proposal, understanding what it entails and how it's likely to impact an urban Indian's capacity to purchase a home - to both live in, and invest in.

EXPLAINING SMART CITIES

The Smart City initiative underwrites one major intent - the promise of a better standard of life for urban India, allowing them access to every opportunity that was earlier denied because of systematic infrastructural failure. Any approach that employs a smart solution in improving public life in a city is a step towards implementing the Smart City Scheme. A range of approaches can be tapped into. Be it technological, digital, urban planning practices, policies, or via a public-private partnership, the focus must remain on creating sustainable development in a way that can be replicated across all cities.

What does the Smart City Mission entail?

Pan-city initiative in which at least one Smart Solution is applied city-wide

The government, along with these committees and panels are aided by think tanks and other organisations that have come together to curate a list of Smart City Solutions. Essentially, these solutions need to respond to challenges faced by our current urban landscapes, in a way that is sustainable and efficient. These solutions are designed to optimize the quality of human lifestyle while ensuring little damage is caused in its lieu, especially environmental damage. These solutions are employed in the fields of physical infrastructure, transportation, energy, and lifestyle essentials. This would include, implementing a smart waste management programme, or a smart parking plan.

Develop areas step by step via three models of area-based developments

This step would involve cultivating land use in such a way, that unaccounted for, or unplanned landed areas, can be repurposed efficiently. The centre plans on introducing some degree of flexibility in the land laws, that will also make it easy for the housing programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, that aim to bring housing for all to be put into motion. Another important part of repurposing urban land is to allow more space to be used as a walkable area. Smart City Mission aims at striking a balance between the rapid urbanisation and maintaining the greenery in our cities. This also means more land has to be freed up for the creation of public parks, jogger's parks and pedestrian walkways. And lastly, the programme intends to tap into the local artisanship or produce. Every Smart City needs to cultivate its own identity, based on its main economic USP, for example, amplifying its touristic attractions.

Retrofitting

Retrofitting means making newer additions or adjustments to an already existing framework or system. In the Smart City narrative, retrofitting would meaning refurbishing pre-existing structures, or areas to achieve the smart city objectives - to make any square inch of urban landscape efficient and livable. Dependant entirely on the existing level of infrastructure present in the identified area, the planning commission will then prepare a blueprint of what changes need to be introduced, keeping in mind the views of the current residents.

Redevelopment

Differing from the idea of retrofitting, redevelopment is a more severe approach that has been taken towards making changes to turn a city into a smart city. Redeveloping an area would mean replacing a pre-existing structure or system, to enable a new layout to be in place or the archaic one. This would ensure better land use and increased density of structures, without compromising on safety and quality. One of the most popular examples of this would be the redevelopment plan implemented in Mumbai's famous Bhendi Bazar, now designed for optimum space utilization for both consumers and merchants.

Greenfield Development

Greenfield Development insists on using a previously vacant area in the city (more than 250 acres) and turns it into conducive landscapes to create affordable housing. Greenfield Development was an innovation made to address the rapidly bludgeoning urban population in India's cities. Primarily, this would prove to be the biggest ally for schemes like PMAY or housing project plans that aim to create homes for the middle class.

What comprises as the core infrastructural elements of a Smart City?

• Assured electricity supply
• Sanitation, including solid waste management
• Efficient urban mobility and affordable public transport
• Affordable housing for all and slum rehabilitation
• Robust IT connectivity and digitalization
• Good governance, including e-Governance and encouraging citizen participation
• Sustainable environment and eco-inclusive growth
• Safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly
• Health and education

WHAT DO SMART CITIES MEAN FOR INDIAN REAL ESTATE?

The realty sector cannot exist in isolation. Society, it's movements - the government, its policies, its reforms and a community as a whole plays a big part in influencing the way the realty performs. A city and its economic profile too plays a big role in how builders and their projects perform. Indian Realty has been in a slump for the last couple of years, unable to move without intervention or a boost. Despite the Finance Minister's bailout package, sanctioned on November 11, 2019, the sector is still struggling to regain its footing amidst a general economic lull. However, experts predict that the sector could see a way out, thanks to Smart City Mission. The initiative promises a facelift of India's urban topography, ushering in modern amenities and a more contemporary lifestyle. This also means paving the way for modern infrastructure, including housing projects that have integrated the values that the Smart City Mission aims to bring about. With the advent of systematic town planning, new energy and transportation facilities and other improvements made as a part of this mission, housing builders will find the smart cities, a perfect base for their projects. A newly employed and empowered population, with an income that now supports home buying expenses is bound to seek a modern that complements their modern, smart lifestyle. Let's understand in detail, how the fate of Indian Real Estate could change for the better if only the stakeholders manage to monetize the gain this opportunity provides them.

Higher demand for real estate - both commercial and residential

Put simply, city dwellers will be looking to buy new homes. Owing to the concessions made by the government and its policies, affordable housing provides the average Indian, coming from a modest economic background to the opportunity to purchase their home, rather than simply renting out. Smart cities would mean more people are likely to migrate from the inland and rural India, hoping the city life gives them stability and income. Supported by the infrastructure, residents will find gainful employment and will have the income to support homebuying. Gentrificationwhich is the systematic process of turning a locality into a space that can house a newer economically sound population always leads to higher purchasing power. Demands for homes - both big and small, will rise. The government's provisions for builders will have also made it easier to construct a project in smart cities, with lesser obstructions. Moreover, the population residing in these cities will not be afraid to make these investments, as their interests are now safeguarded by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority Act.

Commercial real estate too will find plenty of takers. Global MNCs see smart cities as the perfect destinate to nurture and harvest new talent at competitive costs. With big names setting up bases in smaller urban cities, the demand for offices, co-working spaces, shopping mall complexes, cinemas and restaurants will all see a spike.

Renewed public-private partnerships

A stronger and a more committed relationship between the two entities - the public and the private enterprises would be imperative in being able to rake in the necessary funds and in executing an infrastructural plan. With the backing of private funding and mettle, the reach and resourcefulness of welfare and social endeavours can be optimised. if a developer, in partnership with a public entity, creates a housing project, they would enjoy concessions in various departments, as well as be able to provide affordable housing to the residents of the city. So city dwellers would have homes that don't cost as much as they do in cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru, and developers will have consumers who come to them in large numbers. Additionally, when they prove to be fruitful, the policies and infrastructural makeup of these novel cities have a possibility to push the existing cities to alter their policies. This partnership is not restricted to just housing. Even if the city's public infrastructure is undertaken via PPP, residents can then afford to choose the location of their potential home, without having any other transportation and civic concerns.

Boost for affordable housing and smaller developers

The government of India states that by the year 2022, they aim to create at least 2 crore homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, that comes under the Prime Minister's Housing For All initiative. This scheme aims to rehabilitate displaces slum dwellers with the participation of private developers, promotion of affordable through subsidies and public-private partnership and subsidy for house contraction. This, in turn, means that not only will affordable housing get a boost in smaller but smart cities, it also means that smaller, mid-segment developers who have very little presence in bigger cities and have been struggling to stay afloat can pitch into this initiative and regain a footing, now with a newer consumer base.

Smart cities make may for Smart Townships

The effect that the growth of smart cities will have on the Indian realty sector is likely to be very permanent. Living in smart cities, make the city dweller want to live in a smart home - modern in its nature, moving along with the times. Real estate trends reflect just that. Pune, which has been declared a smart city is home to Amanora Park Town, one of the city's first integrated townships, is now on its way to becoming a special township, by absorbing most elements of a smart city home. By doing so, the township is fighting to stay relevant in contemporary times, keeping up with modern and sustainable amenities. By adapting to new environmental regimes and town planning policies, the township presents its existing residents a reason for them to stay on, and potential homebuyers the bait to have a home built by a developer who is willing to move forward with times. Similarly, Palava City, a Greenfield Smart City township located in Dombivali, at Kalyan-Dombivali, a smart city on the outskirts of Mumbai. Fronted by Lodha Developers, this project has entirely absorbed all the elements of a smart township, ensuring that their residents get a modern smart home, to keep up with the infrastructural developments that will be made outside their homes - in the locality. Technologies, some that haven't yet reached some of the most expensive real estate neighbourhoods in the country are being embraced in these smart cities, within these townships. By adapting to the newer ways of home-construction, developers - big and small are still providing a more desirable alternative to homebuyers.

The Smart City Mission was engineered to ease off the pressure felt by the cosmopolitan landmarks of our country. If implemented properly, it will not only revolutionize urbanization, but it will also give India's Real Estate sector a new lease of life