India's "smart" cities mission: A preliminary examination into India's newest urban development policy

In 2015, the government of India allocated more than $1 billion for the development of 100 smart cities. These cities are forecast to help alleviate the mounting pressure being felt in India's existing urban centers as a result of rapid growth in urban population. According to estimates, it will reach 850 million residents by 2050. The Smart Cities Mission also marks a continued shift for urban development policy in India away from direct government intervention. This artice is an exploratory overview of the new Smart Cities Mission through an examination of the quantitative and qualitative attributes of participating cities. This is accomplished by exploring the differences between India's selected smart cities and a cohort group of Indian cities. Additionally, a content analysis of submitted smart city proposals is conducted to determine the key strategies chosen by India's smart cities and the type of projects being proposed to achieve a smarter city. The results reveal the cities selected for the Smart Cities Mission are larger, have lower percentages of residents living in slums, and have higher levels of public services. Additionally, these cities have largely adopted projects that seek to provide basic urban infrastructure as opposed to truly embracing smart city ideas and concepts.