Smart Cities Mission as an Urban Governance Lab

This 13-day field-based governance lab treats the Smart Cities Mission as an empirical case study in digital urban management, infrastructure investment, and accountability.

Students begin in Delhi with conceptual grounding in urban political economy, infrastructure finance, and global urban frameworks (New Urban Agenda, SDG 11). Methods labs introduce infrastructure justice audit templates, transect walk protocols, and service-journey mapping tools.

Fieldwork in Delhi includes neighborhood infrastructure observation (water, sanitation, mobility, public space), informal interviews with residents and frontline staff, and governance clinics examining how projects are conceptualized and monitored.

In Pune, students examine comparative Smart City interventions, integrated command-and-control centers, and project maintenance regimes. Stakeholder mapping focuses on municipal authorities, private contractors, technology vendors, and community actors.

The final Delhi phase centers on output production: infrastructure justice audit report, maps, and policy recommendations.