Presented by Siemens, ‘Cities of the Future’ visits 10 leading cities around India and explores their current condition and state of development. Based on Urban Infrastructure transformation, the show embarks its viewers on a journey to find answers to the challenges of Indian cities, the pace of urbanization and the future of sustainable development.

‘Cities of the Future’ provides a platform for sharing ideas on urban transformation to create beautiful, modern and sustainable Indian cities. The issue will be explored and discussed from some of the most prominent industry experts like Amrit Pandurangi, Senior Director, Deloitte, India, A.K Khan, Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, Rajesh Lakhani, Former MD, Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Ratnakar Gaikwad, Chief Secretary of Maharashtra and many more.

The first episode of the series brought out the need for urban transformation in India, depicting the urgency to act now, while analyzing the current trends & challenges in Indian urban infrastructure. While the other four episodes touched upon typical issues of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Baroda and suggestions from a few custodians of each of thes




pan style="color: #262626;">The first episode of the series brought out the need for urban transformation in India, depicting the urgency to act now, while analyzing the current trends & challenges in Indian urban infrastructure. While the other four episodes touched upon typical issues of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Baroda and suggestions from a few custodians of each of these cities on how make their city sustainable and .The next 10 episodes will be aided and guided by concise and practical data – by generating inputs and solutions pertaining to Innovation & Technology.

The show will cover different topics like investing in urban infrastructure – deficit assessment & mobilizing funds, powering cities of the future, sustainable urban development: governance, reforms, PPP, arresting urban decay, solutions for energy saving, green solution to mobility, building infrastructure for next gen healthcare, fostering leadership, megacities: reinventing Mumbai/ New Delhi/ Kolkata/ Chennai, multiplier impact & inclusive expansion, climate-change mitigation, creating infrastructure for consumption and luxury, internal security, affordable housing.

A Siemens technology Leader will provide answers to issues and challenges that city planners face in implementing the Innovation and Sustainability agenda of urban development. As a leading global Power sector player, Siemens also offers answers to the challenges that the cities of tomorrow confront, especially in the field of energy as that is responsible for 65-70% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. The Siemens technology Leader will give viewers an insight on emerging technologies and impress the advantages of smart technology solutions, upon other thought leaders, policy makers and decision makers.

Commenting on the major challenges of Mumbai city, Ratnakar Gaikwad, Chief Secretary of Maharashtra said “The major challenges for Mumbai city are transport and housing. So the plan which we prepared in collaboration with World Bank envisages total investment in urban transport of over

Rs 2,07,000 crores over next 15 years. That is a huge challenge for us because to mobilize funds through budgetary support from government is ruled out. So we are following model of basically PPP where private sector is supposed to contribute 40% and 20% through international funding like World Bank, etc and remaining 40 % will come through intra governmental transfers. 2 projects which we have done are successful.”

Emphasizing on the importance of green initiatives, Amrit Pandurangi, Senior Director, Deloitte, India said “Because of the massive urbanization that is going to be taking place on a continuous basis over the next 3 or 4 decades we have to completely change the way we are thinking when it comes to urban planning, urban design, the new cites or rehabilitation and development of existing cities.  And in that new thinking we have to bring into the mainstream a lot of ideas connected to green initiatives, conservation, waste reduction; right from the doorstep of the household to the last point involved.  And one of the actions we have to take to be a responsive country is to be extremely strict on not just formulating the correct strategies and planning but also the actual implementation. Because I think what has happened is in the last 3-4 decades when we have ended up with massive problems in the country it is not just poor planning but poor implementation. So we have to think of green efficient energy and conservation oriented actions at every stage, whether it is green buildings, water conservation, congestion reduction, promoting public transport over private transport at every stage.”

While A.K Khan, Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad talking about the merits of public transport said, “There is only 40% dependency now on public transport. We want to push it to 70%. Now the time taken to travel for 1 trip is almost one hour and thirty minutes, if we can save per commuter even 15 mins in the morning and 15mins in the evening we will save more than 20 lakh man hours. It could be time of a laborer, time of a teacher, scientist. Imagine 20 lakh many more man hours getting added to the city in terms of work, how much productivity and economic benefit it will accrue. Also 15 mins less travel per trip would be less consumption of petroleum, less pollution.”