Ideas Camp on Smart City development

A two-day "Ideas Camp" on various aspects of smart city development is being organised here from tomorrow to enable effective participation of the 98 cities included in the Smart City Mission in the second stage of City Challenge competition.
The camp is being organised by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which is the knowledge partner of the Urban Development Ministry for Smart City Mission.
Being held as a hand holding exercise, the "Ideas Camp" enables a detailed discussion facilitating clarity of thought and action regarding financing smart city projects, understanding area based development, process of citizen engagement and also how to set goals for a city among others.

The Ideas Camp is being organized at a time when the cities included in the Smart City Mission are set to begin preparation of city wise Smart City Plans which will be evaluated in the second stage of City Challenge competition based on a broad set of criteria for identifying the top ranking first 20 cities for financing during the current financial year.
Others will be required to address the deficiencies identified before participating in the subsequent 2nd and 3rd rounds of competition wherein 40 cities will be selected for financing each year.
Anthony Williams, former Mayor of Washington, Stephen Yarwood, former Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Raghu Kesavan of World Bank among others will participate the camp.

Mayors and Municipal Commissioners of all the 98 cities included in the Smart City Mission besides Principal Secretaries of Urban Development from States/UTs will also participate in the Ideas Camp. Most of the Mission Cities have so far selected consultants for preparation of city-wise Smart City Plans.