Sarbeswar Praharaj (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at the University of Miami with shared responsibilities between the Department of Geography & Sustainable Development and the School of Architecture. He previously served as the Associate Director and Assistant Research Professor at the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience at the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University. Sarbeswar holds a Ph.D. in Urban Planning and was also a postdoctoral researcher at the City Futures Research Center, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW Sydney, Australia. Sarbeswar’s research and teaching interests combine critical applications of geospatial data science and smart city technologies for shaping more inclusive, sustainable, and climate-resilient communities. Address: University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
The flood hazard risks and vulnerability in the urban areas alongside major rivers of India have ... more The flood hazard risks and vulnerability in the urban areas alongside major rivers of India have been gradually increasing due to extreme climatic events. The present study is intended to assess flood hazard vulnerability and potential risk areas and aims to ascertain the management strategies in Nabadwip Municipality, a statutory urban area of West Bengal. The multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) of selected criteria and geospatial techniques have been employed to determine the urban flood vulnerability in the study area. The study has been conducted using secondary datasets including relevant remotely sensed data and participant observation. The potential flood-affected zones have been determined using the normalized difference flood index (NDFI) and flood vulnerability index (FVI). The analysis of the standardized precipitation index (SPI) of 20 years of monthly precipitation shows the variability of seasonal rainfall distribution in the study area. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the composite Ibrahim index of socio-economic development accents that the urban development of the study area was uneven. The municipal wards situated in the central and northeastern portions of Nabadwip Municipality were extremely vulnerable, whereas the western and southwestern wards were less vulnerable. It is also revealed from the strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–challenges (SWOC) of the principal management strategies of the flood situation analysis that the unplanned sewerage system is one of the most effective weaknesses in the area. All-embracing and integrative flood management strategies need to be implemented in the study area considering the intra-regional vulnerability and development for the resilient and sustainable development of the study area.
The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2022
This article discusses a dashboard toolkit designed at the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience at t... more This article discusses a dashboard toolkit designed at the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience at the Arizona State University to integrate and analyze multi-agency data offering many ways of visualizing big data representable, contextualizable, and intelligible to a non-expert target audience. We outline a community-driven approach to identify pressing resiliency issues and deploy dashboard tools on targeted areas for significant community benefit. Our research builds on the offerings of data science to aid communityfocused decision support systems to enable evidence-based and real-time decision-making. We hypothesize that building community resilience in response to emerging challenges requires a combination of timely data at the local scale and easy-to-use decision support tools. This research particularly focuses on augmenting the capacity of communities through dashboard technologies to comprehend rapidly evolving issues and address them in a timely and efficient manner. Our work contributes to a rapidly growing research domain around geospatial data visualization technologies that are increasingly playing a vital role in the shaping of government policies, including resiliency planning and disaster response. This study argues that dashboards that are action-oriented, easy-to-use, and locally embedded within the community have much more potential to be used as a decision-support system. The findings indicate that community-based knowledge networks catalyzed and influenced by modern technologies might provide a model to negotiate the gaps between ecosystem-based and social-science-focused conceptualization of community resilience.
ECOCITY WORLD SUMMIT 2021-22 Conference Proceedings, 2022
Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic highlight a systemic gap in our understanding of urban resilienc... more Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic highlight a systemic gap in our understanding of urban resilience and the critical need to rethink how resilient cities are defined, measured, and (re)built. Current research and resiliency models overemphasize the environmental, institutional, and infrastructure aspects of urban resilience. In contrast, the social and economic structure and processes are neglected, resulting in cities being unprepared to deal with extreme events. This research conducts a multidisciplinary systematic review of the literature on urban resilience assessment to determine the extent to which current knowledge addresses social inequity to prevent disasters from striking communities disproportionately. We also examine whether these tools provide instruments for cities to create an agile urban economic system that can withstand climate crises or pandemics to ‘bounce back’ to previous equilibrium points or ‘bounce forward’ towards new paths through innovation adaptation. We systematically studied 130 papers from the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) database using a science mapping technique named VOSviewer, a widely known software tool for bibliometrics analysis and scientometric visualization. We employed the Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) method to recognize the dimensionality and the spectrum of different indicators and assessment tools. Analysis of the urban resilience literature and assessment tools reveals that most of them fall short of appropriately emphasizing the core social and human systems as enablers of resilient cities, and further improvements are required. This study argues for assessing resilience against socio-economic risks and presents a novel urban resilience assessment and modeling toolkit integrating social and behavioural, technological, and environmental dimensions of resilience.
Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 2022
COVID-19 dashboards with geospatial data visualization have become ubiquitous. There is a growing... more COVID-19 dashboards with geospatial data visualization have become ubiquitous. There is a growing sense of responsibility to report public health data pushing governments and community organizations to develop and share web-based dashboards. While a substantial body of literature exists on how these GIS technologies and urban analytics approaches support COVID-19 monitoring, their level of social embeddedness, quality and accessibility of user interface, and overall decision-making capabilities has not been rigorously assessed. In this paper, we survey 68 public web-based COVID-19 dashboards using a nominal group technique to find that most dashboards report a wealth of epidemiologic data at the state and county levels. However, these dashboards have limited emphasis on providing granular data (city and neighborhood level) broken down by population subgroups. We found severe inadequacy in reporting social, behavioral, and economic indicators that shape the trajectory of the pandemic and vice versa. Our survey reveals that most COVID-19 dashboards ignore the provision of metadata, data download options, and narratives around visualizations explaining the data's background, source, and purpose. Based on these lessons, we illustrate an empirical experiment of building a dashboard prototype-the COVID-19 Economic Resilience Dashboard in Arizona. Our dashboard project demonstrates a model that can inform decision-making (beyond plain information sharing) while being accessible by design. To achieve this, we provide localized data, drill-down options by geography and sub-population, visualization narratives, open access to the data source, and accessible features on the interface. We exhibited the value of linking pandemic-related information with socioeconomic data. Our findings suggest a pathway forward for researchers and governments to incorporate more action-oriented data and easy-to-use interfaces as they refine existing and develop new information systems and data analytics dashboards.
ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2022
Rapid urbanization in the emerging economies leads to immense pressure on existing amenities and ... more Rapid urbanization in the emerging economies leads to immense pressure on existing amenities and urban services, and hence the congregation of smart technologies, with efficient data-driven solutions are a desirable requisite for a better quality of life, thus forming the basis of Smart cities. The concept of a smart city is multi-dimensional and is a mix of multiple factors and indicators that constitute the core concept of sustainability. One of the key indicators of a smart city is active public spaces and their consolidated wholesome implications on well-being. Hence, addressing the consequences of smart city initiatives, with respect to the access to the public realm to engage, interact, share, and recreate, through extensive literature review and case-based study seemed of prime importance. This paper attempts to unpack the smart city paradigm in India, in conjunction with aspects of social sustainability, technological interventions, and the on-ground reality while learning about their implications on the quality of life, specifically, in the case of the marginalized groups. The literature review and case-based study of three Indian smart cities, namely New Delhi, Indore, and Bhopal have opened possibilities for the identification of factors responsible for the smartness of public spaces and a realization of the extent to which theoretical concepts translate from paper to ground realities, and their immediate implications on the 'informal' aspects and groups of our society.
In less-developed countries, the lack of granular data limits the researcher's ability to study t... more In less-developed countries, the lack of granular data limits the researcher's ability to study the spatial interaction of different factors on the COVID-19 pandemic. This study designs a novel database to examine the spatial effects of demographic and population health factors on COVID-19 prevalence across 640 districts in India. The goal is to provide a robust understanding of how spatial associations and the interconnections between places influence disease spread. In addition to the linear Ordinary Least Square regression model, three spatial regression models-Spatial Lag Model, Spatial Error Model, and Geographically Weighted Regression are employed to study and compare the variables explanatory power in shaping geographic variations in the COVID-19 prevalence. We found that the local GWR model is more robust and effective at predicting spatial relationships. The findings indicate that among the demographic factors, a high share of the population living in slums is positively associated with a higher incidence of COVID-19 across districts. The spatial variations in COVID-19 deaths were explained by obesity and high blood sugar, indicating a strong association between pre-existing health conditions and COVID-19 fatalities. The study brings forth the critical factors that expose the poor and vulnerable populations to severe public health risks and highlights the application of geographical analysis vis-a-vis spatial regression models to help explain those associations.
Practising Cultural Geographies, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, 2022
Public spaces are one of the most defining elements of a vibrant community and matured urban land... more Public spaces are one of the most defining elements of a vibrant community and matured urban landscapes. Cities of the past and present have laid great emphasis on the provision of public spaces and defined the idea of livability through them. The city of Varanasi, which exhibits the continuity of human settlements and culture since 1000 BCE, is one of the unique destinations that show exemplary natural, architectural, artistic and religious expressions of traditional Indian culture blended with splendid public spaces and people. But uncontrolled urbanisation, coupled with weak governance and lack of awareness, has resulted in utter neglect and degradation of urban heritage and its associated spaces. This article intends to analyse the culture of public spaces in Varanasi, their use and their present state of decay through an in-depth case study investigation. This research contributes to the design development of a comprehensive vision for the restoration of urban heritage and conservation of immensely valuable public spaces that shape vibrant community life representing the culture and diversity of this great city and its people.
Cities in the Global South face rapid urbanization challenges and often suffer an acute lack of i... more Cities in the Global South face rapid urbanization challenges and often suffer an acute lack of infrastructure and governance capacities. Smart Cities Mission, in India, launched in 2015, aims to offer a novel approach for urban renewal of 100 cities following an area-based development approach, where the use of ICT and digital technologies is particularly emphasized. This article presents a critical review of the design and implementation framework of this new urban renewal program across selected case-study cities. The article examines the claims of the so-called "smart cities" against actual urban transformation on-ground and evaluates how "inclusive" and "sustainable" these developments are. We quantify the scale and coverage of the smart city urban renewal projects in the cities to highlight who the program includes and excludes. The article also presents a statistical analysis of the sectoral focus and budgetary allocations of the projects under the Smart Cities Mission to find an inherent bias in these smart city initiatives in terms of which types of development they promote and the ones it ignores. The findings indicate that a predominant emphasis on digital urban renewal of selected precincts and enclaves, branded as "smart cities," leads to deepening social polarization and gentrification. The article offers crucial urban planning lessons for designing ICT-driven urban renewal projects, while addressing critical questions around inclusion and sustainability in smart city ventures.
Smart cities commentary often highlights the technological and entrepreneurial aspects of the cit... more Smart cities commentary often highlights the technological and entrepreneurial aspects of the city. But, the dimensions of local policy and politics is surprisingly little debated. Mega cities in the rapidly urbanising economies develop a plethora of urban policies and plans cultivated by various state and local agencies. These are often overlapping or conflicting and as a result do not produce desired outcomes. Prospective smart cities tend to add a new layer of plan and devise extra institutional instrument in to this already complex environment. We challenge this idea of smart cities being another stand-alone initiative and explore how integration of plans and unification of smart city visions with the overarching city development goals can better support effective urban transformation and local innovation. This research addresses the complex planning and governance mechanisms in the world's fastest growing economy – India - which has initiated an ambitious mission to transform 100 urban areas across the country into “smart cities”. The federal program involves the provision of centrally devised guidelines for smart city development. These combined with local level policy and institutional initiatives in designated smart cities in India shape a multiplicity of policies and programs. A two-level case study is presented in this paper as a critical polemic on this policy landscape. Investigation along these lines provide opportunities for identification of underlying patterns and challenges of smart city developments in India. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations for building sound smart city policy frameworks in emerging economies.
Human mobility triggers how fast and where infectious diseases spread and modelling community flo... more Human mobility triggers how fast and where infectious diseases spread and modelling community flows helps assess the impact of social distancing policies and advance our understanding of community behaviour in such circumstances. This study investigated the relationship between human mobility and the surging incidence of COVID-19 in India. We performed a generalised estimating equation with a Poisson log-linear model to analyse the daily mobility rate and new cases of COVID-19 between 14 March and 11 September 2020. We found that mobility to grocery and retail locations was significantly associated (p < 0.01) with the incidence of COVID-19, these being crowded and unorganised in most parts of India. In contrast, visits to parks, workplaces, and transit stations did not considerably affect the changing COVID-19 cases over time. In particular, workplaces equipped with social distancing protocols or low-density open spaces are much less susceptible to the spread of the virus. These findings suggest that human mobility data, geographic information, and health geography modelling have significant potential to inform strategic decision-making during pandemics because they provide actionable knowledge of when and where communities might be exposed to the disease.
In 2015 the Government of India announced an ambitious mission to develop 100 smart cities throug... more In 2015 the Government of India announced an ambitious mission to develop 100 smart cities throughout the rapidly urbanising country. As part of this mission, the Government has initiated ICT based citizen engagement through a dedicated website-MyGov.in. The disparity in digital infrastructure between different socioeconomic demographics is a challenge for cities in emerging economies wishing to implement smart city policies. Our research explores the relationship between active civic engagement and the availability of basic digital infrastructure and socioeconomic standards in Indian cities. This study provides insights on factors that lead to the success or failure of cities' online citizen engagement platforms. Such insights offer important lessons for building future smart and connected cities as well as promoting healthy urban relationships and welfare, in the emerging economies of the world.
The uneven outcomes of the covid-19 pandemic in the United States can be characterized by its pat... more The uneven outcomes of the covid-19 pandemic in the United States can be characterized by its patchwork patterns. Given a weak national coordinated response, state-level decisions offer an important frame for analysis. This article explores how such analysis invokes fundamental geographic challenges related to the modified areal unit problem, and results in scientific predictive models that behave differently in different states. We examined morbidity with respect to state-level policy decisions, by comparing the fit and significance of different types of predictive modeling using data from the first wave of 2020. Our research reflects upon public health literature, mathematical modeling, and geographic approaches in the wake of the underlying complex pattern of drivers, decisions, and their impact on public health outcomes state by statetime line. Contemplating these findings, we discuss the need to improve integration of fundamental geographic concepts to creatively develop modeling and interpretations across disciplines that offer value for both informing and holding accountable decision makers of the jurisdictions in which we live. Keywords: Accountability, covid-19, decision-making, modeling, patchwork.
Cities are continually evolving through adjustments to zonings. The potential to integrate more e... more Cities are continually evolving through adjustments to zonings. The potential to integrate more equitable and effective value capture mechanisms into the rezoning process makes estimation of increases in land value from rezoning of interest to urban planners. The use of Residual Land Valuation (RLV), while accepted practice in development feasibility calculations, tends to be absent from the rezoning process because it is outside the skill set of most planners. Also, RLV has historically been applied to individual land parcels with limited potential for wider estimation of land value, and is generally not embedded in planning tools limiting the potential for value capture mechanisms to be included in the early scenario phases of rezoning decisions. This study addressed these issues. An RLV tool to estimate value uplift from rezoning was developed and embedded into a planning support system called Rapid Analytics Interactive Scenario Explorer (RAISE) to explore densification options associated with transport-oriented development. The co-design of the RLV tool with end-users and its test in a real case scenario in Greater Sydney has demonstrated the potential of RAISE-RLV. Specific advances included development of an algorithmic approach to RLV, that could be automated and applied across multiple parcels of land in rapid response to changing zoning. Second, such calculations were incorporated into a platform compatible with established rezoning decision making processes. The study demonstrated that it is possible to include RLV in a platform that improves users' understanding of the valuation process. The RAISE-RVL approach and tool can make a significant contribution to well-considered urbanisation. In addition, in the current era of tight government budgets, properly informed value capture mechanisms are a promising strategy for funding new infrastructure supporting both urban growth and the broader goals that growth can realise.
Sessional teachers (also known as casual educators or contract tutors) account for a significant ... more Sessional teachers (also known as casual educators or contract tutors) account for a significant percentage of higher education teaching in Australia; studies identify anywhere from 50 percent up to 80 percent both in terms of the number of educators and hours spent with students. There are risks associated with an under-trained casualized academic workforce in design education, including the teaching experience of the casual educators and the learning experience of their students. At UNSW Built Environment, a self-paced online capability development resource has been implemented to support its sessional staff, both in terms of teaching and learning skills and establishing a sense of community. This article unpacks the program, named BE UPskilled, in order to argue for correlation between ongoing professional development and the creation of a sustainable, high quality sessional staff cohort of design educators. The content development of BE UPskilled is outlined and the various stages of its implementation are reviewed. Analysis of feedback from a pilot version is shared and impact factors are evaluated, demonstrating how such resources may be improved in the future and scaled up for broader application in higher education teaching and learning.
International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2020
This study aims to examine the spatially varying relationships between social vulnerability facto... more This study aims to examine the spatially varying relationships between social vulnerability factors and COVID-19 cases and deaths in the contiguous United States. County-level COVID-19 data and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention social vulnerability index (SVI) dataset were analyzed using local Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results suggested that SVI and four social vulnerability themes have spatially varying relationships with COVID-19 cases and deaths, which means spatial heterogeneity is an essential factor that influences the relationship, and the strength of association varies significantly across counties. County hot spots that were subject to all four social vulnerability themes during the pandemic were also identified. Local communities and health authorities should pay immediate attention to the most influential social vulnerability factors that are dominant in their region and incorporate measures tailored to the specific groups of people who are under the greatest risk of being affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To reduce the spread of COVID-19, governments across the world enacted various levels of "shelter... more To reduce the spread of COVID-19, governments across the world enacted various levels of "shelter-in-place" policies, leading to a notable reduction in urban mobility. To understand the relationship between policy implementation and mobility effects, we use Apple COVID-19 Mobility Trends Reports to assess how urban travel, by mode, changed in response to public policy. The data were used to statistically evaluate and visualize the changes in urban mobility patterns across four regions: Sydney, London, Phoenix, and Pune, which reflect the global nature of the pandemic and the local nature of policy responses. The results provide insights into how policies can receive a starkly varied response from communities across global regions. Research Questions and Hypothesis In 2020, cities and nations across the world have implemented various policies and restrictions to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19. However, the types of containment strategies, the strictness of implementation, and observation by the community vary (Lasry et al. 2020). While the United Kingdom and Australia issued restrictions to non-essential travel in the form of stay-at-home orders, India enforced a complete lockdown on 1.3 billion people. In the United States, restrictions were set by either state or city officials. We hypothesize that the effect of these interventions is measurable with people's daily movement, which is accessible through navigation app providers such as Apple, Google, and Citymapper (Paez 2020).
The 100 Smart Cities Mission in India have received significant attention from the researchers an... more The 100 Smart Cities Mission in India have received significant attention from the researchers and policymakers globally. This chapter examines the imposing challenge of development of command and control centres that are at the focal point of the smart cities discourse in India with as many as 83 cities investing substantially to capture and use big data through such technologically advanced facilities. A thorough account of the genesis of the Smart Cities Mission in India is presented here to establish the context behind the development of centralised big data command and control centres. This chapter presents the very first analysis of the technical architecture and systems being adopted by the Indian smart cities for creating the command and control centres and highlights their innovations in collecting and integrating big data through a range of audio, video, sound, sensing and crowdsourcing devices. While identifying the domain and application areas incorporated within the command and control centre projects, this research reveals that the focus by the Indian smart cities is more on controlling and surveilling rather than improving the delivery of public services. This chapter also critically assesses the potential of building synergy between different local and state agencies through the command and control centres and how much they can influence the urban planning processes in rapidly growing Indian cities. The outcomes from the research suggest that the command and control centres in Indian smart cities are predominantly privatised and there is an inclination towards big data corporatisation. The chapter argues for public ownership over these big data and command and control centres so that publicly funded high-value datasets can be made openly available for use by the app developers, businesses, innovators, startups and citizens that could open up opportunities for creative collaborations and the development of a datadriven innovation ecosystem.
Recent advancements in digital technologies provide opportunities to collect, organise, process a... more Recent advancements in digital technologies provide opportunities to collect, organise, process and share data at an unprecedented scale. Many smart cities are embracing these technologies to foster an Open Data culture through the provision of city datastores. We, in this chapter, examine the Open Data policies and platforms in India to reveal the status, challenges and opportunities of building and sustaining city data architectures. A careful selection of case studies of city datastores informs the evolution of the sites, the availability of data across urban sectors and the limitation and breakthroughs of the projects. We find that the city Open Data platforms are more likely to sustain if developed and operated at a regional level, rather than at the national level—where past initiatives have shown limited success. The chapter benchmarks the Indian city datastores with global case studies for identifying a series of recommendations and inspirations. We propose that the leading Indian cities must significantly expand capabilities for capturing real-time information and bring them together through open city dashboards to support informed policymaking. We provide a direction for public authorities in India and across the global south to leverage Open Data for shaping smart cities.
Urban development initiatives in India are largely shaped by a ‘patchwork of programmers’ launche... more Urban development initiatives in India are largely shaped by a ‘patchwork of programmers’ launched periodically by the Government of India. Recently, the Indian government has launched multiple urban transformation programmes aiming at smart city development, urban renewal, and heritage development. But, India’s urban policy interventions lacks effective mechanisms for measuring the impact of such programmes over time. Indicator systems can provide insight into local urban challenges and issues and offer a basis for measuring urban progress as a result of public investments. Although there are multiple global indicator facilities available for adoption, considerable challenges remain in selecting an appropriate set of indicators for local conditions. With Indian urbanisation intensifying and an accompanying proliferation of urban development programmes, there is an increasing need for a set of indicators suited to local context. A local approach can objectively measure the existing performance of Indian cities vis-a-vis quality of life and sustainability, and can evaluate the outcome and benefits of new local urban development programmes as they are implemented. To address this emerging need, this research aims to provide a bridge between local urban performance and the capacity to meet local and global standards. By the application of factor analysis (Principal Component Analysis) on 59 indicators chosen from various urban sectors, this study attempts to derive the most significant factors to measure the performance of 98 Indian cities and assess their potential to become sustainable smart cities. The study enhances the selection and development of policies by city makers. It also establishes an approach to develop urban typologies for different Indian cities. Such a categorisation makes the bewildering range of Indian cities and their challenges easier to comprehend and address.
The flood hazard risks and vulnerability in the urban areas alongside major rivers of India have ... more The flood hazard risks and vulnerability in the urban areas alongside major rivers of India have been gradually increasing due to extreme climatic events. The present study is intended to assess flood hazard vulnerability and potential risk areas and aims to ascertain the management strategies in Nabadwip Municipality, a statutory urban area of West Bengal. The multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) of selected criteria and geospatial techniques have been employed to determine the urban flood vulnerability in the study area. The study has been conducted using secondary datasets including relevant remotely sensed data and participant observation. The potential flood-affected zones have been determined using the normalized difference flood index (NDFI) and flood vulnerability index (FVI). The analysis of the standardized precipitation index (SPI) of 20 years of monthly precipitation shows the variability of seasonal rainfall distribution in the study area. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the composite Ibrahim index of socio-economic development accents that the urban development of the study area was uneven. The municipal wards situated in the central and northeastern portions of Nabadwip Municipality were extremely vulnerable, whereas the western and southwestern wards were less vulnerable. It is also revealed from the strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–challenges (SWOC) of the principal management strategies of the flood situation analysis that the unplanned sewerage system is one of the most effective weaknesses in the area. All-embracing and integrative flood management strategies need to be implemented in the study area considering the intra-regional vulnerability and development for the resilient and sustainable development of the study area.
The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2022
This article discusses a dashboard toolkit designed at the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience at t... more This article discusses a dashboard toolkit designed at the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience at the Arizona State University to integrate and analyze multi-agency data offering many ways of visualizing big data representable, contextualizable, and intelligible to a non-expert target audience. We outline a community-driven approach to identify pressing resiliency issues and deploy dashboard tools on targeted areas for significant community benefit. Our research builds on the offerings of data science to aid communityfocused decision support systems to enable evidence-based and real-time decision-making. We hypothesize that building community resilience in response to emerging challenges requires a combination of timely data at the local scale and easy-to-use decision support tools. This research particularly focuses on augmenting the capacity of communities through dashboard technologies to comprehend rapidly evolving issues and address them in a timely and efficient manner. Our work contributes to a rapidly growing research domain around geospatial data visualization technologies that are increasingly playing a vital role in the shaping of government policies, including resiliency planning and disaster response. This study argues that dashboards that are action-oriented, easy-to-use, and locally embedded within the community have much more potential to be used as a decision-support system. The findings indicate that community-based knowledge networks catalyzed and influenced by modern technologies might provide a model to negotiate the gaps between ecosystem-based and social-science-focused conceptualization of community resilience.
ECOCITY WORLD SUMMIT 2021-22 Conference Proceedings, 2022
Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic highlight a systemic gap in our understanding of urban resilienc... more Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic highlight a systemic gap in our understanding of urban resilience and the critical need to rethink how resilient cities are defined, measured, and (re)built. Current research and resiliency models overemphasize the environmental, institutional, and infrastructure aspects of urban resilience. In contrast, the social and economic structure and processes are neglected, resulting in cities being unprepared to deal with extreme events. This research conducts a multidisciplinary systematic review of the literature on urban resilience assessment to determine the extent to which current knowledge addresses social inequity to prevent disasters from striking communities disproportionately. We also examine whether these tools provide instruments for cities to create an agile urban economic system that can withstand climate crises or pandemics to ‘bounce back’ to previous equilibrium points or ‘bounce forward’ towards new paths through innovation adaptation. We systematically studied 130 papers from the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) database using a science mapping technique named VOSviewer, a widely known software tool for bibliometrics analysis and scientometric visualization. We employed the Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) method to recognize the dimensionality and the spectrum of different indicators and assessment tools. Analysis of the urban resilience literature and assessment tools reveals that most of them fall short of appropriately emphasizing the core social and human systems as enablers of resilient cities, and further improvements are required. This study argues for assessing resilience against socio-economic risks and presents a novel urban resilience assessment and modeling toolkit integrating social and behavioural, technological, and environmental dimensions of resilience.
Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 2022
COVID-19 dashboards with geospatial data visualization have become ubiquitous. There is a growing... more COVID-19 dashboards with geospatial data visualization have become ubiquitous. There is a growing sense of responsibility to report public health data pushing governments and community organizations to develop and share web-based dashboards. While a substantial body of literature exists on how these GIS technologies and urban analytics approaches support COVID-19 monitoring, their level of social embeddedness, quality and accessibility of user interface, and overall decision-making capabilities has not been rigorously assessed. In this paper, we survey 68 public web-based COVID-19 dashboards using a nominal group technique to find that most dashboards report a wealth of epidemiologic data at the state and county levels. However, these dashboards have limited emphasis on providing granular data (city and neighborhood level) broken down by population subgroups. We found severe inadequacy in reporting social, behavioral, and economic indicators that shape the trajectory of the pandemic and vice versa. Our survey reveals that most COVID-19 dashboards ignore the provision of metadata, data download options, and narratives around visualizations explaining the data's background, source, and purpose. Based on these lessons, we illustrate an empirical experiment of building a dashboard prototype-the COVID-19 Economic Resilience Dashboard in Arizona. Our dashboard project demonstrates a model that can inform decision-making (beyond plain information sharing) while being accessible by design. To achieve this, we provide localized data, drill-down options by geography and sub-population, visualization narratives, open access to the data source, and accessible features on the interface. We exhibited the value of linking pandemic-related information with socioeconomic data. Our findings suggest a pathway forward for researchers and governments to incorporate more action-oriented data and easy-to-use interfaces as they refine existing and develop new information systems and data analytics dashboards.
ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2022
Rapid urbanization in the emerging economies leads to immense pressure on existing amenities and ... more Rapid urbanization in the emerging economies leads to immense pressure on existing amenities and urban services, and hence the congregation of smart technologies, with efficient data-driven solutions are a desirable requisite for a better quality of life, thus forming the basis of Smart cities. The concept of a smart city is multi-dimensional and is a mix of multiple factors and indicators that constitute the core concept of sustainability. One of the key indicators of a smart city is active public spaces and their consolidated wholesome implications on well-being. Hence, addressing the consequences of smart city initiatives, with respect to the access to the public realm to engage, interact, share, and recreate, through extensive literature review and case-based study seemed of prime importance. This paper attempts to unpack the smart city paradigm in India, in conjunction with aspects of social sustainability, technological interventions, and the on-ground reality while learning about their implications on the quality of life, specifically, in the case of the marginalized groups. The literature review and case-based study of three Indian smart cities, namely New Delhi, Indore, and Bhopal have opened possibilities for the identification of factors responsible for the smartness of public spaces and a realization of the extent to which theoretical concepts translate from paper to ground realities, and their immediate implications on the 'informal' aspects and groups of our society.
In less-developed countries, the lack of granular data limits the researcher's ability to study t... more In less-developed countries, the lack of granular data limits the researcher's ability to study the spatial interaction of different factors on the COVID-19 pandemic. This study designs a novel database to examine the spatial effects of demographic and population health factors on COVID-19 prevalence across 640 districts in India. The goal is to provide a robust understanding of how spatial associations and the interconnections between places influence disease spread. In addition to the linear Ordinary Least Square regression model, three spatial regression models-Spatial Lag Model, Spatial Error Model, and Geographically Weighted Regression are employed to study and compare the variables explanatory power in shaping geographic variations in the COVID-19 prevalence. We found that the local GWR model is more robust and effective at predicting spatial relationships. The findings indicate that among the demographic factors, a high share of the population living in slums is positively associated with a higher incidence of COVID-19 across districts. The spatial variations in COVID-19 deaths were explained by obesity and high blood sugar, indicating a strong association between pre-existing health conditions and COVID-19 fatalities. The study brings forth the critical factors that expose the poor and vulnerable populations to severe public health risks and highlights the application of geographical analysis vis-a-vis spatial regression models to help explain those associations.
Practising Cultural Geographies, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, 2022
Public spaces are one of the most defining elements of a vibrant community and matured urban land... more Public spaces are one of the most defining elements of a vibrant community and matured urban landscapes. Cities of the past and present have laid great emphasis on the provision of public spaces and defined the idea of livability through them. The city of Varanasi, which exhibits the continuity of human settlements and culture since 1000 BCE, is one of the unique destinations that show exemplary natural, architectural, artistic and religious expressions of traditional Indian culture blended with splendid public spaces and people. But uncontrolled urbanisation, coupled with weak governance and lack of awareness, has resulted in utter neglect and degradation of urban heritage and its associated spaces. This article intends to analyse the culture of public spaces in Varanasi, their use and their present state of decay through an in-depth case study investigation. This research contributes to the design development of a comprehensive vision for the restoration of urban heritage and conservation of immensely valuable public spaces that shape vibrant community life representing the culture and diversity of this great city and its people.
Cities in the Global South face rapid urbanization challenges and often suffer an acute lack of i... more Cities in the Global South face rapid urbanization challenges and often suffer an acute lack of infrastructure and governance capacities. Smart Cities Mission, in India, launched in 2015, aims to offer a novel approach for urban renewal of 100 cities following an area-based development approach, where the use of ICT and digital technologies is particularly emphasized. This article presents a critical review of the design and implementation framework of this new urban renewal program across selected case-study cities. The article examines the claims of the so-called "smart cities" against actual urban transformation on-ground and evaluates how "inclusive" and "sustainable" these developments are. We quantify the scale and coverage of the smart city urban renewal projects in the cities to highlight who the program includes and excludes. The article also presents a statistical analysis of the sectoral focus and budgetary allocations of the projects under the Smart Cities Mission to find an inherent bias in these smart city initiatives in terms of which types of development they promote and the ones it ignores. The findings indicate that a predominant emphasis on digital urban renewal of selected precincts and enclaves, branded as "smart cities," leads to deepening social polarization and gentrification. The article offers crucial urban planning lessons for designing ICT-driven urban renewal projects, while addressing critical questions around inclusion and sustainability in smart city ventures.
Smart cities commentary often highlights the technological and entrepreneurial aspects of the cit... more Smart cities commentary often highlights the technological and entrepreneurial aspects of the city. But, the dimensions of local policy and politics is surprisingly little debated. Mega cities in the rapidly urbanising economies develop a plethora of urban policies and plans cultivated by various state and local agencies. These are often overlapping or conflicting and as a result do not produce desired outcomes. Prospective smart cities tend to add a new layer of plan and devise extra institutional instrument in to this already complex environment. We challenge this idea of smart cities being another stand-alone initiative and explore how integration of plans and unification of smart city visions with the overarching city development goals can better support effective urban transformation and local innovation. This research addresses the complex planning and governance mechanisms in the world's fastest growing economy – India - which has initiated an ambitious mission to transform 100 urban areas across the country into “smart cities”. The federal program involves the provision of centrally devised guidelines for smart city development. These combined with local level policy and institutional initiatives in designated smart cities in India shape a multiplicity of policies and programs. A two-level case study is presented in this paper as a critical polemic on this policy landscape. Investigation along these lines provide opportunities for identification of underlying patterns and challenges of smart city developments in India. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations for building sound smart city policy frameworks in emerging economies.
Human mobility triggers how fast and where infectious diseases spread and modelling community flo... more Human mobility triggers how fast and where infectious diseases spread and modelling community flows helps assess the impact of social distancing policies and advance our understanding of community behaviour in such circumstances. This study investigated the relationship between human mobility and the surging incidence of COVID-19 in India. We performed a generalised estimating equation with a Poisson log-linear model to analyse the daily mobility rate and new cases of COVID-19 between 14 March and 11 September 2020. We found that mobility to grocery and retail locations was significantly associated (p < 0.01) with the incidence of COVID-19, these being crowded and unorganised in most parts of India. In contrast, visits to parks, workplaces, and transit stations did not considerably affect the changing COVID-19 cases over time. In particular, workplaces equipped with social distancing protocols or low-density open spaces are much less susceptible to the spread of the virus. These findings suggest that human mobility data, geographic information, and health geography modelling have significant potential to inform strategic decision-making during pandemics because they provide actionable knowledge of when and where communities might be exposed to the disease.
In 2015 the Government of India announced an ambitious mission to develop 100 smart cities throug... more In 2015 the Government of India announced an ambitious mission to develop 100 smart cities throughout the rapidly urbanising country. As part of this mission, the Government has initiated ICT based citizen engagement through a dedicated website-MyGov.in. The disparity in digital infrastructure between different socioeconomic demographics is a challenge for cities in emerging economies wishing to implement smart city policies. Our research explores the relationship between active civic engagement and the availability of basic digital infrastructure and socioeconomic standards in Indian cities. This study provides insights on factors that lead to the success or failure of cities' online citizen engagement platforms. Such insights offer important lessons for building future smart and connected cities as well as promoting healthy urban relationships and welfare, in the emerging economies of the world.
The uneven outcomes of the covid-19 pandemic in the United States can be characterized by its pat... more The uneven outcomes of the covid-19 pandemic in the United States can be characterized by its patchwork patterns. Given a weak national coordinated response, state-level decisions offer an important frame for analysis. This article explores how such analysis invokes fundamental geographic challenges related to the modified areal unit problem, and results in scientific predictive models that behave differently in different states. We examined morbidity with respect to state-level policy decisions, by comparing the fit and significance of different types of predictive modeling using data from the first wave of 2020. Our research reflects upon public health literature, mathematical modeling, and geographic approaches in the wake of the underlying complex pattern of drivers, decisions, and their impact on public health outcomes state by statetime line. Contemplating these findings, we discuss the need to improve integration of fundamental geographic concepts to creatively develop modeling and interpretations across disciplines that offer value for both informing and holding accountable decision makers of the jurisdictions in which we live. Keywords: Accountability, covid-19, decision-making, modeling, patchwork.
Cities are continually evolving through adjustments to zonings. The potential to integrate more e... more Cities are continually evolving through adjustments to zonings. The potential to integrate more equitable and effective value capture mechanisms into the rezoning process makes estimation of increases in land value from rezoning of interest to urban planners. The use of Residual Land Valuation (RLV), while accepted practice in development feasibility calculations, tends to be absent from the rezoning process because it is outside the skill set of most planners. Also, RLV has historically been applied to individual land parcels with limited potential for wider estimation of land value, and is generally not embedded in planning tools limiting the potential for value capture mechanisms to be included in the early scenario phases of rezoning decisions. This study addressed these issues. An RLV tool to estimate value uplift from rezoning was developed and embedded into a planning support system called Rapid Analytics Interactive Scenario Explorer (RAISE) to explore densification options associated with transport-oriented development. The co-design of the RLV tool with end-users and its test in a real case scenario in Greater Sydney has demonstrated the potential of RAISE-RLV. Specific advances included development of an algorithmic approach to RLV, that could be automated and applied across multiple parcels of land in rapid response to changing zoning. Second, such calculations were incorporated into a platform compatible with established rezoning decision making processes. The study demonstrated that it is possible to include RLV in a platform that improves users' understanding of the valuation process. The RAISE-RVL approach and tool can make a significant contribution to well-considered urbanisation. In addition, in the current era of tight government budgets, properly informed value capture mechanisms are a promising strategy for funding new infrastructure supporting both urban growth and the broader goals that growth can realise.
Sessional teachers (also known as casual educators or contract tutors) account for a significant ... more Sessional teachers (also known as casual educators or contract tutors) account for a significant percentage of higher education teaching in Australia; studies identify anywhere from 50 percent up to 80 percent both in terms of the number of educators and hours spent with students. There are risks associated with an under-trained casualized academic workforce in design education, including the teaching experience of the casual educators and the learning experience of their students. At UNSW Built Environment, a self-paced online capability development resource has been implemented to support its sessional staff, both in terms of teaching and learning skills and establishing a sense of community. This article unpacks the program, named BE UPskilled, in order to argue for correlation between ongoing professional development and the creation of a sustainable, high quality sessional staff cohort of design educators. The content development of BE UPskilled is outlined and the various stages of its implementation are reviewed. Analysis of feedback from a pilot version is shared and impact factors are evaluated, demonstrating how such resources may be improved in the future and scaled up for broader application in higher education teaching and learning.
International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2020
This study aims to examine the spatially varying relationships between social vulnerability facto... more This study aims to examine the spatially varying relationships between social vulnerability factors and COVID-19 cases and deaths in the contiguous United States. County-level COVID-19 data and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention social vulnerability index (SVI) dataset were analyzed using local Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results suggested that SVI and four social vulnerability themes have spatially varying relationships with COVID-19 cases and deaths, which means spatial heterogeneity is an essential factor that influences the relationship, and the strength of association varies significantly across counties. County hot spots that were subject to all four social vulnerability themes during the pandemic were also identified. Local communities and health authorities should pay immediate attention to the most influential social vulnerability factors that are dominant in their region and incorporate measures tailored to the specific groups of people who are under the greatest risk of being affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To reduce the spread of COVID-19, governments across the world enacted various levels of "shelter... more To reduce the spread of COVID-19, governments across the world enacted various levels of "shelter-in-place" policies, leading to a notable reduction in urban mobility. To understand the relationship between policy implementation and mobility effects, we use Apple COVID-19 Mobility Trends Reports to assess how urban travel, by mode, changed in response to public policy. The data were used to statistically evaluate and visualize the changes in urban mobility patterns across four regions: Sydney, London, Phoenix, and Pune, which reflect the global nature of the pandemic and the local nature of policy responses. The results provide insights into how policies can receive a starkly varied response from communities across global regions. Research Questions and Hypothesis In 2020, cities and nations across the world have implemented various policies and restrictions to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19. However, the types of containment strategies, the strictness of implementation, and observation by the community vary (Lasry et al. 2020). While the United Kingdom and Australia issued restrictions to non-essential travel in the form of stay-at-home orders, India enforced a complete lockdown on 1.3 billion people. In the United States, restrictions were set by either state or city officials. We hypothesize that the effect of these interventions is measurable with people's daily movement, which is accessible through navigation app providers such as Apple, Google, and Citymapper (Paez 2020).
The 100 Smart Cities Mission in India have received significant attention from the researchers an... more The 100 Smart Cities Mission in India have received significant attention from the researchers and policymakers globally. This chapter examines the imposing challenge of development of command and control centres that are at the focal point of the smart cities discourse in India with as many as 83 cities investing substantially to capture and use big data through such technologically advanced facilities. A thorough account of the genesis of the Smart Cities Mission in India is presented here to establish the context behind the development of centralised big data command and control centres. This chapter presents the very first analysis of the technical architecture and systems being adopted by the Indian smart cities for creating the command and control centres and highlights their innovations in collecting and integrating big data through a range of audio, video, sound, sensing and crowdsourcing devices. While identifying the domain and application areas incorporated within the command and control centre projects, this research reveals that the focus by the Indian smart cities is more on controlling and surveilling rather than improving the delivery of public services. This chapter also critically assesses the potential of building synergy between different local and state agencies through the command and control centres and how much they can influence the urban planning processes in rapidly growing Indian cities. The outcomes from the research suggest that the command and control centres in Indian smart cities are predominantly privatised and there is an inclination towards big data corporatisation. The chapter argues for public ownership over these big data and command and control centres so that publicly funded high-value datasets can be made openly available for use by the app developers, businesses, innovators, startups and citizens that could open up opportunities for creative collaborations and the development of a datadriven innovation ecosystem.
Recent advancements in digital technologies provide opportunities to collect, organise, process a... more Recent advancements in digital technologies provide opportunities to collect, organise, process and share data at an unprecedented scale. Many smart cities are embracing these technologies to foster an Open Data culture through the provision of city datastores. We, in this chapter, examine the Open Data policies and platforms in India to reveal the status, challenges and opportunities of building and sustaining city data architectures. A careful selection of case studies of city datastores informs the evolution of the sites, the availability of data across urban sectors and the limitation and breakthroughs of the projects. We find that the city Open Data platforms are more likely to sustain if developed and operated at a regional level, rather than at the national level—where past initiatives have shown limited success. The chapter benchmarks the Indian city datastores with global case studies for identifying a series of recommendations and inspirations. We propose that the leading Indian cities must significantly expand capabilities for capturing real-time information and bring them together through open city dashboards to support informed policymaking. We provide a direction for public authorities in India and across the global south to leverage Open Data for shaping smart cities.
Urban development initiatives in India are largely shaped by a ‘patchwork of programmers’ launche... more Urban development initiatives in India are largely shaped by a ‘patchwork of programmers’ launched periodically by the Government of India. Recently, the Indian government has launched multiple urban transformation programmes aiming at smart city development, urban renewal, and heritage development. But, India’s urban policy interventions lacks effective mechanisms for measuring the impact of such programmes over time. Indicator systems can provide insight into local urban challenges and issues and offer a basis for measuring urban progress as a result of public investments. Although there are multiple global indicator facilities available for adoption, considerable challenges remain in selecting an appropriate set of indicators for local conditions. With Indian urbanisation intensifying and an accompanying proliferation of urban development programmes, there is an increasing need for a set of indicators suited to local context. A local approach can objectively measure the existing performance of Indian cities vis-a-vis quality of life and sustainability, and can evaluate the outcome and benefits of new local urban development programmes as they are implemented. To address this emerging need, this research aims to provide a bridge between local urban performance and the capacity to meet local and global standards. By the application of factor analysis (Principal Component Analysis) on 59 indicators chosen from various urban sectors, this study attempts to derive the most significant factors to measure the performance of 98 Indian cities and assess their potential to become sustainable smart cities. The study enhances the selection and development of policies by city makers. It also establishes an approach to develop urban typologies for different Indian cities. Such a categorisation makes the bewildering range of Indian cities and their challenges easier to comprehend and address.
This Doctoral thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and opportunities of the... more This Doctoral thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and opportunities of the 100 Smart Cities Mission in India.
Rapid high carbon intensive urbanization is one of the important concerns in the environmental an... more Rapid high carbon intensive urbanization is one of the important concerns in the environmental and global warming debates in the context of environmentally fragile and sensitive areas like the Himalayas. Rapid urbanization and urban growth leads to rapid destruction of green infrastructure, high emission of GHG from transportation, construction, manufacturing and associated sectors. High waste generation and improper management and disposal of the waste further aggravate the problem. The ecological footprints of supplying food and basic services like water along with the destruction and deterioration of other eco system services makes the urban areas vulnerable to hazards and climate impacts both in the short and the long term. The problems get further accentuated because of poor regional and urban planning practices and weak implementation of planning bye laws and development control regulations. All these have significant impact on the local climate, including heat island effects ...
The Indian economy is undergoing rapid growth and will be the third largest in the world by 2030.... more The Indian economy is undergoing rapid growth and will be the third largest in the world by 2030. At the same time, there is a massive country-wide urbanisation. To maximise the opportunities presented by these trends the Government of India has committed to building 100 Smart Cities totalling an investment of $15 billion over a period of five years. The Smart Cities Mission aims to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life for people in India by supporting the leadership of 100 selected “lighthouse” cities. The approach aims to enable local development by harnessing technology to create smart solutions for citizens. At the same time Australia, facing sustainability and liveability challenges of its own, is moving to develop smart city capacity. The Australian Government’s $50 million Smart Cities and Suburbs Program, that aims to provide seed funding for projects that apply innovative smart technology solutions to urban problems is an indication of growing interest in the smart cities phenomenon. The program has developed quickly with the government receiving over 170 applications in 2017 for smart cities partnerships between business, local government and university sectors. This shared belief in the potential of technology to enable social, economic and environmental change presents a window of opportunity to take inspirations from each other and design a shared path towards future urban prosperity. This white paper is produced as an outcome of a unique collaboration between Indian and Australian smart city business, government and university leaders from the “Smart Cities and Informed Urbanisation Workshop” held in Sydney, Chennai and New Delhi. It provides insights and perspectives on the crafting of networks and strengthening of vital partnerships between cities in Australia and India. The paper identifies key target areas and opportunities emerging from the smart cities development in India and matches them with Australian expertise for technology exchange and businesses. This whitepaper advocate for the establishment of a multi-partner network between Australia and India for sharing of urban best practices and exchange of ideas. It is structured in four parts. The first part introduces the Smart Cities Research cluster as organiser of the Australia-India workshops and sets out the objectives of the whitepaper. The second part examines the smart city policy context in Australia and India. The third part presents industry and government insights from the unique workshops held by the UNSW Smart City Research Cluster in 2017. The concluding section identifies the necessary steps in establishing a knowledge exchange network.
Human mobility plays a crucial role in determining how fast and where infectious diseases can spr... more Human mobility plays a crucial role in determining how fast and where infectious diseases can spread. This study aims to investigate visit to which category of places among grocery, retail, parks, workplaces, residential, and transit stations is more associated with the incidence of COVID-19 in India. A longitudinal analysis of generalized estimating equation (GEE) with a Poisson log-linear model is employed to analyze the daily mobility rate and reported new cases of COVID-19 between March 14 and September 11, 2020. This study finds that mobility to places of grocery (food and vegetable markets, drug stores etc.) and retail (restaurants, cafes, shopping centres etc.) is significantly associated (at p<0.01) with the incidence of COVID-19. In contrast, visits to parks, transit stations and mobility within residential neighbourhoods are not statistically significant (p>0.05) in changing COVID-19 cases over time. These findings highlight that instead of blanket lockdown restricti...
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and degradation of urban heritage and its associated spaces. This article intends to analyse the culture of public spaces in Varanasi, their use and their present state of decay through an in-depth case study investigation. This research contributes to the design development of a comprehensive vision for the restoration of urban heritage and conservation of immensely valuable public spaces that shape vibrant community life representing the culture and diversity of this great city and its people.
and degradation of urban heritage and its associated spaces. This article intends to analyse the culture of public spaces in Varanasi, their use and their present state of decay through an in-depth case study investigation. This research contributes to the design development of a comprehensive vision for the restoration of urban heritage and conservation of immensely valuable public spaces that shape vibrant community life representing the culture and diversity of this great city and its people.