ABSTRACT
Urbanization, a changer of the planet’s demography, is giving rise to the bestiary of urbanisms, including sustainable and smart urbanisms. Urban spaces at different spatial scales and in different societal contexts transform variously. They even mutate in the fast-changing demographic, socio-economic, socio-cultural, and political milieus. Whereas sustainable urbanism, eco-cities, and eco-logics generically are the offshoots of enviro-centric thought, intelligent, smart, responsive cities, and smart urbanism(s) are the outcomes of ever-changing and unsettled technocratic paradigms. Urbanisms hybridize when their constituents destabilize and induce ‘otherness’. Urban hybridity manifests in morphed spaces. Inserting the concepts of urban poverty, informality, rights to the city, and community participation in urban discourse raise socio-economic complexities, uncertainties, and irreconcilability.
At different spatial scales, trends in emerging sustainable-smart urbanisms are read cross-contextually, however empirically in India, China, South Korea, and Abu Dhabi. A detailed urban study of the Indian district city Ambala provides valuable insights into what goes on at the grassroots. In the contextual rationality, India prioritizes economic growth over sustainability until ‘sustainable-smart growths’ become economically feasible or advantageous in meeting the national SDGs. Comparisons and the open-ended urban study lead to some recommendations and advocacy for inducting eco-friendly, sustainable, and smart district urbanisms in India that can significantly improve citizens’ lives.
