Answer to Question #185093 in Management for Nachiket Pawar

Question

The city of Leh is the joint capital & the largest town of the union territory of Ladakh in

India. Leh is at an altitude of 3,524 metres (11,562 ft), and is connected via National

Highway 1 to Srinagar in the southwest and to Manali in the south via the Leh-Manali

Highway. You have been invited as an external IT consultant by Government of India

with a mandate to convert Leh into a “Smart City”

a. Which “Smart” city in the world will you choose as a benchmark to emulate some of the

best practices of that city into Leh? Provide atleast 3 reasons with brief descriptions

behind your choice of choosing that particular city as a benchmark?

b. Suggest & describe atleast 2 innovative technology enabled services that you will

introduce into Leh so that it can be called as a “Smart city”?

Answer 1

Smart City Benchmarking

As a benchmark to emulate some of the best practices of a smart city, I would choose New York City. Considering how it has innovative technology systems that help in addressing various issues such as water quality and conservation, lighting efficiency, air quality and waste management, New York is a good example to designing and improving Leh’s comfort for occupants.

First of all, I chose New York City because of its smart lighting system which through upgrades has resulted in energy conservation opportunities. Power consumption is reduced when smart controls dim light and reduce operation hours through sensing.

Second, smart water metering provides New York occupants with automated systems of meter reading which take water consumption snapshots thus giving customers a useful tool for checking their water usage. This system which can be integrated with smartphone application also warns customers of potential overuse or water leaks when detected.

Furthermore, the New York sanitation department has a smart trash system which is equipped with wireless sensors that monitor the level of trash and allows the efficient scheduling of pick-up trips. This smart waste management system reduces garbage collection frequency and the time spent by garbage trucks during collection.

Innovative Technologies to Introduce into Leh

• Smart energy – to make Leh a smart city, both commercial and residential buildings need to be more efficient, use less energy and collect and analyze energy consumption data. This efficiency will enhance the use of prepaid energy applications and introduce advanced metering infrastructure which eases energy services.
• Smart transportation – as a smart city, Leh will need a multi-modal transportation system with smart traffic lights and parking. Smart traffic lights will have cameras which will ensure traffic flow monitoring and smart parking will make people spend less time looking for parking spots.
• Smart IoT devices – these are one of the key smart city components that tie everything together. Fusing sensors into devices will ensure adequate flow of information and provide notifications for user-selected needs.