The School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) has found in Vijayawada and other urban centres the characteristics of a smart economy.
This was revealed at the fag end of a research project undertaken by its faculty members.
The outcome will be published next month and presented in an upcoming international conference on smart cities.
A part of SPA’s ‘Smart Economy in Smart Cities’ project, which involves collaborating institutions from across the world, the study is aimed at building a sustainable model for a smart economy suited to the capital region.
The basic inference is that technologies, which are expected to make Vijayawada and other urban agglomerations in the capital region smart, will propel the economy to a higher growth trajectory.
SPA Director N. Sridharan, Dean of Studies Abdul Razak Mohamed and assistant professors Raktim Ray and Aparna Soni, who conducted the study, observed that the prime location of Vijayawada and Guntur in the capital region, which comprises the erstwhile VGTM (Vijayawada, Guntur, Tenali and Mangalagiri) area, was a major advantage for their transformation into smart cities having smart economy as an integral element.
Challenge
Mr. Sridharan said the development of Vijayawada and Guntur into smart cities and making technologies play a catalytic role in boosting their economies were both a challenge and an opportunity.
The challenge is due to the enormity of the task of planning and executing from scratch.
Optimumu utilisation of land
Land, which has become a scarce resource, has to be first optimally utilised and other sub-tasks will follow.
“Agrarian distress in the region can be mitigated by using advanced technologies in both cultivation of a variety of crops and marketing them.
The study observed that agriculture sector in the region has been bogged down by supply chain inefficiencies. Technology can change the scenario if properly planned and implemented on the fields”, Mr. Sridharan asserted.
