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A smart city must learn to be resilient too

For example, in extremely water-stressed environments such as Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Taru has applied a conjunctive water use system that aggregates water sources for different purposes. This includes the separation of clean drinking water from water strictly for sanitation, and the re-use of treated non-potable grey water.

This system reduces households' expenditure and helps communities to overcome periods of peak shortage in the municipal water supply. Scaling this up requires collaboration between developers and residents' welfare associations to build or retro-fit existing infrastructure.

Across the Indian sub-continent, cities are getting hotter, with severe implications for human health and labour productivity. Last week, a massive heatwave killed over 1,000 people in the country.

While residents may opt for indoor living to avoid direct exposure to the sun, there are multiple low-cost measures that can make their home more livable. For example, Taru has used cool roof and passive ventilation technologies that can lower ambient temperatures by 3-4 degrees celsius. These measures could help reduce health-risks, especially among the elderly and children.

For cities which have encountered increasing demands or extreme shocks, restoration of local ecosystems is a solution that has offered multiple benefits to residents. This can be clearly seen in the use of low-cost floating wetlands to improve water quality of degraded lakes in Indore. The restored lakes, with healthier ecosystems, have not only created fisheries sources for local residents but also supplementary systems for the cities' flood retention and emergency water supply.

Make cities more liveable, sustainable