Publisher's Synopsis
India is one of the world's fastest growing economies, with an estimated 31 percent of its people living in the urban regions as per the 2011 census, which may have now climbed to 45 percent based on satellite data and would reach 60 percent in another three decades (Jain & Korzhenevych, 2020; United Nations, 2018). Various social and economic factors, such as industrial growth, urbanization, agricultural productivity, level of employment, life expectations etc. indicate the overall development of a nation (Bairoch, 1988; McGranahan, 1972). Among these indicators, urban development has been regarded as a crucial factor as it easily reflects the growth of a country's economy and the citizens' quality of life (Bertinelli & Black, 2004; Phillips, 1993). While urbanization is a sign of economic progress, the main concern with such expansion is the uncontrolled or unplanned nature of the urbanization, which subsequently leads to many problems, such as environmental pollution, infrastructure bottlenecks, and service delays (Alam et al., 2006; Jaysawal & Saha, 2014; Zeng et al., 2016). To address these issues, the Government of India (GoI) has launched the ambitious Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in the year 2015 (Prasad & Alizadeh, 2020). The primary goal of this mission is to improve people's quality of life and promote economic development in 100 cities across the country using the advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) (Praharaj et al., 2018; Smart Cities Mission, 2017). 1.1 The smart city concept Sustainable Cities and Communities is as one of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) set by United Nations (UN) to transform the world. Globally, the smart city narrative is more or le
