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urban development

Enhancing urban mobility

The emergence of smartphones has transformed public transportation in cities such as Chennai. Commuters now have access to various digital tools, such as the MTC’s Chennai Bus Application, to enhance their daily commutes. This report seeks to evaluate how effectively the MTC’s Chennai Bus Application supports its users in their everyday lives and to identify potential improvements for the future.

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Chennai’s expansion - bigger, not better

How big is your city? Growing up in Chennai, my knowledge and therefore idea of the city extended possibly between school, home, and a few other places I frequented. While this has expanded, I don’t think I realised how big it actually was. In October 2022, the media reported that the Tamil Nadu government had cleared a 5-fold expansion of the city - from 1189 km2 to 5904 km2. I was a bit shocked that my city was already 1189 km2 big and now had gotten even larger. 

What is in a name?

Citizen Engagement, Inclusivity, and the Smart Cities Mission

In 2015,the Modi government announced that 100 cities had been shortlisted to compete for funds under a new urban development initiative called the Smart Cities Mission. Since then, 20 cities, including Chennai, have won the first round of funds based on their proposals for smart projects in their city.  The idea of a smart city is a global idea with no universally accepted definition.