As preparation for the project „Smart Cities for India“, the Institute for Urban Planning and the Institute for Sociology of the Vienna University of Technology (VUT) organized a symposium on “India Today”  in cooperation with the Austro-Indian Association at the VUT on Nov 26, 2013.

Both institutes of the VUT are conducting an excursion to India with the aim of looking at the “Future Cities of Indian”. The main focus will be the Delhi-Mumbai-Industrial-Corridor (DMIC). 24 new cities will be built here. Seven of them are supposed to be ‘Smart Cities’.

At the symposium representatives of different disciplines and institutes suggested different ways of approaching ‘cities of the future’. Heinz Nissel from the Institute for Geography und Regional Planning  (University of Vienna) gave us an overview of the profound urban transformations underway in India; Ernst Gebetsroither from the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) introduced us to the much hyped idea of the ‘Smart City’; filmmaker and dancer Alina Tretinjak reminded us about the power of ‘everyday life’ in Indian cities by showing some footage materials she collected on her many trips to India and Pamela Barter of Centre for Social Innovation told us about the principles of social innovation, a vital component for urban planning in India. ‘Surprise Guest’ Kirti Badhe, urban planner from India gave us valuable tips about critical issues in urban planning in India.