Learning from Small Cities

(urban geography, smart urbanism and postcolonial urban theory, social justice)

This animation was commissioned by Prof. Ayona Datta and the Smart Small Cities initiative, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and located at University College London (UCL). Small cities are emerging as the testing ground for governing transitions to ‘smart’ urban futures in India. This collaborative project investigates the dynamics of transformation of India’s small cities into smart cities of the future, examines how its citizens live with these changes and creates pathways for producing socially-just urban futures.

The work of these animations is to to disseminate evidence based policy interventions on smart cities and urban futures in India and elsewhere as part of a ‘smart city asset toolkit’ that will enable communities to speak back to, and inform, smart city planners and policy makers. We chose whiteboard animation because of its simplicity and its unique ability to capture and hold attention. There will be 4 animations in total – an overview and 3 animations with detailed investigations in 3 small cities, Jalandhar, Shimla and Nashik.