India’s urban landscape is undergoing rapid change, with the total populace living in cities reaching 600 million by 2030. It is estimated that approximately 70% of the country’s GDP will be generated in urban areas by the forecast period.
Are citizens, policymakers, urban planners and construction companies working towards sustainable cities of the future?
At 3DEXPERIENCE Forum 2019, we turn the spotlight on sustainability – and how technology could help intersect productivity with social responsibility in this era of Industry Renaissance. Integral to this vision, is meaningfully transforming the state of urban infrastructure.
At the Forum’s Delhi edition, Bharat Salhotra, Managing Director, Ronmas India, highlighted the risk of neglecting urban transformation. “The total GDP lost due to life lost on our current roads is close to 2%,” he said. There are several other challenges facing Indian cities today.
3 Challenges to be Addressed by Sustainable Innovation in Cities, Construction & Territories
To propel Indian cities towards a sustainable future, it is important to consider:
Rising air pollution and how to combat it: 14 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities are in India, largely due to the widespread use of fossil fuels. Shifting to renewable sources of energy can curb this to a significant degree – “Currently, 156 GW of solar and wind energy is being inducted,” noted Bharat Salhotra.
Demographic shifts from rural to urban: Modernized urban infrastructure could be a panacea for rural distress; however, this will also lead to congestion. There has already been a 40x rise in vehicles on India’s roads since 1980, leading to losses in man-hours and productivity. Smart Cities could be a viable solution here – there are approximately one hundred Smart City projects underway.
Unsustainable public transport vs. smarter alternatives: Public transport in India continues to be a pain-point, impeding quality of life. There are only 1.2 buses per thousand inhabitants in India, compared to four per thousand in Australia. Stakeholders in the cities, construction & territories segment should look at replacing this with shared mobility solutions, powered by renewable energy.
Reimagining Construction & Urban-planning: Expert Insights from 3DEXPERIENCE Forum
Simon Huffeteau, VP, Construction, Cities & Territories, Dassault Systèmes started the discussion by explaining how digital technology can aid in planning and executing Smart Cities. This process was further elaborated by Javier Glatt, CEO & Co-Founder, CadMakers.
CadMakers’ facility design and urban planning software uses the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform to build a digital twin of any urban asset.
Jonathan Asher, Portfolio Director, CATIA Construction, Cities & Territories, Dassault Systèmes, delved further into the applications of the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform in construction.
“Construction companies often take a product-centric approach to project delivery — this is missing a vital collaborative thread,” he said. “We need to move from this fragmented, product-centric approach and place it within a context. Our platform defines specific roles to enable contextualized collaboration for AEC or architecture, engineering, & construction projects.”
Technologies such as these will prove central to the cities of tomorrow. That is why at in our Delhi event, we covered a breadth of possibilities – from Smart Cities, digital twins, and sustainable construction, to the betterment of highways (by Wg. Cmdr Satyam Kushwaha, MoRTH) and the efficient management of facility operations (by Dr. S Vasudevan, Partner in Global Sector, Lead – Airports, KPMG and Krishnan Balasubramanian, Business Consulting Director India, Dassault Systèmes).
We thank our esteemed experts for their invaluable insights, and we thank you for being part of the 3DEXPERIENCE Forum 2019. Dassault Systèmes is committed to positive and productive development in India and we look forward to more meaningful discussions, very soon!
