A

Summary by Rituparna Das

Dept of Architecture, Town And Regional Planning
IIEST, Shibpur

On

IMPACT OF SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY IN URBAN
INFRASTRUCTURE
Author- Rituparna Das
Studio Advisor- Dr. Prof Dipankar Sinha

Table of Contents
1. Urban Infrastructure and Science & Technology Revolution ..................................... 3
2. Use of Technology in Infrastructure ................................................................................... 3
3. Online Sales and Change in Purchasing patterns............................................................ 5
4. E-Services ..................................................................................................................................... 5
5. New technology in Illumination ........................................................................................... 6
6. References .................................................................................................................................... 6

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1. Urban Infrastructure and Science & Technology Revolution

Science and Technology is altering from grassroots level the way humans connect,
communicate, live and transact which has impacted economic development profoundly. It
has revolutionized the whole dynamics of urban planning and infrastructure management.
Today developing economies present a wide scope of urbanization where different forms of
technology are being deployed to touch inhabitants lives directly or indirectly. Developed
nations high technology infrastructure model is being emulated in developing countries and
thanks to science and technology this rolling out of complex plans appears fast and easy from
user point of view.
Since Habitat II, a United Nations Conference on Human Settlements held in Turkey in the
year 1996, we have seen unprecedented growth in urban and peri-urban spaces and this has
also coincided with the technology revolution during the similar period. Science, technology
and innovations in this field can certainly help in attaining sustainable urban development
keeping in account the social, environmental and economic dimensions of urbanization. In
accordance with sustainability, building and designing sustainable cities in developing
countries will impact not only sustainable development per se but also in achieving Nations
millennium development goals attached to poverty, education, unemployment health and
hygiene.

2. Use of Technology in Infrastructure

2.1 Wireless Technology in Signaling and Monitoring
With increasing population and private cars, traffic jam is one of the most common menaces
that are plaguing all big and developed cities. Intelligent traffic control system with the use of
technology becomes a possible solution to this problem. The use of wireless technology in
the signaling and controlling traffic becomes imperative as traditional traffic system involves
wires that are buried underground and manual monitoring, hence upgrading, proper
maintenance and trouble shooting of this traditional system becomes cumbersome.
The wireless traffic control system consists of a master node that is centrally located and
controls and transmits signal to all the slave nodes. So slave nodes are just endpoints which
the user sees while the whole controlling and monitoring happens at a single point that is
master node because of which error detection and resolution becomes much easier. The
wireless technology used also can help in avoiding traffic congestion by detecting road
accidents or diversion ahead and notifying vehicles at previous junctions (1 km back).
2.2 Need of CCTV on Road and Infrastructure Management
CCTV as the name suggests closed circuit television system is a set of video cameras and a
centralized monitoring interface through which footages out of each camera can be closely
monitored sitting at a remote location. Now as security has become an important concern of
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people living in different condominium so monitoring through CCTV cameras becomes

highly recommendable as it can be concealed, capture detailed second by second frames as
well as it covers wide area of view and can be remotely monitored. CCTV also is becoming
important to install at traffic junctions so as to capture road accident footages and traffic
violations.
2.3 Demand of New infrastructure
Mobile Charging Station: Mobile today has become an indispensable part of humans life and
hence 24/7 use of this device requires to be charged on the go, which is where the need of
mobile charging stations has arisen. We see charging stations in public places like railways
platform, waiting areas as well as moving buses, trains etc.
Mobile Tower: With increasing competition among mobile network service provider the
penetration of towers is increasing so as to provide uninterrupted connectivity. But with the
advent of wireless technology companies like Qualcomm making a software which when
installed on a mobile device can communicate with other mobile device running on same
network and situated within a range of 500 meters.
Optical fiber Cable Network:
Fiber Optic cables are one of the fastest modes of transmission of information from one place
to another. Each strand is a hair thin like but have enormous information carrying capacity.
They are also low cost to implement and devoid of any disturbances and signal loss which
traditional cables (coaxial cables, copper wires, microwave links etc.) are prone to. Optical
fibers primary reason of being able to carry much larger capacity of carrying information is
because they carry light beams.
2.4 Use of machine in Solid Waste Management, Drainage and Sewerage
system
Rapid industrialization, urbanization and population expansion is leading to increasing
accumulation of wastes after usage of the products and services. So an effective system to
treat and manage the solid wastes is imperative and hence it begins from household level to
society, town and city level. Municipal solid waste management is one of the keys to
different environmental problems in cities of India. As the scarcity of space to dispose off
waste is arising societies are become highly unhygienic leading to several water, air borne
diseases. Apart from basic methods of waste disposal like landfill use of machines are being
done through composting, incineration, pyrolysis and gasification etc. Plasma pyrolysis is a
new technique of waste treatment technology where the waste matter is gasified in oxygen
starved environment so that the waste material gets decomposed into its basic molecules. In
pyrolysis and gasification the waste material that contains carbonaceous contents like
biomass is converted into carbon monoxide and hydrogen by making the raw material react at
higher temperatures in presence of controlled supply of oxygen which produces synthesis gas
or syngas as end product. Syngas can be used as fuel and is advantageous than other forms of
fuel is its more combustible.
4

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Land drainage helps in aiding the agriculturally low productive areas into fertile and farmable
lands by proper drainage of waters from waterlogged and inundated areas. Technologies are
used in drainage techniques like subsurface drainage system where the groundwater is
accumulated and dispelled into the conductive system through the openings of a slope built in
the subsoil layer.
So in order to develop healthier and hygienic urban city its necessary to have proper drainage
system and using technology in waste management like disposing off garbage in a compactor
and extracting the bye products for further use.

3. Online Sales and Change in Purchasing patterns

The advent of technology has changed the dynamics of purchasing behavior and patterns of
people. Now, people have changed their buying ways from brick and mortar stores to their
cozy 15-inch screen of laptops and even smaller screens of handheld devices. Online
shopping portals like Flipkart, Amazon providing profitable ways to hapless brick mortar
stores to sell their products online which otherwise is seeing less customers in store. This
online marketplace technology is giving serious challenges to traditional physical retail stores
as it provides benefits to buyer by reducing cost of operation and increasing customer reach
while it also benefits customer by giving discounts and huge array choice in just a click from
their place of ease.
As traditional form of selling becoming unprofitable demand for prime locations of shops in
downtown malls etc. is increasing so as to tap large number of customer thronging malls on
weekends and holidays. So technology is not only making traditional forms of buying and
selling obsolete but also making other forms like postal service or banks or institutions to
provide online value added service so as to woo customers.

4. E-Services
As stated above technology is forcing all the forms of business and services to go online like
E-Education provides a platform where students can learn science, mathematics etc. concepts
from the backyard of their home with the help of interactive learning similar to classroom
learning. E-Education also helps working professionals or distance learning students take
courses and exams online, an example of online learning platforms are like Simplilearn.com,
coursera.com etc.
E-Banking now gives customers in this fast paced era an option to do all banking related
transactions from recharge to online purchasing to money transfer to just about anything
virtually from home without having to visit the branch.
Wi-Fi is being installed in public places like railway stations; city hubs to make people more
connected and enjoy free Internet 24/7.
All government offices is also going online and digital for all their services in order to ensure
hassle-free service to citizens as well as providing faster turnaround time of customer
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cases/issues. With fast pace of urbanization the need of everything being online and at a
stones throw has become imperative in order to build a smart ecosystem that is digitally
connected to each elements.
4.1 Changing paradigm of IT jobs
IT companies which predominantly provides support, back-office, research and development
services to clients of developed economies has to work in accordance with client policies.
Hence the employees of IT companies have to work either at night shifts or from home late
night so as to match with clients working hours. Work from home is also catching pace
among IT employers as it provides more flexibility and productivity to employees than
typical office desks and coups.
IT Companies in a bid to be more efficient and cut costs are exploring ways of automation,
artificial intelligence and digital services, though it means bad for several employees as
automation will lead to several thousand job cuts. So going smarter can make society and its
entities efficient but also can bring resource cuts and people being unemployed.

5. New technology in Illumination

Technology has impacted every industry or verticals and it hasnt failed to bring innovations
to one of the basic need of urban people i.e. electricity. Newer forms of illumination include
the likes of light emitting diodes (LEDs) bulbs and display units, compact fluorescent lamps
(CFL), organic LED (OLED), solar lights used commonly in street lighting, field induced
polymer electroluminescent light (FIPEL). These new types of lightings are needed to be
encouraged to replace the conventional mode of lighting like sodium vapor lamps, fluorescent
tubes etc. Government should promote use of solar architecture in rooftops of buildings and
houses to generate electricity for lighting homes or to power solar water pumps for water
supply. Hence to build a s mart city and smart society energy conservation measures by
implementing these modern form of lighting is necessary as its not only eco- friendly and
efficient but also customer pocket friendly.

6. References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/chetty20121003
https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/isdea/2013/4923/00/4923b578.pdf
http://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/c10/e5-09-03-01.pdf
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/chetty20121003
http://www.sanitation.kerala.gov.in/pdf/workshop/techno_2.pdf

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