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Rapid urbanization has resulted in sudden degradation of the environmental quality of urban settlements, which are difficult to measure and quantify. The present study attempts to provide an assessment of the environmental quality by developing environmental quality index (EQI) for the Ernakulam district in Kerala, India. The index values are spatially mapped to develop an environmental quality index map for the study area under five different classes namely, very poor, poor, moderate, good, very good. The EQI values are calculated for nineteen composite variables classified under three domains namely, ecological, meteorological, and socio-economic domains. A preliminary statistical analysis and detailed principal component analysis (PCA) were performed to construct the environmental quality index for the study region. This was followed by a spatial mapping and analysis to provide a better understanding of the status of the environmental quality to the local residents, environmental planners, regional scientists and policy makers. The results obtained from the analysis show that the study area has a low overall environmental quality. The region considered in this paper has highlighting features of various settlement patterns, population distributions, and land use distributions, which indicates a clear transition in the environmental quality index of different settlement units. Hence, by selecting this region and observing various number of indicators, the real effect of urbanization on the quality of the environment was projected. The systematic methodological procedure explained in this paper can be used elsewhere also, where the study area has similar characteristics as that of the area considered in this study. The outcome of the study is applicable for present and future urban planning, building construction, land and resource management for a sustainable environment.

Smart-Global-Economic-Community (SGEC) is the basic module of planning megacities. It connects the local economy to the global economy. The design of the SGEC-Kattangal which is a part of the Kochi-Kannur megacity study is discussed in the present chapter. Significant concerns about the community are unplanned urban growth, exclusion and rising inequality, challenges in providing municipal services, economic sluggishness due to bureaucracy and political system. The study aims at making a reference module (SGEC-Kattangal) for the likely to be Kochi-Kannur megacity. The study has three parts. The first and second parts of the study which deals with the identification of possible sectors and the analysis of the issues and potential to transform the selected community cluster (Kattangal at Kozhikode, India) into an SGEC, are already discussed in the previous chapters. The third part of the study presented in the current chapter, explains the proposals that could help to make a smart-global-economic-community in Kattangal. The study redefines the approaches to issues and strategies based on smart principles; the initial plan based on economic development, which leads to growth in other sectors. The custom framed smart components include smart-economy, smart-living, smart-environment, smart-mobility, and smart-governance. Smart-economy bases on Industry-4.0, Social Manufacturing, and it frame strategies that utilize the untapped skilled workforce in Kattangal to build an economic base for the community. Smart-living gives proposals that enhance the living quality of the people by well-defined public spaces. The study discusses strategies for smart-water management and smart-waste management under the smart-environment principle. Smart-mobility encourages a sustainable transport model based on electric vehicles (EV) and non-motorized transportation (NMT). Smart governance integrates information and communications technology (ICT) and the internet of things (IoT).

Smart Global Community (SGC) is an innovative concept of community development involving economy generation within a community using appropriate smart technologies. The location of SGCs is ideal within the vicinities of various institutes, which can impart technological support for the betterment of the neighborhood, thereby elevating their economic status. The SGC proposes a symbiotic relationship between the institutes and the neighborhood that serves the requirements of the institute. The present study identifies Kattangal, a neighborhood community, near two national level institutions, the National Institute of Technology, Calicut and the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology as a model for the development of such SGCs. The study area is delineated based on the walkable neighborhood concept within a 1.5 km radius from the primary node called Kattangal. A reconnaissance survey identified the natural features that form the boundary of the study area. An extensive field survey identified the issues, potentials, and opportunities presented by Kattangal. The field survey’s thrust area includes land area identification for suitable workspaces, availability of human resources, infrastructure, and recreational open spaces in the study area. The survey identifies the primary stakeholders in the study region. A household sample survey, shop owners survey, and NITC student’s aspiration survey follows the initial reconnaissance survey. The survey inputs are processed, which proposes essential strategies to elevate the community to an SGC. It follows a Focus Group Discussion involving various stakeholders. The Focus Group Discussion helps arrive at suitable strategies that the community can accept and adopt. The study also explores the connectivity of the community to augment and establish suitable supply chain management strategies.

The land use and land cover is changing in different parts of the world, the root cause of which is the increasing urbanization rate. The peri-urban areas are transforming due to this pressure, leading to urban expansion and resulting in major changes in land use along the highway. Such peri-urban areas are largely neglected in policy and practice because they are mostly included in the rural category and come as a region beyond the urban administration. Hence, the present study is focused on the analysis of the impact of land use land cover change on the urbanizing region along a highway using geospatial technology. Seven typical nodes were carefully chosen along the corridor and a growth node was identified. An undeveloped node having an area of 5 km2 was chosen as a case study for further analysis and proposal. The entire study area was zoned into three categories (emerging zone, agricultural and tourism zone, and residential zone) based on the prominent land uses for the suggestion of the proposals. The present study can be beneficial to planners, administrators, and policymakers as a stepping stone in promoting the sustainability of peri-urban areas.

The economy is the heart of any Smart City. As the world progresses to third industrial revolution, the economy focus is expected to shift from large-scale production industries to industries with cultural and ethnic uniqueness. Urban form of a city is its biggest brand image of its culture. A Smart City needs to maintain its urban form to highlight its cultural and ethnic uniqueness and evolve a branding for its products. This chapter like many other chapters in this book is the outcome of an academic project conducted by Department of Architecture and Planning at NIT, Calicut. The project is to develop a Smart City within the premises of Calicut City, with a smart economy at the core. Malabari food production is the core economy of Umami. This chapter proposes a systematic approach for derivation execution and management of the city’s urban form to function it as brand image. It is necessary to turn to the collective wisdom of various classes of people to ensure unique solutions. Bringing people to participate in every stage of urban design is a challenge. All stages of urban design in this chapter use e-Design, which relies on various digital communication techniques to bring in unique solutions from a large number of stakeholders and arrives at an acceptable-to-all solution. A modified Hybrid Form-Based Coding Regulation is used for structuring urban design process and its implementation. The process addresses issues from a broader perspective starting with a Zonal Plan and goes into minute details like signage, architectural features, and landscaping. It also proposes various smart technologies required in Smart Mobility, smart environment, smart governance, etc.