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Sustainable development is a buzzword that's being used in a variety of fora nowadays. it stems from the realisation that cities are not being built the way they should be; that they are not aimed at meeting the demands of the current generation without compromising on the needs of future generations.

Economic and social development should be achieved with minimum impact on natural resources. In this century, a major challenge faced by all humanity is environmental sustainability. That is what Millennium Development goals stress on - the need to ensure environmental sustainability by integrating sustainable development into a country's national policy and to reduce the damage caused to the environment.

As environmentally friendly city is one that minimises waste and economises to the maximum. For example, incentivising the use of public transport over private transport to conserve fuel. Another example would be to create awareness among citizens towards conservation of water ann energy, promoting recycling of both solid waste and grey water, minimising waste diversion to landfill sites, et al.

ECO CITIES
In the context of environmental enhancement eco cities pose an excellent solution to help combat climate change and ensure a good quality of life on a sustainable basisi. These cities are designed to create a small ecological footprint by minimising pollution emissions, effective waste management techniques, and efficient use of land. A number of cities like Dongtan, Huangbaiyu, and Tianjin in China, and Waitakere in New Zealand are being planned on the lines of the eco-city concept.

Today technology affects every aspect of our life. It has changed the way we work at our workplace - having replaced the older hand-bound files with documents residing in our laptops. In fact, technology is no longer restricted to the workplace these days; it has permeated our personal lives as well.

For dwellers in a city, use of technology has implications on citizen security, intelligent transport systems, utilities management and resource recycling. Many cities in India already have a network of CCTV (closed circuit television) camera monitoring spurious activities at major places like airports, railways stations, shopping malls and heritage monuments.

Apart from such technology interventions in public places, our homes are also increasingly becoming tech-dependent for ensuring security security of their residents. According to a Frost and Sullivan study in 2008, the electronic security market in India is around Rs 1,000 crore and expected to grow at 40 percent over the next three years.

TECHNOLOGY AND NATURE
Technology and nature can play a symbiotic role, and that is where the concept of Biomimicry takes root. A concept that is currently being used in LAvasa, Biomimicry is the prudent use of nature's techniques to create products and desgns that could be used in day-to-day living.

TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
World over transport systems are undergoing radically transformations with the advent of technology - traffic lights that sense traffic at nearby traffic junction to ascertain the optimum stop time; replacing long ticket queues to get a metro ticket with magnetic stripe cards; detection systems that can toll the usage of your cars automatically, etc. While some of these are already under-way in some cities in India, we have a long way to go before our cities can be called cities of future.

TECHNOLOGY AND CITY MANAGEMENT
Utilities such as electricity and water will benefit the most with the introduction of technology in monitoring and bill collections. According to an Assocham Ecopulse study, a third of investment in power in India will evaporate, if the transmission systems are not upgraded and theft is not curtailed. Use of solar power for water for water heating requirements, grey water for non-potable water usage is slowly gaining popularity in India. It is the advancement in technology that has led to these technologies being accessible to the wider public.

TECHNOLOGY AS A SERVICE DELIVERY PLATFORM
Using technology as service delivery platform in Indian cities is a concept that is yet to catch on. While in the USA, a third of the consumers would prefer a technology-enabled means of paying their bills, in India would take some time to catch up given the computer penetration levels. Technology can not only make the payment of utilities' bills easier but also help in slashing them, Intelligent switching systems automatically turn off light in rooms where no human activity is detected for a pre-set period of time.

this just goes to show that our embracing technology is the only way forward