The world is now opting for ‘human responsive cities’ over smart cities; here’s what it means

It is the year 2016. The government has announced the ‘Smart Cities Mission’ with an aim to enhance the quality of life through cities that are economically vibrant, inclusive and environment friendly. Ten years later, in 2025, ₹1.64 lakh crore have been invested and 94 per cent of the total 8,067 projects have been completed. But in the decade in between, the world has also moved on. This time to cities that are not only enhanced but also attuned to the people living in it, aka ‘sentient cities’.

Strongly advocated by Prof Kent Larson, sentient cities was a push to move on beyond smart cities toward “human-centered, high-performance, and sustainable urban environments”. He perceived the shortcomings of “top-down, technocratic smart-city models” and advocated for cities that were grounded in human needs and real-world behaviour.

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WHAT ARE HUMAN-RESPONSIVE URBANISM?

Sentient cities based on the principle of human-responsive urbanism places the experiences, well-being and needs of the residents at the core of city planning, according to a report by World Governments Summit 2027. Human-responsive cities take into account residents as “active participants in shaping the social, cultural, and built environment” and do not only focus on economic infrastructure and performance. By extension, this approach emphasises accessibility, safety, inclusivity and comfort, while also integrating public health, social cohesion and equitable access to opportunities and resources.

As per WGS, sentient cities are “urban environments that are empathetic, adaptive, and responsive to human needs”. They are not only technologically advanced but also truly livable and inclusive, it said.

ALL THANKS TO URBAN SCIENCE

As cities move towards a more complex climate makeup, city management has become equally complicated, the report said. The need to anticipate change is also vital, said WGS.

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Urban science is a systematic study of cities. It is a multidisciplinary field that integrates big data, artificial intelligence (AI), environmental monitoring and social insights to help design cities as dynamic systems. Cities are not just static infrastructures but are turned into adaptive ecosystems. Urban science replaces traditional reliance on city master-plans with more dynamic data driven decision frameworks.

It integrates Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, digital twins and information modeling to monitor and forecast complex urban dynamics.

There are also some mentionable examples of usage of urban science that mixes multiple systems. For instance, Singapore’s ‘Flood Early Warning System’ integrates rainfall radar, drainage sensors, and predictive hydrological modeling to anticipate flash floods. Then there is Los Angeles that uses machine learning to detect seismic activity. Similar approaches are used in cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, and Barcelona to manage heat exposure, air pollution, or hazardous industrial emissions, said the report.