Books Chapters

The Modern City: Electric, Smart, and Green

Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt. Ltd July, 2025

This chapter considers three broad themes that link urbanisation and electricity consumption. First, it looks at urban forms, both in terms of the sprawl or densification of the city and the nature of building envelopes. Second, it focuses on the behaviour of households, especially the adoption of air-conditioning and electric vehicles and the effect they may have on the grid. Third, it examines the initiatives related to grid management itself, discussing the effect of increased but intermittent renewable power and the progress of smart metering and the use of artificial intelligence in grid management. It concludes that in all these, multiple institutions at different levels of government, varying by country, play a significant role. Coordination across these institutions is critical in achieving the desired outcomes. As technology changes, the focus of interventions, whether technical/technological or socio-economic or institutional, would evolve. The critical question is whether there are institutions that can potentially engage with these changes and respond in a manner that is appropriate such that environmental sustainability is improved and climate risks are reduced. As of now, such institutions, even if present, are not active. The challenge of urban climate governance is not just technical, it is also to animate these institutions.

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