4R in Sustainable Smart Cities: Towards a Circular Economy

Introduction: Sustainability refers to the adoption of practices concerning environmental use and management that provide a satisfactory standard of living for today's population and that do not impair the capacity of the environment to provide for and support the needs of future generations. Alternatively, sustainable development refers to improving living standards for humanity, which has been the goal of all nations (1). A large population is still to get the bare minimum for development; humanity is at the crossroads as it is faced the challenge of climate change. The dilemma is that whatever people can do for their development, there must be a repercussion on nature. The global community already met at the UN conference on sustainable development that took place in Rio in June 2012. Where sustainability maintains, there is the possibility of smart living. The smart city is the new buzz word in India as well as around the world. Since a specific definition of a smart city is missing, it can be conceptualized as a city that offers smart solutions (2). Essentially, a smart city must have access to all basic needs in addition to the proper balance of materials and resources. ISO standards such as ISO 37120 (Sustainable Cities), ISO 2450 (Drinking water and wastewater services), ISO/TS 37151 (Smart Community infrastructures) etc are some of the guidelines which are helpful resources in a journey towards a smart city (3). With sustainability as the need of the hour, it is relevant to work towards developing sustainable smart cities.

Methods: Sustainable smart cities could be the gateway towards sustainable development for urban society. It is clear from previous literature as well as ISO standards that waste management is one of the important indicators. Hence, it is only practical to implement the concepts of 3R i.e. reduce, reuse, recycle. However, that is not enough, as there is an increase in the number of R’s and the concept of xR have evolved, where x is a number greater than 3. In this case, a 4th R is introduced, which is Repair. Repairing reduces the market demand of new materials and helps in resource conservation. Repairing and Refurbishing are two important R’s that blends almost together. Additionally, proper implementation of 4R will also ensure circularity of materials. This article adopted the methodology of an extensive literature survey on the topic of 4R in sustainable smart cities. Case studies ok India and UK are provided for better understanding of the scenarios.

Results & Discussions: In this study, it was found from the case studies that there are several instances where very small initiatives can lead towards sustainability. Hence, the realization of the concept of sustainable smart cities starts with awareness. The adoption of the 4R is beneficial as it dictates a sustainable consumption and production regime. The conceptual framework for sustainable smart cities provides a direction towards circular economy.  

Conclusions: Based on the primary results, it is clear that 4R is important for Sustainable Smart City development and should be considered as a primary indicator. Additionally, public interaction and involvement in strategic decision making is imperative. The article will be helpful to all the researchers, policymakers, and relevant stakeholders.

Keywords: Sustainable Smart City, Sustainable Consumption, 4R, Circular Economy

Acknowledgment: The author is thankful to Mr. Biswajit Debnath, Commonwealth Split-site Scholar at Aston University, UK for his inputs in this study.

References

1. Das, A., Das, A., & Modak, N. Towards Sustainable Indian Smart Cities: An AHP Study. Intelligence Enabled Research. Springer, Singapore, 2020. 97-106.

2. Das, A., Debnath, B., Modak, N., Das, A., & De, D. E-waste Inventorisation for Sustainable Smart Cities in India: A Cloud-based Framework. IEEE International Women in Engineering (WIE) Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (WIECON-ECE). IEEE, 2020, 332-335.

3. Yadav, G., Mangla, S. K., Luthra, S., & Rai, D. P. Developing a sustainable smart city framework for developing economies: An Indian context. Sustainable Cities and Society, 2019, 47, 101462.