As Indian cities see rapid growth, they have also become more difficult to govern. Common problems in urban centers across the country include unauthorized construction, land encroachment, and deteriorating roads. These not only lower the day-to-day quality of life for residents but also limit the ability to respond to climate-related emergencies.

One contributing factor behind this governance crisis is the fragmentation of urban management entities. The departments responsible for planning, land records, environmental monitoring, and so on use distinct bureaucratic processes. Data exchange between them is generally carried out via manual workflows. Thus, jointly completing any major project can be slow and expensive.

Vassar Labs IT Solutions, founded by Laxmi Prasad Putta in 2014, offers a means of improving inter-departmental coordination. Using AI, GIS modeling, and Digital Twin architecture, this firm has developed a powerful digital platform—cityWISE—that consolidates city management. The results have already revolutionized governance in three states.

What does the platform do?

Vassar Labs’ digital platform monitors all urban development in real time. With a combination of satellite imagery, land records, and 42 geographic information system (GIS) layers, it constructs ‘digital twins’ of the surveyed cityscapes to help authorities visualize changes in cities. Its dashboards track green cover, construction, waste disposal, water bodies, and other indicators of general city health. 

Then, cityWISE uses AI/machine learning and computer vision algorithms to identify various urban features and predict undesirable changes before they are implemented. This ensures that municipal bodies and other stakeholders in policy-related positions can control the general trends of urban development.

All of the platform’s technologies have been developed in-house by Vassar Labs. The data that inform these technologies are gathered primarily from government sources such as satellite-based observation systems, drone surveys, and cadastral maps.

Implementations of the platform

Working closely government authorities at the city and state levels, cityWISE has provided the ground infrastructure for three urban governance systems in India. These include the Digital Municipal Administration platform in Andhra Pradesh, Bhubaneswar Land Use Intelligence System (BLUIS) in Odisha, and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) system in West Bengal.

As a result of these collaborations, Vassar Labs has reported that over 2 million property tax receipts have been managed, 600,000+ municipal service requests have been processed, and 873+ AI-powered land-use alerts have been provided. cityWISE’s deployments have thus demonstrated the capacity to handle large volumes of data while saving time and expenses for civil administrators. 

Several institutions have presented Vassar Labs with awards to recognize its achievements. One example is the Best Startup of the Year award from TV5 News (2017). In 2018, the startup was one of the ten nominees for the Google Launchpad Accelerator Program, which granted it valuable Google resources for commercialization.

How can the solution be scaled?

cityWISE’s implementations so far illustrate the usefulness of a fully digital platform when it comes to governing cities in contemporary India. The strength of this solution lies in the partnerships it has with government agencies, so expanding these partnerships further will in turn scale its impact further. 

With more collaborations with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), State Urban Development departments, and Smart Cities initiatives, Vassar Labs can spread the benefits of e-governance on the national level. At the same time, increased links with research institutions can improve the services provided on the cityWISE dashboard and in its internal algorithms. 

Technology-first governance is one of the strongest responses to rapid urbanization. By providing more transparent information on urban activities, it allows policymakers to take efficient, evidence-based decisions. The standardization of data sharing frameworks will hasten the transition away from manual workflows—paving the way for more time and cost savings in civil administration.