Aging & Social Change: Fifteenth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

This paper examines the integration of Collage Urbanism principles in Indian Smart Cities and their role in placemaking for people-centered urban design. While Smart City initiatives in India predominantly emphasize technological solutions and infrastructural upgrades, this study highlights the need to foreground placemaking—the creation of meaningful, inclusive, and socially vibrant public spaces—as a central urban design objective. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Collage City, which embraces the layered, fragmented, and evolving nature of cities, the research explores how such an approach can support diverse spatial narratives and community engagement in Smart City contexts. The study focuses on three Indian cities—Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, and Shimla—which are part of the Smart City Mission yet exhibit distinct historical legacies, socio-spatial diversity, and contemporary urban transformations. These cities are thus uniquely positioned to illustrate the tensions and synergies between technocratic planning and context-sensitive, people-oriented urbanism. An assessment framework is proposed, incorporating both urban design and placemaking indicators, to evaluate how Smart City projects in these locations accommodate historical layers, informal settlements, participatory processes, and public space quality. Findings reveal that while some interventions reflect the ethos of Collage Urbanism and placemaking, significant gaps remain in promoting spatial complexity, organic growth, and community ownership. The paper concludes with recommendations for embedding collage-based, placemaking-driven strategies into Smart City planning to enable more inclusive, adaptive, and liveable urban futures.