The concept of Smart Cities has been defined in a number of ways. But all these definitions have some common elements. They include smart governance, smart infrastructure, smart basic facilities for the citizens, and above all, a truly interconnected system with seamless communication between sources.

This concept has become all the more important with rapid urbanization, as a concomitant to rapid economic growth. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change clearly brings out that climate change will affect urban areas by increased risks for people, assets, ecosystems, etc. These risks are all the more great for those lacking essential infrastructure and services.

Those possible problems would mean that the concept of smart city is not a static one, but a process. The steps that are taken should improve liveability in the cities and should enable them to respond quickly to new challenges. Smart Cities should essentially help optimum use of existing infrastructure, apart from fillers in the infrastructure gaps, and should facilitate economic growth. Without this, the sustainability of a city becomes suspect.

Another important aspect of the Smart City is a common ICT infrastructure pool by which sharing of relevant information and data helps evolution of appropriate policy. In India, data and information are generated by a myriad of sources and there is hardly any system of correlating them together. The Prime Minister of India has a vision of developing "100 Smart Cities" and modernizing the existing mid-sized cities. This is a very encouraging and timely move. Several Ministries have come to realize the huge potential and it is expected that concrete plans are developed urgently.

The cover story in "Sustainable Smart Cities" brings out various aspects related to the development of Smart Cities. This issue is expected to be extremely important in the coming years.

The Special Report in this issue is on "Preparedness for a Disaster: Educating the Coastal Communities". The hazards of climate change are particularly felt in coastal cities and preparedness has mitigated the adverse effects of cyclone disasters. We must try to prepare ourselves as much as possible in the context of the grim prognosis brought out in the reports of the Intergovernmental Council for Climate Change.

We have been constantly trying to improve the look and content of TerraGreen. The article titled "Tapping the Potential of Wind Energy: Advantage India" reflects our commitment to renewable energy for moving away from the huge dependence on fossil fuel. WWF-India has also agreed to regularly contribute to TerraGreen and their experience and knowledge will be an additional asset for this magazine. We are getting encouraging responses from our readers and it will be our constant endeavour to spread the message of sustainability in all its aspects to all, especially the younger people, whose imagination and commitment are the greatest assets of our country.