International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR)

Evaluating the Integration of SDG 11 in India’s Smart Cities Mission: Evidence from Indore Using the Output–Outcome Monitoring Framework

How global sustainability frameworks are translated into practice at the city level remains an important question in urban geography. This paper examines the convergence of India’s Smart Cities Mission (SCM) and United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities) with special reference to Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Indore is widely regarded as a frontrunner in India’s urban transformation experiment. The study explores how Indore’s Smart City Proposal has translated into localised sustainable outcomes across four critical SDG 11 target dimensions: sustainable transit systems (Target 11.2), cultural heritage safeguarding (Target 11.4), climate-disaster resilience (Target 11.5), and municipal solid waste management (Target 11.6). This study is based on secondary data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Output-Outcome Monitoring Framework (OOMF), UN-Habitat evaluation reports and the NITI Aayog SDG India Index. The analysis reveals a consistent structural tension. While Indore has achieved remarkable milestones in data-driven waste management, green infrastructure and digital mobility, the benefits of these initiatives remain disproportionately concentrated within the small Area-Based Development (ABD) zone. This ABD zone covers only 742 acres of the city region and serves about five percent of the city’s population, leaving the broader pan-city population of 2.5 million residents relatively underserved. The paper contributes to the study of smart urbanism in an Indian intermediate city context and introduces a two-dimensional aggregate versus spatial assessment framework.