UK urban experts in Kolkata to help develop New Town

Based in London, FCC brings together businesses, universities and city authorities into urban planning and adopts a holistic approach to make cities commercially viable while ensuring modern and sustainable growth.

The Future Cities Catapult’s initiative is a direct outcome of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit to London.

During the Chief Minister’s visit, FCC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO) and agreed to work together for the smart city projects in the state.

A 6-member technical team from FCC has already arrived in Kolkata and has started work with WBHIDCO and New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA). The UK government is financially supporting this project.

Commenting on the project, British Deputy High Commissioner Scott Furssedonn Wood said: "Future Cities Catapult is an international centre of excellence for innovative and sustainable urbanisation. I'm delighted that we are bringing their expertise to Kolkata to play a part in the Government of West Bengal's exciting plans for smart cities. This is a direct outcome of the Hon’ble Chief Minister’s visit to London and a further demonstration of the strength of the West Bengal-UK Partnership."

Led by organisations like FCC, UK and especially London, has emerged as the global hub for urban innovation, bringing together a diverse range of capabilities in areas like masterplanning and architecture, regeneration, digital creativity, urban data, visualisation and modelling, human centric designs and standards.

FCC’s project with WBHIDCO and NKDA will showcase this range of expertise from the UK, and help New Town turn into a sustainable smart city providing excellent quality of life to its citizens. As a start to the project, FCC, WBHIDCO and NKDA have been holding a number of meetings, on-site visits and workshops.

Peter Madden, CEO of Future Cities Catapult, was optimistic of the project in West Bengal. According to him, FCC brings together experts from business, academia and cities themselves to work together and solve the problems that cities face now and in the future. 

“The UK has world-leading smart city expertise and we are excited to be here as a hand-holding agency to help New Town Kolkata develop their own smart city strategy.  And we hope to continue working with the New Town development authorities to further build smart city capacity in the future,” Madden added.