Digital Citizenship in Global Suburbs

2013 Partner:  Highrise, Canada   The Digital Citizenship in Global Suburbs was a collaborative project between PUKAR and Highrise, Canada, that sought to investigate the ways in which digital technologies transform everyday life. Mumbai, an emergent global city. was chosen as one of the cities to be studied. Mira Road, a western suburb of the city was chosen for its poor access to services that is characteristic of rapid urbanization in Mumbai. With an increase in the use of mobile phones and Internet connections, governance and administration in Mira Road has been adopting technology to make the life of the citizen easier. For instance, the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) is all set to launch its e-payment system for tax payments. Similarly, MBMC has also launched a geo-tagging system by which it can track garbage vans to ensure safe and efficient solid-waste disposal. Some of the questions the project sought to answer are- how much of the population can access these digital systems and do they find it convenient. In the 7 month duration of this project, PUKAR's research team spent long hours trying to build rapport with the community in the areas of Naya Nagar and Shanti Nagar, in Mira Road. But due to several obstacles posed by the community under scrutiny, the team was unable to meet goals of the collaborative project.