From software to civil society to managing the Chennai Smart City as its CEO, Raj Cherubal has seen it all. He holds an MS in Physics from the University of Louisville and an MS in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. As an “outsider” in the government trying to bring fresh perspectives, I got him on the show to tell us the inside story. How the government “works” for the citizen. Its structure complexity and the inertia all of this imposes. 

Ever complained how bad our cities are? How bad your commute is? You’ll get to hear from people who are working to solve these problems in their own way. 

This is your weekly soapbox for Urban Sustainability with Sathya Sankaran

Stock video credits to various contributors on Pexels, Pixabay and Mixkit. Cycle track footage by Nihar Thakkar

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introduction & context

01:05 - Most centralised country on earth

12:04 - Stifled capacities from centralisation

14:04 - Decentralisation is not a choice

26:01 - Cookie cutter

51:36 - Government vs private

01:00:20 - Tell me what to do

01:08:23 - Non profit or non-cooperation

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Profile of Raj Cherubal - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajcherubal/

Does size matter for cities? | OoruLabs Talking Heads podcast Episode 17 with Alok Prasanna Kumar of Vidhi Legal https://youtu.be/helgTk7_0TE

Where is the money in our cities going? | OoruLabs Talking Heads podcast Episode 32 with Srikant Vishwanathan of Janagrahaa https://youtu.be/fIMKPW59jqM 

Smart Cities Mission, Government of India https://smartcities.gov.in

Smart Cities India Cycles for Change challenge https://smartcities.gov.in/India_Cycles_for_Change

Smart Cities Freedom to walk, cycle and run challenge with AltMo https://altmo.app/F2WCR

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