Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US$7.5-billion plan to build 100 “smart cities” across India by 2022, an idea generated by the dramatic reshaping of China’s urban environment, is audacious to say the least. But in a country where more than a third of urban dwellers lack access to piped water, where building collapses are a daily occurrence, where corruption is overwhelming and where a tenacious bureaucracy builds in delays of months or even years to projects, many planners question if Modi can realize his dream.