Smart cities have become the main solution for meeting the challenge of rapid urbanisation.The challenge of rapid urbanisation has overwhelmed the ability of traditional planning and construction methods. However, the physical systems which smart cities rely on, such as smart transport, smart utilities, energy-efficient building and digital command centres, need to be planned, coordinated and delivered with effective construction management (CM). This paper addresses the contribution of CM towards the development of smart city, along with the review of the principles of CM and policy enabling technologies, quantitative evaluation of Building Information Modelling (BIM), lean construction, sustainable construction, risk and stakeholder management, and a case study of Sagar Smart City in Madhya Pradesh, India. The outcome reveals that use of BIM based coordination reduced the design errors to 8 from 25, rework cost reduced by 64%, project duration reduced by 30 days, reduction in material waste using lean just in time practices reduced from 60–67% and saving of 3,400 kWh (equivalent to ₹27,200) per month using smart building systems. The intelligent traffic management system reduced the delay at junctions by 37.5% in Sagar, sensor-based LED street lighting saved about 13,000 kWh (₹1,04,000) per day in Sagar and the Integrated Command and Control Centre reduced the delay in responding to complaints by 75% in Sagar. The most important barriers were: financial risk (20/25), inter-agency coordination (20/25). For future smart city projects, the study suggests that mandatory BIM, public–private partnership (PPP) financing be implemented, and digital monitoring and capacity building and green building standards be established.

Srajan Seth Jain, Ragini Mishra, "Role of Construction Management in the Development of Smart Cities" International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Development, V9(5): Page(1206-1215) September - October 2026. ISSN: 2581-7175. www.ijsred.com. Published by Scientific and Academic Research Publishing.