Johannesburg, 23 Mar 2021
With both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Gauteng Premier David Makhura talking about the development of smart cities in South Africa during their respective State of the Nation/Province addresses this year, concerns have been raised about whether this is feasible or even desirable in the current economic climate.
Mint Group’s Strategic Account Executive Claudia Correia believes it is, if it is approached in the right way.
“There is no real reason why we could not have successful smart cities in South Africa, provided we get the basics right by ensuring the underlying infrastructure is in place and well maintained. We also need to tackle the implementation in much the same way as one would go about ‘eating an elephant’ – bit by bit,” she said.
She pointed out that while most discussions around smart cities tend to focus on the utilisation of the technology usually associated with the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), the definition of a smart city is evolving.
“The real smartness of the city is in the ability to meet the needs of its citizens,” Correia explained.
Empowering your citizen
Mint Group defines a smart city as “a city or city region that uses technology to communicate and share information and strengthen operational efficiencies through digital automation. The goal is to provide increased service delivery that improves the quality of life for today’s and tomorrow’s citizens with regard to their economic, social and environmental needs.
“Building a city in the fourth industrial revolution needs smart infrastructure that spans across healthcare, education, mobility, economy and governance while also looking at the environment. The core characteristic that underlies most of these components is that they are connected to a massively networked infrastructure and a connected community. Cities are built for people, and human factors should be at the heart of any smart city planning,” she added.
This reflects the concept of a smart city used by the Switzerland-based Institute for Management Development (IMD) and Singapore University for Technology and Design (SUTD) in their global Smart City Index. According to the Index, a “smart city describes an urban setting that applies technology to enhance the benefits and diminish the shortcomings of urbanisation”.
The Index, first published in 2019 and updated in 2020, ranks over 100 cities around the world in terms of how their citizens perceive the scope and impact of efforts to make their cities “smart”, balancing “economic and technological aspects” with “human dimensions” in terms of five key areas: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance.
In the 2020 index, Cape Town, the only South African city to feature in the report, was ranked 103 of 109 cities. Others in the bottom 10 were Sao Paulo, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Manila, Rabat, Cairo, Abuja, Nairobi and Lagos.
At the other end of 2020 Index rankings, Singapore was first, followed by Helsinki, Zurich, Auckland, Oslo, Copenhagen Geneva, Taipei City, Amsterdam and New York.
Cape Town’s overall rating dropped from “C” in 2019 to “D” in 2020 mainly as a result of receiving a “D” for structures – the existing infrastructure of the city. However, it was one of the few lower-ranked cities to receive a “C” rating for the technological provisions and services available to its inhabitants.
While the IMD/SUTD Index is focused only on existing cities, South Africa’s “smart city” focus appears to be on building such a city from the ground up.
The five principles that power a smart city
In his SONA, President Ramaphosa noted that the proposed Lanseria smart city project was “a reality in the making” with the draft masterplan for the development having been completed in November 2020. It is projected that the new city will accommodate between 350 000 and 500 000 people within the next 10 years.
It will be built around five key principles
- Physical accessibility due to its size and integrated public transport system.
- Economic inclusion.
- Commercial, warehousing and industrial development.
- Environmental sustainability.
- Information and communications technology such as 5G connectivity for all residential and business premises, as well as a smart mobile app for the city.
There is also talk of a possible city-wide CCTV system that uses facial recognition technology.
“There is no question that the Lanseria project is tremendously exciting,” Correia said. “However, the question that needs to be asked is: what of South Africa’s existing cities? Are they to be left behind or can they also be transformed, district by district, into smart cities in their own right? I believe that if the right approach is taken, it can be done.”
She maintained that the first step in transforming legacy cities into smart cities, is to address all their underlying social, economic and political factors. The next step is ensuring that its technology infrastructure is intelligent and utilises cloud solutions for service delivery, artificial intelligence and machine learning advances to collect and analyse big data for better decision-making.
“Essentially it’s about using technology purposefully by unlocking the digital economy for all. South African cities must deliver a better quality of life for the communities they serve,” she concluded.
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