Urban Planning - Smart and Sustainable Cities

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Urban Planning - Smart and Sustainable Cities Smart and Sustainable Cities Background Urbanization is a broad terminology describing the process through which rural, underdeveloped and undeveloped regions transition to major cities. Despite the rich history of urbanization, Doheim, Farag and Badawi (2019) noted that most urban centers have not yet attained the level necessary to satisfy all human needs. Urban areas are typified by an increase in population and infrastructure developments. Irrefutably, a huge proportion of the current global population lives in urban areas. This proportion is expected to grow by 68% over the next thirty years (Mutiara, Yuniarti & Pratama, 2018). Notably, the rise in population requires social, economic and environmental sustainability. Therefore, major cities must implement interventions that promote growth and sustainability without introducing new social and economic problems. Urban developers and local councils must join forces to create smart, sustainable cities.

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The smart and sustainable city describes an innovative city that utilizes modern technology to improve urban operation’s efficiency, competitiveness and quality of life of residents (Mutiara, Yuniarti & Pratama, 2018). Writers depict a smart and sustainable city as the only initiative that could wholly support the present and future socioeconomic, cultural and environmental needs of the people. Smart cities are considered complementary to conventional public policy and urban planning objectives including improving the residents’ quality of life, optimizing service delivery, and facilitating access to resources (Castelnovo, Misuraca and Savoldelli, 2016).

Many countries acknowledge the importance of smart and sustainable cities. The Saudi government, for instance, recognizes smart city initiatives as a reliable intervention to improve the lives of its people. Under the Saudi Smart City initiative, the government is determined to develop at least ten smart cities by 2030 (Doheim, Farag & Badawi, 2019). Unfortunately, creating smart cities is a complex project marred with challenges. Poor governance is one of the critical challenges facing the smart city initiative. Governance in this context describes the way different levels of government, including regional, national and local, manage urban areas.

Governance also involves the stakeholders’ activities in planning, financing and managing major cities.

Saghir (2019) clarified that the smart city initiative might crumble if the government and the stakeholders fail to implement suitable communication mechanisms besides withholding the resources needed to accomplish major smart city projects. Further, the smart cities initiative might also run into problems if it promotes social discrimination. A lack of technical knowledge to navigate the smart city might limit some people’s access to certain resources. Non-educated people might not fit in smart cities, indicating that these cities will not resolve all challenges

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people face. Proper governance is, therefore, necessary to promote inclusivity, participation, decision-making and policy development at all levels. Saghir (2019) noted that besides providing direction, proper governance defines crucial procedures and offers the metrics necessary to validate processes.

Problem Question / Statement Proper governance is critical to the effective implementation and management of smart and sustainable cities. Innovators and stakeholders are determined to establish effective governance models to ensure the smart city initiative does not crumble. Unfortunately, with numerous governmental parties within the country focusing on developing and managing modern cities, these projects might run into serious management issues. A lack of proper governance modalities hinders the sustainability of smart cities (Saghir, 2019). Leaders and stakeholders need to address the issue of overlapping responsibilities and create mechanisms for proper governance. This approach would streamline critical processes for implementing smart, sustainable cities. Managing smart cities is nonetheless a complex task that requires effective organizational structures. These structures must support the broad participation of stakeholders in governance. Regrettably, there are no clear-cut interventions that innovators can implement to enhance governance in smart cities. Potential solutions to poor governance include integrating traditional municipal models and alternative governance platforms into smart city management.

Objective This paper investigates the importance of proper governance to smart cities and develops recommendations for Saudi smart cities' governance. The paper explores the policies, approaches and interventions that could enhance governance at all levels and boost the sustainability of Saudi smart cities. The investigation will help identify governance interventions

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that have proven effective in other cities. Essentially, it will unearth information on governance models applicable to the Saudi context. This investigation is relevant since it will improve the understanding of different governance principles, including integrity, transparency, technology, responsiveness, accountability, effective policies and integrity. These issues are worth investigating considering poor governance might cripple all investments in smart, sustainable cities. A focus on technology, in particular, will contribute to the Saudi Smart City initiative by generating more information on how to reshape the social and physical character of urban regions, shaping the cost and distribution of resources, influencing the quality and quantity of services besides improving the efficiency of service delivery.

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Literature Review Literature reveals that smart cities have become a progressively more important area of research. These cities play a fundamental role in driving economic growth, innovation and creativity. Unfortunately, cities are faced with numerous challenges, including environmental pollution, poor governance, globalization, climate change and economic crises (Doheim, Farag, & Badawi, 2019). Adopting a smart city approach, which embraces proper governance, could resolve most of these problems. Proper governance is a huge driving factor for the growth and sustainability of major cities across the world. Some of the key concepts of smart governance include effective communication, appropriate resource utilization, effective leadership, and use of technology in governance. The SmartCitiesWorld news team (2021) noted that London, Seoul, Barcelona and Singapore, which rank highest in development and innovation, have embraced most of the smart city governance concepts.

Digital infrastructure Gohari, Ahlers, Nielsen and Junker (2020) noted that to achieve sustainability, governance of smart cities must be interactive. Smart city teams cannot achieve development, growth and sustainability independently of the needs, aspirations, needs and interests of citizens and stakeholders. Therefore, innovators must incorporate emergent technologies in urbanization projects to achieve smart governance and enhance interactions. Barcelona, Singapore and Seoul have implemented mechanisms to promote governance through technology and bring the entire city population along their digitization drive. In London, for instance, innovators have used emergent technologies to connect leaders, innovators, stakeholders and the city population, thus, creating a cohesive block determined to achieve a common goal. Singapore, on the other hand, utilizes a comprehensive approach whereby smart people are actively engaged in policymaking

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(The SmartCitiesWorld news team, 2021). Singapore’s smart nation initiative is pegged on a citizen-oriented policy and organizational perspective that promotes collaboration at all levels. In Barcelona and Seoul, on the other hand, the smart city initiative is supported by emergent technologies that connect people and facilitate decision-making at all levels of governance.

Innovators use technology to create solutions for sustainability and predict challenges that might affect growth and sustainability in the future.

Leadership The smart cities have established effective leadership platforms to ensure appropriate policies are developed, implemented, and followed up. Irrefutably, workable policies have played an indispensable role in developing and sustaining smart cities. Barcelona, for instance, has a workable smart city governance model typified by strong leadership, effective communication mechanisms, and smart governance teams. The smart city director in Barcelona guides the smart city team in employing a holistic approach to assess urban policy-making procedures. This assessment helps ensure only valid policies are produced and implemented.

Communication Competent communication platforms have also facilitated the growth and sustainability of smart cities. Pereira, Parycek, Falco and Kleinhans (2018) pointed out that effective communication is the most effective way to address the barriers to smart and sustainable cities.

Consequently, most of the current smart cities including London, Barcelona and Seoul have developed teams of professionals responsible for propelling sustainable development in communication infrastructure. These teams ensure that the city has modern information and communication technologies. Using ICT platforms in these cities promote communication by improving smart teams’ decision making, and boosting collaboration among stakeholders.

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Resources distribution Gohari, Ahlers, Nielsen and Junker (2020) argued that there is a high possibility the current rates at which cities are growing and consuming resources might become unsustainable in the future. The smart cities have introduced a generally accepted concept that technology will resolve all challenges associated with modern cities. However, improper planning and poor governance might affect the effectiveness of emergent technology in mitigating the effects of rapid urbanization. The smart city leadership has integrated various smart domains into the city management platforms to achieve sustainability. These domains include mobility, governance, people, environment, living and economy. The smart economy is particularly beneficial in ensuring appropriate utilization of resources in smart cities ((The SmartCitiesWorld news team, 2021). In Singapore the smart city board partners with industry players and the private sector to ensure resources are properly distributed and utilized.

Lesson learnt One of the key lessons learnt from the smart cities is that technology is an integral constituent of proper governance. Technological convergence, mobile pervasiveness, and normalization, defined as the internet of things, play a major role in urbanization, development and sustainability of cities (Castelnovo, Misuraca and Savoldelli (2016). In concurrence, Nesti (2020) noted that smart cities are based on the broad use of technology and promotion of major facets of urban development, including innovation, economic development and environmental sustainability. Therefore, adopting a smart city approach calls for transforming existing managerial practices and institutional structures. The smart cities are typified by complex interactions between the public, the government, and other stakeholders. Therefore, the presence of efficient communication platforms is important. Integrating modern information and

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communication technologies streamlines smart city governance, thus, helping innovators achieve the projected goals and objectives.

Methodology This paper employs the descriptive methodology to examine the definition, characteristics and applications of governance, the main variable under investigation. This descriptive approach focuses on generating answers relevant to the why and what of the research issue. This methodology covers cases studies of smart cities to help understand how these cities are governed, the interventions implemented to address social, economic and environmental challenges and the drivers of sustainability in these cities. In this case, the descriptive methodology will generate information applicable to Smart and Sustainable cities in Saudi Arabia. This information will help innovators fully comprehend the mandates and responsibilities of major entities in Saudi cities. Importantly, descriptive methodology creates a platform to develop a theoretical governance model to implement the Saudi Smart Cities initiative.

Limitations of the study Time-line Recommendations This paper proposes a smart governance model to clarify the mandates and responsibilities of the community, the public sector and the private sector. The smart governance model places modern technology and ICT at its core. Using emergent technologies and ICT creates a transparent, collaborative, sustainable and communication-based platform for the government and the people to interact. These components are vital to the successful implementation of smart cities. They help create a functioning infrastructure necessary for

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flawless data exchange, communication, cooperation, and service integration. In proper governance, systems work effectively and produce tangible outcomes.

Conclusion Smart governance, described as the intelligent application of emergent technology to improve policy development and decision-making, is crucial to implementing smart and sustainable cities. This form of governance facilitates collaboration among stakeholders, including the public and the government. Importantly, it promotes inclusivity whereby people are recognized as active participants in growth and development. Smart governance creates an environment typified by improved relations between people, processes and technology. These interactions in turn, create a universal dynamic that supports novel models of integrated, open and inclusive governance. Cases studies have revealed that smart governance is a driver of smart and sustainable cities. Evidence from various sources is proof that proper governance is the key ingredient to Saudi Smart cities. Proper governance ensures that the roles and responsibilities of smart city entities are clear and executable.

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References Castelnovo, W., Misuraca, G., & Savoldelli, A. (2016). Smart cities governance: The need for a holistic approach to assessing urban participatory policymaking. Social Science Computer Review, 34(6), 724-739. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0894439315611103 Doheim, R. M., Farag, A. A., & Badawi, S. (2019). Smart city vision and practices across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—a review. Smart cities: Issues and challenges, 309-332. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333973427 Gohari, S., Ahlers, D., F Nielsen, B., & Junker, E. (2020). The governance approach of smart city initiatives. evidence from trondheim, bergen, and bodø. Infrastructures, 5(4), 1-20.

Http://doi:10.3390/infrastructures5040031 Mutiara, D., Yuniarti, S., & Pratama, B. (2018, March). Smart governance for the smart city. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 126, No. 1, p. 012073). http://doi:10.1088/1755-1315/126/1/012073 Nesti, G. (2020). Defining and assessing the transformational nature of smart city governance: Insights from four European cases. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 86(1), 20-37. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0020852318757063 Pereira, G. V., Parycek, P., Falco, E., & Kleinhans, R. (2018). Smart governance in the context of smart cities: A literature review. Information Polity, 23(2), 143-162. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325304603 Saghir, B., (2019). Saudi Arabia’s Smart Cities Program: Why Local Government is Imperative to Digital Transformation in Saudi Cities. http://www.ksclg.org/en/publication-project/saudi-arabias-smart-cities-program-whylocal-government-is-imperative-to-digital-transformation-in-saudi-cities/

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SmartCitiesWorld news team (2021). Singapore, Seoul and London top smart city governance ranking. https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/news/singapore-seoul-and-london-top-smartcity-governance-ranking-6258 The Smart City Journal (2017). Smart Cities: A Futuristic Vision. https://www.thesmartcityjournal.com/en/articles/smart-cities-futuristic-vision