Second Journal - DEVELOPING SMART CITIES: AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK (2016)

With the advent of “smartphones”, technology has helped mankind to solve some of its difficulties. On a similar note, “smart city” is a futuristic approach to alleviate obstacles triggered by ever-increasing population and fast urbanization which is going to benefit the governments as well as the masses. Modern day cities are deprived of vital elements like quality of life and socioeconomic development which can be delivered by the smart cities. 

Smart cities are an endeavour to make cities more efficient, sustainable and liveable. In other words, a smart city is a city that can monitor and integrate functionality of all the critical infrastructure like roads, tunnels, airways, waterways, railways, communication power supply, etc., control maintenance activities and can help in optimizing the resources while keeping an eye on the security issues as well. This research paper explores various aspects and dimensions of a smart city. To bridge the gap in literature regarding the concept of smart cities and its implementation, a framework has been developed to get better insights about the idea of smart city. 

On the basis of extensive and deep research of literature from diverse domains, we have identified six significant pillars for developing the framework as: Social, Management, Economic, Legal, Technology and Sustainability (SMELTS). The paper throws light upon how these factors can make the smart city initiative a successful project. The proposed framework has been used to figure out various agendas for research and traces its practical implications.

REASEARCH MODEL-FRAMEWORK

VARIABLE & ITEMS (MEASUREMENTS)

1. Social

The ability for all citizens to communicate with one another and agencies and groups that represent them provides a new sense of possibility to the idea that smart cities are based on smart communities whose citizens can play an active part in their design. Presently there are many initiatives where citizens can first access information about what is happening in their communities and cities but also explore ways in which many different groups can become actively involved in the design and planning process, both in face-to-face and remote situations using data, scenarios and models all informed by the contemporary ICT. Current forms of participation are responding to new ICT but still remain inert and passive. 

Also, smart cities initiatives allow the citizens to participate in the governance and management of the city and become active users. If they are key players they may have the opportunity to engage with the initiative to the extent that they can influence the effort to be a success or a failure. The smart city is invisible to many citizens, which makes it difficult to get them engaged. But the smart city is about all citizens, not just a group of enthusiasts. It is about daily chores and everyday life. 

Social Media also plays an important role in smart city initiatives. As the smart city is about altering attitude, communication is a critical factor in engaging people by showing them the enormous value of data. In addition to the traditional role of a watchdog on behalf of the people – the media now needs to work on being the –Disseminator of information ; Educator – on a variety of aspects of modern urban living and Simplifier of policy and how it impacts individual lives. Reaching a large audience is hard in a time where the media landscape is changing rapidly. Today, we can immediately find out about what’s happening anywhere in the world by the use of Internet.

2. Management

Governance is a major execution challenge for smart cites. Limited transparency, fragmented accountability, unequal city divisions and leakage of resources are some of integral characteristics of regular governance. A move from this type of governance to digital or e-governance is essential for an effective and efficient administration of the smart cities. Smart Governance includes political and active participation, citizen services and the smart use of government suggested a list of success factors and challenges for e-government initiatives which can be extended to the smart city governance as most smart city initiatives are also driven by governments and leveraged by the exhaustive use of technology to better serve citizens. 

E-government can be explained as an initiative to improve the decision making process, improve public policy-making and improve public governance – all with ICT at its foundation. E-governance helps the citizens to involve comprehensively in all these aspects. Internet is the most widely used channel of communication for many people and thus cities can incorporate it to identify the needs and wishes of the different target groups and address them in the most effective manner. ICT can enhance democratic processes and increase opportunities for individuals and communities to interact with the government. Internet enables greater participation, as it incapacitates the restrictions imposed by geography, disabilities or other factors. It also enables access to information by individuals and groups that had not been included previously.

 Smart governance is an important characteristic of a smart city that is based on citizen participation and private/public partnerships. Smart governance relies on the implementation of smart governance infrastructure that facilitates service integration, collaboration, communication and data exchange.

3. Economy

Economy is one of the major drivers of smart city initiatives. A key indicator to measure growing city competition is the ability of the city as an economic engine. Operational definition of a smart economy includes factors all around economic competitiveness as entrepreneurship, trademarks, innovation, productivity and flexibility of the labor market and the integration in the national and global market. What truly makes a city intelligent is its capability to innovate and capitalize economically. 

The smart city, like all models used for economic development, supports the maximization of profits. Economic growth in smart city must be constant because of the short life cycle of ICTs. As an economic development platform, the smart city facilitates the flow of capital. The precedent of government sponsorship, oversight, and intervention in smart city projects is crucial to checking the power of corporate players. A series of studies released by the IBM Institute for Business Value identify business as one of core systems of smarter cities, which comprise citizens system, business and transport system, services system communication system, water and energy system. 

The smart city initiatives are designed to develop information technology capacities and establish an agenda for change by industry actions and business development. Creating an environment for industrial development is pivotal to a smart city. The economic outcomes of the smart city initiatives are business creation, job creation, workforce development, and improvement in the productivity.

4. Legal

Evolution of smart cities cannot be successful without legitimate legal compliance. Also councils, governments and other political bodies influence the operation of these initiatives. So both political and legal components are crucial for smart city development. Governments and the organizing entities must write down policies that support the development of smart cities. Legal and regulatory issues should be tackled accordingly by the government for friction-less development of a city. City governments must boost pro-active steps for implementing and managing smart city drive by framing laws and policies that become the fulcrum for growth and development. 

Technological innovations are necessary but innovations in policy making are even more essential and are obscure. The policies must conform to both technical as well as non-technical requirements that are imperative for urban growth. Smart cities face various challenges with respect to legal compliances, environmental and regulatory issues that dominate the policy. Before taking any kind of decisions, rules and regulations must be kept in mind. Knowledge of policies, law and restrictions is 906 Joshi Sujata et al. / Procedia Computer Science 93 (2016) 902 – 909 critical in understanding and using Information and Communication Technology in a proper manner. Smart cities must be governed on the grounds of well-laid principles and guidelines. Therefore, principles and policies are important for efficient and smooth working between administration and local public bodies.

5. Technology

For an ordinary city to transform into a “smart” city, technology (notably ICT technologies) plays major role. Modern cities are getting smarter because of rapid evolution of technology. Problems can be avoided, anticipated and mitigated by analysing huge data available. This is where Big Data comes into picture. Various devices and components must be connected with each other to facilitate real-time decision making. Smart cities must exploit information and communication technology to increase sustainability and improve quality of life for the citizens. Information and Communication Technology is one of the most essential drivers of the smart city initiative. 

Despite taking centre-stage in the development of a smart city, technology has some hurdles. Use of ICT can certainly raise the standards of living but it also faces fierce challenges. Technologically sound human resource with practical skills is limited. Moreover, educating and training these employees with IT skills can be a major challenge. Politics, cultural differences and lack of inter-departmental cooperation are some of the organizational barriers that lie ahead of smart city development.

6. Sustainability

Sustainability can be defined as the way of economic and social development without disrupting the environment. If we consider the Brundtland commission report, it defines sustainable development with two concepts: development focusing on the world’s poor and although development is limitless from the technology purview, it still has many limitations considering the environment’s ability to satisfy our present as well as future needs. 

The sustainable development can be broadly classified into Social, Economic, and Environmental sustainability. These would encompass the major requirements of city environments comprising of sustaining water, energy, and food supplies, managing water and reducing greenhouse gas emission. 70% of the world’s population is expected to reside in the cities in less than 40 years. Cities are the foundation for providing economic stability to its citizens by attracting business and capital. The global financial crisis has exhumed flaws in the financial models and strategies of public authorities in their infrastructure investments. The economic sustainability now rests on enhanced and better integrated infrastructure apart from a new financial model.