The document discusses definitions of smart cities and dimensions of smart cities. It identifies six key dimensions of smart cities: smart economy, smart people, smart governance, smart mobility, smart environment, and smart living. These dimensions are associated with different aspects of urban life. The document also discusses challenges cities face in Europe, South/East Mediterranean countries, and Malaysia according to these six dimensions. Finally, it provides examples of smart city initiatives and projects in Seoul, Singapore, and Iskandar Malaysia.

1. MGHN 2544 | Strategic Land Development and Practices
Definition
Many definitions of smart cities exist. The label of ‘smart city’ itself is a fuzzy concept and is used
in ways that are not always consistent. According to Bakıcı et al. (2012), smart city as a high-
tech intensive and advanced city that connects people, information and city elements using
new technologies in order to create a sustainable, greener city, competitive and innovation
commerce, and an increased life quality.
In the urban planning field, the term “smart city” is often treated as an ideological dimension
according to which being smarter entails strategic directions. Governments and public
agencies at all levels are embracing the notion of smartness to distinguish their policies and
programs for targeting sustainable development, economic growth, better quality of life for
their citizens, and creating happiness (Ballas, 2013).
Lombardi et al. (2012) have used and investigated further each dimension and have referred it
to a different aspects of urban life. Lombardi et al. (2012) have associated the six components
with different aspects of urban life, as shown in Figure 1. The smart economy has been
associated with the presence of industries in the field of ICT or employing ICT in production
processes. Smart mobility refers to the use of ICT in modern transport technologies to improve
urban traffic. Aspects referring to the preservation of the natural environment in cities are
extensively covered in Giffinger et al. (2007), and Albino and Dangelico (2012).
Characteristics and dimension of Smart City
Figure 1:
Dimensions of a smart city and related aspects of urban life (adapted from Lombardi et al., 2012)
Smart
Economy
Smart
People
Smart
Governance
Smart
Mobility
Smart
Environment
Smart
Living
Industry Education E-democracy Logistics &
Infrastructure
Efficiency &
Sustainability
Security &
Quality
Related aspect of urban life
Characteristic / Dimension
By 2050, 60% of the world population is expected to live in urban areas, the challenge will be to
supply these population with basic resources while also ensuring overall economic, social and
environmental sustainability (Sustainable Development). Cities worldwide have started to look
for solutions which enable these three element of sustainable to be implemented. Many of the
new approaches related to urban services have been based on harnessing technologies,
including ICT and helping to create what some call “smart cities.”
Introduction
Siti Mahfuzah binti Mardy
Master of Science (Land Administration and Development)
Lecturer :
Dr Abd Halim Hamzah
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Siti Mahfuzah binti Mardy | Master of Science (Land Administration and Development)

2. The main objectives of Smart City approach must be to solve urban problems in an efficient
way to improve sustainability of the city and quality of life of its inhabitants. Smart city projects
must tackle the problems of today’s cities while also looking to the potential problems cities will
face in the coming decades. The Table 1,2 and 3 show the city challenges in European City,
South & East Mediterranean and Malaysia country based on 6 dimensional of Smart City. It is
important to look into the arisen challenges to ensure the smoothness in developing a Smart
City.
Governance Economy Mobility Environment People Living
Flexible governance Unemployment Sustainable mobility Energy saving Unemployment Affordable Housing
Shrinking cities Shrinking Cities Inclusive mobility Shrinking cities Social cohesion Social cohesion
Territorial cohesion Economic decline Multimodal transport
system
Holistic approach to
environmental and
energy issue
Poverty Health problem
Combination of formal
and informal
government
Territorial cohesion Urban ecosystem
under pressure
Urban ecosystems
under pressure
Ageing population Emergency
management
Mono sectoral
economy
Traffic congestion Climate change
effects
Diversity as source of
innovation
Urban sprawl
Sustainable local
economies
Non car mobility Urban sprawl Cyber security Safety and security
Social diversity as
surce of innovation
Ict infrastructure
deficit
Cyber security
ICT infrastructure
deficit
Table 1 : City Challenge in European City based on 6 dimension of Smart City
Governance Economy Mobility Environment People Living
Low urban institutional
capacities
High infrastructure
deficit
Lack of public
transport
Scarcity of resources Urban poverty and
inequality
Slum proliferation
Instability in
governance
Shortage in access to
technology
High infrastructure
deficit
Water scarcity Shortage in access to
technology
Urban violence and
insecurity
Gap between
government and
governed
Economy weaknesses
and lack of
competitiveness
Pollution Climate change
effects
Specific problems of
urban youth
Rapid growth and
urban sprawl
Unbalance
geographical
development
Specific problems of
urban youth
Rapid growth Pollution Threats to cultural
identity
Deficit of social
services
Deficit of social
service
Limited urban based
industries
Rapid growth and
urban sprawl
Low educational level Threats to cultural
identity
Unbalanced
geographical
development
Urban poverty and
inequality
Table 2 : City Challenge in South & East-Mediterranean based on 6 dimension of Smart City
Governance Economy Mobility Environment People Living
Insufficient social
infrastructure
High infrastructure
deficit
Low awareness on
sustainable mobility
Environmental
degradation
Low educational level
and rose drop out
rates
Weak awareness on
energy efficiency
Rapid growth and fast
rate of urbanization
Shortage in access to
technology
High infrastructure
deficit
Rapid growth and fast
rate of urbanization
Stress-related diseases Deficit of social
services
Lack of expertise /
professional to fulfil the
potential of growth
Road and rail
transportation is highly
congested during
peak hours
Flash flood and waste
disposal
Ageing population Shortage of
affordable housing
Smart and high
technology in
industries
Multimodal transport
system
Lack of expertise /
professional to fulfil the
potential of growth
Shortage in access to
technology
Overcrowding
Table 3 : City Challenge in Malaysia based on 6 dimension of Smart City
Source: CIA Factbook & UK Trade and Investment 2011 and presentation output on Smart City Initiativeby Nor Sallehi Kassim, PLANMalaysia.
Source : Andres Monzon, Transport Research Centre, Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (2015)
Source : Andres Monzon, Transport Research Centre, Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (2015)
City Challenge towards Smart City
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Siti Mahfuzah binti Mardy | Master of Science (Land Administration and Development)

3. According to a study by Manzon (2015), project actions for Smart City can be described and
defined as seen in Table 3. The actions derived by relating them to the city challenges.
Smart City Project Actions
Table 4 : Smart City Project Actions
Case Study
The case studies were selected base on commonality of several factors including the culture,
socio economy, geographical and political aspect. There are three case study that has been
selected and analysed include Seoul, Singapore and Iskandar Malaysia.
In addition, this section will also include the findings of a study by Yasmin et al. (2016) on the
smart city assessment using Smart City Descriptors Score Table approach. The assessment helps
to ascertain the smart city initiatives practiced by each city and may observe the extent to
which the initiatives have been practiced in relation to the score table proposed by Yasmin and
team. The assessment also based on the 6 dimensions of the smart city as discussed earlier.
Through this exercise, the cities’ smartness categories by dimension are attained. To be capable
of a quantitative treatment, the smartness category is then associated with numerical value,
putting the achievement of the smartness category on a scale of 1 to 4 with each scale
corresponding to each category. Refer Appendix A for the descriptors for the level of
achievement under each dimension of smart city.
Source :
Andres Monzon, Transport Research Centre, Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (2015)
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Siti Mahfuzah binti Mardy | Master of Science (Land Administration and Development)

4. Officially “Seoul Special City”, Seoul is the capital of South Korea and the
country’s largest metropolis with a population of over 10 million people in
2013. Seoul is however best known as one of the most tech-savvy cities in
the world, retaining its top 10 ranking in the UN e-Government Survey in
2016. The Korea’s first attempt to incorporate ICT in city development
strategies started in 2004. The u-City project has been initiated to
strengthen the cities competitiveness.
In 2011, the Smart Seoul was to uphold Seoul’s reputation as a global ICT
leader by boosting its sustainability and competitiveness through smart
technologies, and overcome the limitation of u-City. Smart Seoul 2015 is a
more people-oriented or human-centric project and Seoul aims to
implement numerous smart technologies and create a more collaborative
relationship between the city and its citizens.
ICT is the basic infrastructure of a smart city in Seoul, used not only in cyber
space, but also as communicating elements of physical infrastructure.
There are 3 pillars of Smart Seoul Cities ; ICT infrastructure, Integrated City
Management Framework and Smart Users. The current initiatives are mainly
implemented and monitored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Smart Seoul, Korea
Smart Nation Singapore
Smart
Economy 4
Smart
People 3
Smart
Governance 4
Smart
Mobility 3
Smart
Environment 4
Smart
Living 3
Level
of
Initiatives
Provision
4
3
3
4
3
4
Smart
Economy 4
Smart
People 3
Smart
Governance 4
Smart
Mobility 3
Smart
Environment 4
Smart
Living 3
Level
of
Initiatives
Provision
4
4
4
4
4
4
2004
u-City Smart Soul 2015
2011
Singapore is one of the world's major commercial hubs, with one of the
busiest ports and the fourth-biggest financial centre. Singapore’s total
population was 5.54 million as of June 2015 with 1.63 million non-resident
populations (Singapore Department of Statistic, 2015).
In 2014, Singapore launched a landmark Smart Nation program through
which it is gathering unprecedented amounts of data about all aspects of
city life. It has the vision of transforming Singapore by building the World's
first Smart Nation by harnessing technology to the fullest with the aim of
improving the lives of citizen, creating more opportunities, and building
stronger communities. According to the Smart Cities Index Report 2017
prepared by EasyPark group listed Singapore at rank 2 in the world and
supported by powerengineering website that named Singapore as world
best Smart Cities in 2018.
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) acts to develop
information technology and telecommunications within Singapore with a
view to serve citizen of all ages and companies of all sizes (Infocomm
Development Authority of Singapore, 2015).
The Government identified five national strategic projects which the
government will focus on in the immediate future include the National
Digital Identity (NID) framework, e-Payments, Smart Nation Sensor Platform
(SNSP), Smart Urban Mobility and Moments of Life (MOL).
2014
Smart Nation
Advance (3)
State of the Art (4)
Smartness
Category
Basic (1)
Medium (2)
4

5. Iskandar Malaysia is one of the Malaysia’s Economic Growth Corridor
covering a total area of 2,217 sq km which is about 12% of Johor State
Area. Iskandar Malaysia launched by the government in November 2006
and proudly envisaged to become a strong sustainable metropolis of
international standing. Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA)
acts as the regulatory authority for the area.
The Smart City Iskandar Malaysia acts as the enabler to Iskandar Malaysia
In order to improve living quality and expand the business opportunity in
that region. Other than that, the Smart City Iskandar Malaysia focussing to
the sustainable development component; Economy, Environment, Social
and promotes the six dimensions of Smart City.
Smart City Iskandar Malaysia
Smart
Economy 4
Smart
People 3
Smart
Governance 4
Smart
Mobility 3
Smart
Environment 4
Smart
Living 3
Level
of
Initiatives
Provision
3
2
2
2
3
2
2006
Iskandar Malaysia Smart City Iskandar Malaysia
2012
Iskandar Malaysia in the context of Regional Corridors
Iskandar Malaysia covers 5 Local Planning Authorities
The result of Smart City Assessment
Smart
Economy
Smart
People
Smart
Governance
Smart
Mobility
Smart
Environment
Smart
Living
4
4
3
4
3
2
4
4
2
4
3
2
4
4
2
4
3
3
Table 5 : Level of Initiatives Provision for case studies
Figure 2 :
The Radar Chart of Smart City
Dimensions Between Cities
Note : The radar chart represents a
visual reflection of the selected cities at
‘first instance’ i.e. without considering
the prevalent aspects that may have
influenced the cities’ development in
the past.
Source : Adapted from Yasmin,
Hasniyati, Melasutra, Md Nasir and
Anuar (2016).
Source :
Smart City Iskandar Malaysia Booklet (2014)
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Siti Mahfuzah binti Mardy | Master of Science (Land Administration and Development)

6. Discussion and Conclusion
The development transition to Smart City has brought all countries over the world to react and
implement it by considering the sustainable development approach. From this study, clearly the
Smart City has various argumentation on the concept itself and the existing of various
assessment framework of the implementation of Smart City. Other than that, it is found that the
main objective of Smart City is to solve the urban problems to improve the sustainability and the
quality of life of its citizen. Smart city projects also must tackle the problems of today’s cities while
also looking to the potential problems cities will face in the coming decades. Thus, the problems
and challenges from selected region has been stated and tabled based on the 6 dimension of
the smart city; Smart Economy, Smart People, Smart Governance, Smart Mobility, Smart
Environment and Smart Living. The list of challenges is important to provide the comprehensive
smart city project actions as the guidance of the development.
Then, the three case studies has been selected (Seoul, Singapore and Iskandar Malaysia) to
have a wider view of the implementation of Smart City especially in Asean country. This paper
has bring forward the research on the proposed Smart City assessment using Smart City
Descriptors Score Table approach by a group of researchers from Malaysia. The assessment
helps to ascertain the smart city initiatives practiced by each city and observe the extent to
which the initiatives have been practiced in relation to the score table proposed by Yasmin and
team. The proposed heuristic framework eliminates the requirement for large volume of baseline
data that can be almost impossible to obtain for various reasons. Therefore, this proposed model
enables a simultaneous assessment of many cities at once. The assessment also based on the 6
dimensions of the smart city as discussed earlier
According to the study by Yasmin et al (2016), all 3 cities showed smart city dimensions above
the ‘medium’ scale. After analysing the comparison data, it shows that all the cities passed the
basic provision of smart city initiatives. In terms of Smart Economy, Singapore showed the
excellent result (‘State of the Art’ level) compared to Seoul and Iskandar only achieved
Advanced level. In terms of Smart Mobility and Smart People, Seoul and Singapore showed
‘State of the Art’ provisions compared to Iskandar which achieved Medium level. In Smart
Governance dimension, both Seoul and Singapore indicated ‘State of the Art’ levels of
achievement whereas Iskandar showed an Advanced level of smart governance provision. For
Smart Environment and Smart Living, Singapore led in the provision ‘State of the Art’ level
followed by Seoul (Advanced level) and Iskandar (Medium level). It is found that Singapore has
lead on the provision of Smart City Initiatives in all Smart City dimensions compared to the all
other cities in this respect, scoring ‘State of the Art’ achievement level. According to UN E-
government index survey 2016, Singapore excellently placed in top 10 countries as successfully
implemented e-governance development. Seoul follows, with comparable strengths on all
dimensions except smart economy and smart people. When comparisons are made to the level
of achievements for the initiatives under the six (6) Smart City dimensions, Iskandar Malaysia may
not achieve the high level of provision as compared to the more developed cities.
In the context of Malaysia, Malaysia has joined the smart city bandwagon with the recent move
to declare and promote Iskandar Malaysia as the pioneer smart city in the country but from the
result it shows that Malaysia still at the medium stage on the implementation of Smart City
approach. So, the government need to initiated and encourage the use of ICT and smart
technologies in all sectors by fulfilling all the five focus area in Eleventh Malaysia Plan. The
implementation of Smart City in Malaysia country still at the back compared to the developed
country such as Singapore and Korea. In terms of policy implications, this study can support
policy makers to: (i) identify cities that can be considered smart (along one or more dimensions),
(ii) identify the city challenges in Malaysia (iii) develop incentives and tools for the development
of smart cities, and (iv) monitor the progresses of cities towards “smartness” along several
dimensions. In conclusion, the Smart City is among the best approach to realise the 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as promoted by United Nation where as the main 6
dimensions of the Smart City covers all aspect of the SDGs. All countries need to take part to this
emerging era with the production of impressive technology. One day, the world will become a
digital world and consist of smart generation. Thus, we should be ready.
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Siti Mahfuzah binti Mardy | Master of Science (Land Administration and Development)

7. Reference
Yasmin, Hasniyati, Melasutra, Md Nasir & Anuar, 2016, ‘An Initiatives-based Framework for
Assessing Smart City’, Journal of the Malaysian Institue of Planners, Special Issue V, pp. 13-22.
Smart City Iskandar, 2014. Malaysia Iskandar Regional Development Authority.
Malaysia, Eleventh Malaysia Plan (RMK 11), released on 21st May 2015.
Andres Monzon, 2015, ‘Smart Cities Concept and Challenges: Bases
for the Assessment of Smart City Projects’, in Helfert, Kremples, Klein & Gusikhin (Eds.),
Portugal.
Mircea Eremia, Lucian Toma & Mihai Sanduleac, 2016, ‘The Smart City Concept in the 21st
Century’, Procedia Engineering 181, pp 12-19.
Nor Salehi Kassim, output on ‘Smart City Initiative’, PLANMalaysia
Vito Albino, Umberto Berardi & Rosa Maria Dangelico 2015, ‘Smart Cities: Definitions,
Dimensions, Performance, and Initiatives’, Journal of Urban Technnology, vol. 22,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2014.942092
Smart Seoul 2015 (Basic Strategic Plan for Informatization of Seoul Metropolitan City),
http://english.seoul.go.kr/wpcontent/uploads/2014/02/SMART_SEOUL_2015_41.pdf
Kelvin Rose 2018, ‘Singapore, London and Barcelona named as world’s best smart cities’,
http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2018/02/singapore-london-and-barcelona-
named-as-world-s-best-smart-cities.html
Shaping a Smart Nation, Annual Report 2013/14, Infocomm Development Authority of
Singapore
Priyankar Bhunia 2017, ‘Towards Smart Nation Singapore –Development in 2017 Part 1 of 3),
viewed 24 April 2018, https://www.opengovasia.com/articles/towards-smart-nation-
singapore-developments-in-2017-part-1
ITU-T Technology Watch Report February 2013, ‘ Smart Cities Seoul : a case study’
Public Administration UN, UN E-Government survey 2016,
https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2016’
Agentschap NL Ministerie van Economische Zaken, ‘Smart Cities in Malaysia’.
CIA Factbook (2011).
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/my.html
UK Trade and Investment (2011).
https:// www.ukti.gov.uk/malaysia
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Siti Mahfuzah binti Mardy | Master of Science (Land Administration and Development)

8. Dimension
of Smart City
Smartness
Category
City’s level of provision
Smart
Economy
Basic (1) Facilitating local economic activities (infrastructure, facilities, economic support system)
Medium (2) Economic growth and value creation
Advance (3) Innovative economic growth
State of the Art (4) Integrated economic hub
Smart People Basic (1) Provision and accessibility to basic level of infrastructure and programmes for the training and
education towards enhancement of skills and knowledge
Medium (2) Provision and creation of elaborate human capital improvement environment with physical
and nonphysical platforms for the advancement of knowledge, skills and sharing ideals
Advance (3) Creation of a conducive ecosystem that attracts and develops human capital through
physical and nonphysical platform with advanced technological features for the advancement
of knowledge, skills and sharing ideals towards a caring and open mind set
State of the Art (4) Development and creation of a conducive ecosystem that attracts and develops human
capital through the adoption of state of the art ICT and technology driven educational and
training towards the cosmopolitanism, caring and open mind set
Smart
Governance
Basic (1) Provision of basic public and social services
Medium (2) Public participation in decision-making
Advance (3) Public-private partnership
State of the Art (4) Fully transparent government with ICT that provides real-time policy conveyance and input
Smart Mobility Basic (1) Basic transportation and connectivity to ease movement
Medium (2) Full accessibility and some connectivity that further enhanced movement
Advance (3) Full accessibility and full connectivity together with an efficient traffic management system
State of the Art (4) Full accessibility and full connectivity together with a sustainable traffic management system
Smart
Environment
Basic (1) Provisions for safe and clean environment
Medium (2) Protection of the environment
Advance (3) Enhancement via green technology in the environmental management system
State of the Art (4) Usage of ICT in the sustainable environmental management
Smart Living Basic (1) Provision of communal amenities and cohesive social environment
Medium (2) Provision of extensive communal amenities and cohesive social environment
Advance (3) Availability of varieties and options for global communal amenities with cohesive social and
living environment
State of the Art (4) Creation of comprehensive global communal amenities with cohesive and integrated social
and living environment towards community well-being
Smart City Assessment Indicators
APPENDIX A
Smart City Assessment Indicator. Adapted from “An Initiatives-based Framework for Assessing Smart City” by Yasmin,
Hasniyati, Melasutra, Md Nasir and Anuar, 2016, Journal of the Malaysian Institute of Planners, Special Issue V, p.13-22.
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Siti Mahfuzah binti Mardy | Master of Science (Land Administration and Development)