This document discusses perspectives on smart cities, particularly from developing countries in the global South. It outlines key challenges facing cities related to mobility, resources, and the environment. Smart cities aim to address these challenges through ICT-enabled urban innovation projects and continuous processes. The document presents the "SCID" framework for designing smart city initiatives and discusses how smart cities can help implement the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Examples are given of smart city solutions in developing areas for renewable energy, water mapping, real estate projects, and partnerships between governments and private organizations. The document argues that the SDGs will increasingly frame smart city efforts in Africa.

1. Smart Cities –
Perspectives from the South
Adegboyega Ojo
Senior Research Fellow and Unit Leader (EGOV)
Insight Centre for Data Analytics
National University of Ireland Galway
adegboyega.ojo@insight-centre.org
Waternomics Final Event, Eng. Building, NUIG, 31 January 2017

2. City Challenges and Wicked Problems
MOBILITY CHALLENGES
o Transportation systems are
inadequate to serve the needs of
the 21st century
RESOURCE CHALLENGES
o Freshwater use to rise 25% by 2030
o Energy demand by emerging
countries will rise by 73%
ENVIRONMENT CHALLENGES
• Global warming or Friedman's
"global weirding” phenomenon,
exacerbation of warming induced
disasters and related health
problems [Forester 2010]

3. How are Cities Responding?

4. Smart Cities – Key Perspectives
As a Project involving
ICT-enabled Urban
Innovation Project
As a Process involving
ICT-enabled Urban
Innovation
As a City engaged
continuous process of
ICT-enabled Urban
Innovation

5. Smart Cities – Essence & Approach
Ojo, A., Dzhusupova, Z.,
and Curry, E. 2016.
“Exploring the Nature of
the Smart Cities Research
Landscape,” in Smarter as
the New Urban Agenda: A
Comprehensive View of
the 21st Century CityJ. R.
Gil-Garcia, T. A. Pardo,
and T. Nam (eds.), Cham:
Springer International
Publishing, pp. 23–47
(doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-
17620-8_2).

6. The “SCID” Framework
Ojo, A., Curry, E., and Janowski, T. 2014. “Designing Next Generation Smart City
Initiatives - Harnessing Findings And Lessons From A Study Of Ten Smart City Programs,” in
22nd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2014)

7. Building Smart Cities - SCID

8. Smart Cities in Developing Countries:
Emerging Perspectives
A Vehicle for
implementing the
SDG 2030 Goals.
Note that smart cities
domains are well
aligned to the SDGs
http://www.packagingdigest.com/sustainable-packaging/why-the-2030-sustainable-development-goals-matter-to-packaging-professionals1512

9. Smart Cites in Developing Countries –
Example - Renewable Energy (Goals 6 & 7)
Acute energy & water shortage are currently being addressed with
different kinds of innovation using solar technology

10. Smart Cites in Developing Countries:
Example – Water Point mapping (Goal 6)
http://water.worldbank.org/node/83799
Cell phones help map
7,500 water points

11. Smart Cites in Developing Countries:
Example : Big Real Estate Projects (Goal 9)
http://www.ekoatlantic.com/
PPP Arrangement
between Private
Investor(s), State
and Federal
Government …

12. Smart Cites in Developing Countries:
Example : Investment Partnership
“The MOU is between Lagos State
Government and Dubai Holdings,
LLC, owners of Smart City
(Dubai) to develop a sustainable,
smart, globally connected
knowledge-based communities
that drive knowledge economy, ”
Governor Ambode of Lagos State,
Nigeria.
http://akinwunmiambode.com/lagos-state-government-
signs-historic-smart-city-deal-with-dubai/

13. Smart Cites in Developing Countries:
Recognition by ICF of Nairobi County

14. Some closing remarks
The Developing World and Africa in particular has seen
different patterns of use of Smart cities solutions and
technologies at individual and community levels.
The SDG 2030 is likely to be increasingly adopted as
the overarching policy framework for smart cities
related initiatives in Africa.
This may have some implications on the
conceptualisation of smart cities in research as well as
the pragmatics of smart cities as initiatives.

15. Attributions for images used in the presentation in order of appearance:
o http://www.innovcity.com/2011/09/08/innovation-lies-also-in-strategy
o GYEONGGI URBAN INNOVATION CORPORATION, www.gico.or.kr
o http://ec.europa.eu/research/transport/projects/index_en.htm
o http://www.higheredtechdecisions.com/article/ncsu_hunt_librarys_technology_sand
box_brings_a_v_and_it_together
o http://www.survivalcentral.net/disaster-preparedness-event-planned-saturday/
o http://www.education.ne.gov/ciptoolkit/
Attributions
/

16. adegboyega.ojo@insight-centre.org