[Paper Review] Smart Cities and Villages: Concept Review and Implementation Perspectives in Developing Cities

Kamiba I. Kabuya, Olasupo Ajayi+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Feb 14, 2024

Smart Cities and Technologies4 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for smart city development in sub-Saharan Africa, emphasizing knowledge creation and intellectual capital as foundational steps, with Lubumbashi, DRC, as a case study. It bridges smart city and smart village paradigms to address urban challenges in developing nations through context-specific implementation strategies grounded in literature review and applied modeling.

ABSTRACT

The "Smart City" (SC) concept has been around for decades with deployment scenarios revealed in major cities of developed countries. However, while SC has enhanced the living conditions of city dwellers in the developed world, the concept is still either missing or poorly deployed in the developing world. This paper presents a review of the SC concept from the perspective of its application to cities in developing nations, the opportunities it avails, and challenges related to its applicability to these cities. Building upon a systematic review of literature, this paper shows that there are neither canonical definitions, models or frameworks of references for the SC concept. This paper also aims to bridge the gap between the "smart city" and "smart village" concepts, with the expectation of providing a holistic approach to solving common issues in cities around the world. Drawing inspiration from other authors, we propose a conceptual model for a SC initiative in Africa and demonstrate the need to prioritize research and capacity development. We also discuss the potential opportunities for such SC implementations in sub-Saharan Africa. As a case study, we consider the city of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo and discuss ways of making it a smart city by building around successful smart city initiatives. It is our belief that for Lubumbashi, as with any other city in Sub-Saharan Africa, the first step to developing a smart city is to build knowledge and create an intellectual capital.

Motivation & Objective

• To analyze the current state of smart city implementation in developing nations, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
• To identify the lack of standardized definitions, models, or frameworks for smart cities in developing contexts.
• To bridge the conceptual and practical gap between smart cities and smart villages for holistic urban development.
• To propose a context-sensitive conceptual model for smart city initiatives in African urban centers.
• To emphasize the critical role of knowledge building and capacity development as prerequisites for smart city adoption.

Proposed method

• Conducting a systematic literature review to synthesize existing definitions, models, and frameworks of smart cities.
• Drawing on existing smart city and smart village initiatives to inform a unified conceptual model.
• Applying the proposed model to the case of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, as a real-world implementation context.
• Using qualitative analysis to identify enablers and barriers to smart city deployment in developing urban settings.
• Emphasizing the role of intellectual capital and research capacity as foundational elements for sustainable implementation.
• Integrating insights from distributed computing, social networks, and societal computing to support the model’s design and validation.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 What are the key challenges and opportunities for smart city implementation in developing cities, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa?
• RQ2 Why is there a lack of canonical definitions, models, or frameworks for smart cities in developing nations?
• RQ3 How can the smart city and smart village concepts be meaningfully integrated for inclusive urban development?
• RQ4 What role does knowledge creation and intellectual capital play in enabling smart city initiatives in low-resource settings?
• RQ5 How can the Lubumbashi city model serve as a replicable framework for other African urban centers?

Key findings

• No universally accepted definition, model, or framework currently exists for smart cities in developing countries.
• The integration of smart city and smart village concepts offers a more inclusive and sustainable approach to urban development in resource-constrained regions.
• Lubumbashi, DRC, presents a viable case study for smart city transformation, contingent on prior investment in knowledge and research capacity.
• Building intellectual capital and fostering local research capacity are essential first steps before technological deployment in smart city projects.
• The proposed conceptual model provides a foundation for context-specific smart city development in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The paper highlights the need for policy and institutional support to prioritize research and innovation in urban development for developing nations.