Ureru Smart City Series Part 1: Overview And Analysis Of Cape Town'S .

The series is structured into four reports whichare outlined below: Report 1: Critical Analysis of CapeTown’s Digital City Strategy.Report 2: The Current State andCharacteristics of Cape Town’s SmartCitY Implementation.Report 3: Identifying the Opportunitiesand Challenges that exist for CapeTown as it embarks on its Smart Cityjourney.Report 4: What it means to be ‘smart’in Africa and the way forward for CapeTown’s Smart City agenda.municipality. Thus, the strategy is not anoverarching blueprint for a smart/digital city asthis requires the involvement and support of alarge variety of different entities with differinginterests, perceptions and skills. Visions of asmart city as outlined in the terminology sectionwon’t be achieved through the City (CoCT)alone.In essence, the strategy analysed in thisreport attempts to outline the CoCT’s visionfor the development of a smart city, and how they (as a municipality) can help facilitate theachievement of that vision. It also includesstrategies that they aim to implement as amunicipality to improve their own operationsBy the end of the report series we hope to with the enablement of technology. This meansillustrate the policy mechanisms in place to that the Digital City Strategy includes a broaderdrive Cape Town’s smart city aspirations, how vision for Cape Town as a smart city (thatfar the city is along its path to becoming ‘smart’, incorporates key development objectives) andand what is needed to drive successful smart also highlights how it will utilise technologycity development in Cape Town. Further, this to improve the administrative functions of thereport series aims to contribute to the limited CoCT. For example, the strategy will includeresearch on what it means to be a smart city in both external policy mechanisms that woulda context characterised by rapid urbanisation, support greater internet connectivity across thelimited government resources and capacity, city, as well as internal policies and protocolsinformality, and growing inequality.that would enable the more effective use ofCoCT data for public services such as policingThis first report will outline the key elements of or traffic control.the CoCT’s ‘Digital City Strategy’ and providesome critical analysis of this strategy. It is Presently the Digital City Strategy is an internalimportant to note that the Digital City Strategy document in draft form and is not available tohighlights the role that the CoCT intends to play the public. Special permission was grantedin driving a vision for a Smart City and facilitating to URERU to access this document for thethis vision, as well as the administrative and purposes of this research project.service delivery functions it performs as asource: https://www.southafrica.net/za/en/The words ‘the City’, for the purposes of thisreport series refers to the City of Cape Townmunicipality that carries out the administrativefunctions and service delivery of governmentand is also seen as the central driver of a smartcity strategy for Cape Town. The terms the Cityand the City of Cape Town, can thus be viewedinterchangeably.The word ‘city’ refers to an urban hub where alarge number of people live and work, namely:Cape Town.17

CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUNDIn 2013, the African Union (AU) outlined a 50year goal for making African cities smarterthrough a strategy of accelerated developmentand technological progress (Slavova &Okwechime, 2016). In the years following theestablishment of this agenda, many Africancities have embarked on a journey to becomesmarter (Backhouse, 2015).Cape Town is firmly on this journey and isconsidered to be a leading city within smartcity development in Africa. This is in part dueto the pragmatic visions of politicians whorecognised the transformative role of ICT inurban development and governance at anearly stage. Additionally, there are other keyadvantages that Cape Town has in drivingsuch ambitions. According to a recent digitalreadiness assessment the Western Capeoutperforms the rest of South Africa in a numberof key indicators, namely: household andindividual internet access, telecommunicationsinfrastructure, mobile device use, and education(Research ICT Africa, 2015). Further, theadoption of technology in the Western Cape bywealthy individuals and businesses mirrors thatof many developed economies (Research ICTAfrica, 2015). This leads to another key factorsupporting Cape Town’s smart city aspirations;its position as a global tech hub. The city hasa well-established digital economy and isarguably the centre of the African tech sector.The vast majority of South African start-ups andventure capital activity is focused in the CapeTown region (City of Cape Town, 2016). Thismeans there are a pool of workers highly skilledin tech-related fields and a concentration ofinvestment into tech-related business providingan environment where tech-innovations cantake root. This provides a natural asset to anylocal government looking to drive smart citydevelopment.Despite this, there are factors that hinder theCity’s ability to promote smart city development.These are primarily centred around digital skills,infrastructure, accessibility and affordability ofconnectivity. This is primarily related to digitalequity or digital inequity which is most commonlyreferred to as the digital divide. This digitaldivide is impacted by affordability, income, andgeographic distance from developing economichubs. In 2002, Bridges.org highlighted a rangeof constraints, such as: physical access totechnology, and capacity and training that standin the way of Cape Town’s smart ambitions.Central to this is the high cost and availability ofinternet connectivity. The cheapest mobile dataproduct in South Africa is five times more thanthe cheapest for the rest of Africa. Moreover,mobile expenditure as a share of individualincome in the Western Cape is significantlyhigher than many other African countries(City of Cape Town, 2016). These constraintscannot be minimised by merely addressinginfrastructure distribution when wealth disparityis such a prevalent issue in this country.Despite these significant barriers, overall thecity is well poised to become the “first trulydigital city in our region” (City of Cape Town,2016, p. 5).Digital readiness refers to the preparedness toembrace technology in its entirety. This extends beyondthe assessment of ICT and broadband networks toinclude an assessment of the policy environment, digitalskills base and issues of affordability, accessibility anduse.3Digital Equity is a condition in which all individuals andcommunities have the information technology capacityneeded for full participation in our society, democracyand economy. Digital Equity is necessary for civic andcultural participation, employment, lifelong learning,and access to essential services (The National DigitalInclusion Alliance, 2019).28

METHODOLOGYThis research adopted a single case studymethodology using Cape Town as the case.The inquiry that underpins the report serieswas built around a suite of factors expected toshape the smart city trajectory of Cape Town. Assuch, the generalisability of this study is limited,however, the study has the potential to providevaluable insights into smart city agendas forcities across Africa.Data collected for the study was primarilybased on semi-structured interviews with keystakeholders involved in Smart City developmentin Cape Town. Interview participants wereselected using expert sampling which wasfollowed by snowball sampling. The selection ofrespondents was ended when no new nameswere mentioned in interviews. There was atotal of 12 respondents that were interviewedfor this study. Secondary data in the form ofpolicy documents and presentations were usedto supplement the interview data. A qualitativeanalysis of the data followed collection andNVivo was used to identify emergent themes.source: https://www.radissonhotels.com9

BACKGROUND TO THE CITY’S DIGITAL CITY STRATEGYIn 2000, the CoCT initiated its first ‘SmartCity Strategy’ with the aim of achieving Cityobjectives such as job creation, economicgrowth, improving resident’s engagement aswell as building a system of high-quality publicservices that could be made accessible to awide range of citizens. Therefore, the originalvision was created by the CoCT to devise waysto use technology to meet key developmentobjectives and to best serve its citizens. Thisoccurred years before any African city wasbeginning to explore the concept of smarturbanism.and to this day forms the digital backbone ofthe organisation and its smart city aspirations.The ERP implementation was viewed asinternational best practice in the smart/digitalcity space.Out of this early adoption of technologies tooptimise city processes, a more comprehensivevision for Cape Town as a tech-driven city grewto include broader development objectives.This has been informed by international bestpractice around the globe as well as othersmart city and digital competitiveness practices.The strategy sought to develop coherentThe catalyst from which the strategy was born ideas surrounding city leadership, policywas the UniCity initiative that integrated the development, service delivery and the creationseven separate municipalities that existed in of a digital democracy. Two key aspects of thisCape Town into one overarching municipality development are the Broadband Project andas a means of modernising the way the City the SmartCape initiative. Both were aimedwas run and reversing some of the legacies at addressing the digital divide and providingof apartheid city planning and management. access to internet connectivity and technology.Members of the IT department saw this as an The timeline below outlines key developmentsopportunity to digitise the business processes of the CoCT’s development in the field of smartof the organisation and integrate them into one urbanism from 2000–2015. The most recentdigital system. Thus, the smart city strategy review of the strategy took place in Februarylaid the foundation for significant investment in 2016 meaning that it has not been updated inbusiness process integration and automation to the last three and a half years.promote efficiencies in its systems and servicedelivery (City of Cape Town, 2016). What Whilst there is no official policy document in thefollowed was the largest implementation of an public domain that outlines the CoCT’s strategyEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to become Africa’s first truly digital city there isan internal document that is used to guide thisjourney. This document forms the basis of thisfirst report and is now known as Cape Town’sDigital City Strategy. However, the term digitaland smart are ambiguous and there is no cleardefinition of what either of the concepts mean.This is briefly outlined below.source: https://www.southafrica.net/za/en/10

DIGITAL VS. SMART CITYWhilst there are a range of terms used todescribe how cities and technology intersect,there is no clear or agreed definition of a‘digital’ or ‘smart’ city. Furthermore, theever-changing concepts of smart and digitalare underpinned by the changing role oftechnology in society (Willis & Aurigi, 2018),meaning that the concepts are likely to remainfluid and ambiguous. Creating consensusaround definitions for smart or digital cities isbeyond the scope of this research project andwe do not intend to contribute to this debate.However, we put forward our understandingof the common intersection of thoughts whenit comes to interpretations of what is ‘smart’and what is ‘digital’ in the urban environment.This is outlined briefly below.A digital city can be understood as acity deploying ICT solutions to drive andimprove public service provision and createefficiencies through digitising the variousfunctions of a City. ICT is the core componentof a digital city and the focus is on investing indistributed sensors and digital technologiesand their corresponding solutions (Barns,2018). For example, the Internet of Things(IoT) and smart sensors are considered to becentral to concepts around digital cities. Thus,the notions behind this conceptualization ofa digital city is that new technologies canbe utiliised to optimiise the way cities aremanaged.improve a city’s digital operations. The strategyhighlights that there are consistent themesbetween the two, namely: the attention toA smart city can be understood by a City harnessing technology, optimizing institutionsthat leverages the strategic use of enabling and growing the overall digital economy. Thetechnologies to support key urban development reality is that the content of the documentobjectives. A key distinction here is that solutions demonstrates a blend of both smart city andderived within a smart city do not necessarily digital city approaches. Nevertheless, it isneed to be driven exclusively by technology. important to note that whilst the document statesHence, for a smart city the emphasis is less that the terms smart and digital interchangeably,on technology and more on solutions to urban the document and the various officials from thechallenges that involve innovative methods of City insist on referring to the document and itsgoverning and engaging with citizens. Thus, it implementation as a digital city strategy and notrequires a reinvention of governance initiated a smart city strategy.by transforming the way local governmentswork internally as well as reconceptualizinghow they engage and partner with citizens(Cosgrave, Doody, & Walt, 2014).The CoCT’s digital city strategy documentuses the term ‘smart city’ and ‘digital city’interchangeably. This distinction is outdatedand is perhaps used as a means to notcomplicate the content of the strategy acrossthe various departments of the organisation.The strategy does however outline that a ‘smartcity’ is not necessarily a ‘digital city’ or even atechnologically advanced one. Further, it pointsout that while a ‘smart city’ uses technology asan enabler to meet city objectives, a ‘digital city’is more focused on introducing technology to11

THE FOUR PILLARS OF THE STRATEGYThe Digital City Strategy put forward by the CoCThas four dimensions or pillars, namely: digitalgovernment, digital inclusion, digital economyand digital infrastructure. These pillars havebeen informed by examples of best practicein local government innovation as well as thevarious development frameworks outlined bylocal, regional and national government. Assuch, the strategic pillars support the vision ofCape Town to: Be a prosperous city that creates anenabling environment for shared equitableeconomic growth and development. Achieve effective and equitable servicedelivery. Serve the citizens of Cape Town as a wellgoverned and effectively run administration.Whilst the strategy is set out in four distinct pillars,it is important to note that the implementationof the pillars is not executed in isolation andthe pillars represent four themes under theoverarching strategy for the organisation. Belowis a brief outline of the four strategic pillars.source: City of Cape town12

DIGITAL GOVERNMENTThis aspect of the strategy is centred around Furthermore, many of the initiatives that stemhow the CoCT operates. The main focus out of these objectives are superficial and oftenhere is to use technology as a tool to enable lack tangible plans.improved service delivery to citizens and createan efficient organisation. The backbone of thispillar is the ERP system that the City introducedin the early 2000s. The system has beenoperating ever since and has integrated all ofthe organisation’s business processes into asingle digital platform.Key principles of this pillar as outlined in thestrategy, such as open data portals, inclusion,and innovation, have been acknowledgedbut not adequately acted upon. For example,the open data portal is up and running butdoes not have an Application ProgrammeInterface (API) which would allow applicationsto be developed from city data. In terms ofinclusion, the City aims to ensure that digitaltechnology is employed to enhance access toa broader audience, this would most logicallybe driven by the development of a City of CapeTown application or app, yet this is still to bedeveloped. Lastly, while the document outlinesthe key principle for this pillar as seeking out andencouraging innovation, the CoCT’s institutionalarrangements make it difficult for innovation totake root. Thus, whilst the content is consideredand logical given the City’s objectives, theyappear more theoretical than demonstrable.source: https://sabrangindia.in13

DIGITAL INCLUSIONThe digital inclusion pillar of the strategy dealsspecifically with efforts to “shrink the digitaldivide” (City of Cape Town, 2016, p. 19).The digital divide refers to disparate accessto, distribution and use of technology andconnectivity, most notably between the rich andpoor (Wilson, 2006). In order address this, aneffective plan needs to be set in motion. Thisplan is underpinned by three key principles,namely: creating partnerships with outsideactors, focusing investment in areas of lowdemand, and driving skills development. Thesekey principles are a solid foundation from whichto base action to address the digital divide andsome well-formulated initiatives have emergedout of this. For example, the very successfulSmartCape initiative provides free internetand computer access in public libraries acrossthe city. The strategy also aims to devise aseries of projects that showcase how ICT cancontribute to a better quality of life, especiallyfor young people who are more vulnerable tounemployment.source: https://www.groundup.org.zaof this pillar. Conversely, some initiatives hada clear and detailed action plan. An exampleof this is the initiative to establish paperlessclinics. Considering this has far less impact onaddressing the digital divide than developingcollaborative programmes with other stateactors, civic organisations and private sector,it is peculiar how this initiative has such adeveloped action plan. What’s more is thatinitiatives that arguably provide tangiblemeans of addressing digital inclusion, such asdeveloping digital skills and driving ICT usage,were lacking detail and did not provide much interms of innovative strategies to meaningfullyaddress the digital divide.If the City is going to make the idea of asmart city one that appeals to people acrossall demographics, it needs these projectsto be both accessible and appealing to allcitizens, especially those without access totechnology. Investing in ICT user-end skillsand reconceptualizing citizen engagement areimportant factors in this ongoing process.However, some initiatives, such as free Wi-Fion MyCiti buses, missed the mark as the costof providing Wi-Fi on buses in a context wherethis kind connectivity is expensive was notthoroughly considered. Additionally, there wasno detail relating to the key principle of creatingpartnerships with NGOs and other spheresof government to achieve the key objectives14

DIGITAL ECONOMYThe City’s focus on the digital economy perhapsindicates an emphasis on creating a globallycompetitive city that attracts investment andtalent, as opposed to embodying solely ‘smart’city ideals which tend to be more holistic.Nevertheless, having a burgeoning digitaleconomy has a significant role to play in smartcity development and Cape Town has a majorasset in this area as it can play a major role ineconomic growth. For the most part the skillsand investment vehicles required to drive thissector are largely in place.The key principles informing this pillar are centredaround creating an enabling environment fortech businesses, job creation, and building onCape Town’s image as an innovation hub. Theobjectives that support these principles areappropriate and relevant to the City’s objectives.Despite this, details regarding the specificinitiatives that develop from the objectives arevague and provide little in terms detailing howthey will be achieved. Again, it is evident thatwhile the City understands what needs doing,they are falling short on many of their initiativesas the organisation has not yet devisedappropriate systems of implementation. Manyof the initiatives currently stated seem to beempty or unclear in a number of instances.source: https://sabrangindia.in15

DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTUREIn terms of the Digital City Strategy, digitalinfrastructure refers to the networks that formthe IT backbone of a city. Essentially, it is theservices and hardware required to support ITcapabilities. Digital infrastructure is arguably thefoundational enabler for a digital government,digital inclusion and the digital economy.The CoCT aims to be the most connected cityin Africa with the lowest cos

Characteristics of Cape Town's Smart CitY Implementation. Report 3: Identifying the Opportunities and Challenges that exist for Cape Town as it embarks on its Smart City journey. Report 4: What it means to be 'smart' in Africa and the way forward for Cape Town's Smart City agenda. By the end of the report series we hope to