South Africa needs smart cities, but not the ones you envisage

South Africa needs smart cities,

but not the ones you envisage

A smart city is a novel solution to make efficient use of natural resources, improve citizens’ standard of living, and achieve economic development. However, to achieve success, one needs to understand Africa’s smart city maturity. By Kirsten Kelly

Globally, extraordinary technologies are deployed in cities, with a huge drive to make them ‘smart’. The G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance was established in 2019 with the aim to help cities develop and adopt policies to guide the implementation of smart technologies. But locally, we are simply not ready for most of this – a significant portion of our population still do not have access to basic services. We therefore need to find a balance where access to basic services is prioritised and technologies are used to address the needs of the public,” says Bernadina Da Silva, civil engineer, SMEC South Africa.

Inclusivity

She adds that smart cities aim to be inclusive – and are not only ICT or digitally driven, enabling ‘smartness’ for all. “Not everyone has a smartphone; not everyone is tech-savvy. There is also a lack of technical capacity within our municipalities to implement and maintain new technologies over and above the existing conventional infrastructure.” SMEC South Africa’s Urban Development Division was part of the professional team that was commissioned to develop the Greater Lanseria Master Plan (GLMP). Part of the brief was to create a post-apartheid city that incorporates the full socio-economic profile of South African society and serves the needs of everyone who lives in it. “This must be true for all smart cities – they must be inclusionary,” states Da Silva.

Citizens of a smart city should be able to live, work, learn, pray and play in the same space. All amenities should be placed within a comfortable walking distance. A smart city should not only be complex, but also compact in nature.

Basic components of a smart city

“A city cannot be smart without providing sustained basic services (e.g. clean running water). Data is a valuable resource within the smart city (e.g. water usage patterns). When one uses smart city data that has been collected over a long period of time instead of relying only on theoretical models, planning and operational departments benefit through the management of budgets, resource capacity and maintenance planning,” explains Dr Pieter Crous, technical specialist, SMEC South Africa.

Both Da Silva and Crous emphasise that maintenance is an essential management element of a smart city. “Infrastructure is typically designed for extended lifespans (50 to 100 years), while technologies generally have significantly shorter lifespans. It is important to consider the technology maintenance requirements over shorter time intervals, together with the traditional infrastructure maintenance, to ensure that everything works and that the technology can create value over the long term,” adds Da Silva.

The establishment of a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) was recommended in the GLMP where a task team would be responsible for prioritising infrastructural investment, the funding of utilities, and placing a regional focus on the provision and management of bulk infrastructure.

“Another key element around a smart city is communication. Smart meters for water and energy services enable actionable communication that can be used to ensure service delivery either in real time or

A smart city should be complex, but compact

within specified timeframes. Should a service delivery problem arise, a timely response can be made, which can reduce costs and service interruptions, and increase revenue and quality of life. Communication must also be facilitated across governmental departments, different municipalities, or between local and national government departments,” says Crous.

Interdisciplinary approach

There has been a movement away from a multidisciplinary planning approach to an interdisciplinary one in the design of smart and sustainable cities. This results in a holistic view, where one evaluates how services can work together and create a circular economy.

“Building a new city places immense pressure on existing infrastructure. It is therefore important to ‘think smart’ and consider the links that can be created between different services. Technologies such as converting biogas from sewer treatment plants to electricity, recycling water and harvesting rainwater at scale, and waste-to-energy by pyrolysis are all options. The waste from one utility can be viewed as a resource for another,” explains Da Silva.

Smart city dos and don’ts

“When considering smart city technologies, it is essential to ask what value they bring to the city and how the value will be quantified. There can be a lot of fruitless expenditure on technology. Technology must enable service delivery. One needs to understand the technical implications, the life-cycle costs, the organisational impact of the technology, and whether business processes and even departments need to be created, changed or restructured,” states Crous.

Attracting investment is a key outcome for smart cities. It is therefore important to streamline development applications, as well as have approvals or permits in place as early as possible, and sustain a high level of service delivery. The smart city must provide an enabling environment for business.

Crous adds that smart cities should reduce risk, with limited unplanned outages, and be responsive, reacting to events as they occur. “A state-of-the-art call centre is useless when there are no maintenance teams to attend to a reported event.” When planning for a smart city, it is important to consider the services available and what infrastructure is necessary to unlock future developments. Having the longterm plan in place can enable ‘early starts’ to commence pending wider bulk servicing issues to promote immediate economic activity. An example would be allowing welldefined sewer treatment package plants to be constructed as an incremental measure until a wider sustainable sewer system has been constructed. Ultimately, one has to consider current needs and any service backlogs, address those first, and then slowly implement smarter solutions going forward,” explains Da Silva.

Joint planning initiatives with all parties (various spheres of government, utility providers, private entities, etc.) are essential in creating a regional view of the smart city. This ensures that municipalities and utilities are not solely focused on services offered within their jurisdictions.

“It is difficult to retrofit services once a city has been constructed, which is why planning is crucial. Space provision must be made for all services, including consideration for future growth and city development,” adds Da Silva.

Crous concludes, “Ultimately, long-term, sustained service delivery is key. There is little point in building infrastructure that cannot be maintained or installing smart technologies that are not monitored or no one can operate. Smart cities need careful planning.”

Dr Pieter Crous, technical specialist, SMEC South Africa (left) Bernadina Da Silva, civil engineer, SMEC South Africa Citizens of a smart city should live, work, learn, pray and play in the same space