Towards a Refined Conceptual Framework Model for a Smart and Sustainable City Assessment

Abstract

The Smart City concept has attracted wide-spread interest from both industry and academia with a growing number of experimental use-cases emerging from developed countries around the world. However, despite the importance of Smart City innovation in dealing with emerging urban challenges, i.e. environmental sustainability, social cohesion, efficiency, improved quality of life, and cost effectiveness, the concept is yet to receive the attention needed among cities in developing countries, especially in Africa. Although there are ongoing efforts to conceptualise Smart Cities through associated framework models that assess their impacts, these mainly focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) and use-cases from cities in developed countries. This paper proposes a conceptual framework model to assess the impacts of Smart City innovation resulting from the introduction of new technologies to cities. To achieve this goal, existing Smart City framework models were systematically reviewed and analysed. This was supported by focus-group interviews and a survey, which were conducted in the city of Abuja and discovered how stakeholders envisioned their Smart City initiatives. This also determined the priority indicators to assess the impacts of Smartness on cities and citizens. The analysis shows that Smart City stakeholders in Abuja emphasised three components of Smart Cities, namely: Smart Infrastructure, Smart Institution, and Smart People. By analysing the empirical data from Abuja Smart City stakeholders and evidence from the literature, a conceptual framework model is proposed for Smart City innovation in Abuja and by extension, other cities with similar histories and experiences in Nigeria.