YOUR GUIDE TO THE FUTURE

The advancement of technology in every aspect of our daily life has also brought negative externalities of the accumulating electronic waste or e-waste. Tretavathan and Sharp (2020) in their study introduce a Social Enterprise called Substation33, which has a mission to reduce the number of electronic wastes that end up in the landfill while also contributing to the community through capacity building programs.

The collection and management of e-waste is crucial to reduce the amount of toxic material released to our environment. Effective waste management also has a potential to retrieve valuable materials to be reused and recycled such as gold and copper. Kang et al. (2021) proposed a smart e-waste collection system that could be applicable at household level in the city.

The massive investment in Smart City development should come with a suitable risk management. To assist municipalities in identifying and managing their risk in smart city implementation, Ullah et al. (2021) had identified a technology-organisation-environment or TOE-based risk management.

Smart City development risks may interfere with the success of the goals that municipalities set for their cities. Thus, risk management is required to reduce the probabilities of negative impact and even increase the probability of positive opportunities in Smart City implementation.

Upgrading the governance of a city is critical to the success of Smart City establishment. It is imperative that city authority use the data and technology of smart city to improve the governance system to achieve the growth, distribution and effective administration of public service.

The public involvement in the design, planning and implementation of smart city is one factor that determine the success of the vision. It is critical that smart city vision is constructed specifically to the local context. Thus, public participation is crucial to ensure that it is appropriate to the local citizens’ need.

The success of Smart City depends on the ability to innovate. One domain that are challenging but critical for innovation is the way we govern our city to improve the quality of life.

Despite having an ambitious vision of Smart City, there often a big gap in the existing city condition and the goals being set for the city. A study on City of Tallinn in Estonia, provide some insight on how city can better transition into Smart City.

In creating the most liveable city, the design of the street is one of the major areas that municipalities must pay great attention to. Many cities started to experiment on parts or blocks of a street to formulate the best design framework for improving the quality of the inhabitants’ lives.

Following social restriction during the pandemic, many cities took the initiatives to redesign and repurpose their streets in hope for more active inclusive use of road space. Halifax, Canada, has reallocated 16 km of its city street since 2020.

Play Street is an intervention of a street or parking lot temporary closure to create a place for children to play outdoors. This initiative is one way to improve not only the quality of life of the children in cities, but also strengthen the community's relationship.

Children who walk for their daily commute to and from school are healthier and less likely to be obese (Bosch et al., 2019). They are also better at recognising and visualising their neighbourhood through maps, explain the built environment

Complete Street is a design approach that puts forward the safety of all modes of travel, accommodating all ages and types of abilities. This is a system that provides alternatives to designing streets exclusive for motorised vehicles.

Improving the quality of the streets that are inviting and attractive is one way to increase the walkability of a street. Enhancing the quality of experience of the local street, or place-making, can also encourage the use of public space especially in areas that are socio-economically disadvantaged.

Encouraging technological advancement and urban innovation in Smart Cities has a significant impact in the improvement of ecological environmental quality and promote high quality growth. A case study in China found that this strategy has resulted in the reduction of exhaust gas and industrial wastewater by approximately 20.7% and 12.2% respectively.

City government's main goal as provider of public value or public goods in many cases is hindered by any of these challenges, complex technological adoption, high investment cost, legal & bureaucratic rules and lack of personnel with sufficient technological knowledge and development.

Despite city population that continuously grows around the world. Creating a safe and accessible city planning and design for all members of the community is not the pre-set of many smart cities.

Proximity to services, education and employment opportunities are the main attraction to city living. These factors are also the reason young families choose the city centre as their home. However, the city centre may not always be suitable for raising children, as the main trend of families still choose suburban living.

As part of the Smarter London Strategy, the 33 local authorities are working together to create more user-designed services. This mission is a way to create Smart City that is in tune with what the citizen need. To support this, London also developed new approaches that ensure digital inclusion, so that everyone can access the public services online.

The Mayor of London believes that improving walkability in the city can significantly improve the people’s quality of life. It is a mode of transport that is low in emission, reduces the noise pollution, encourages interaction in the public space while also improving the citizens’ health.

A study on smart cities in Nottingham, Stavanger and Stockholm proved that Smart City Project may serve as a catalyst in creating a more sustainable urban energy use and management. The study found a link that although a local smart city initiative does not aim specifically to improve the urban energy sustainability, it still encourages cities to achieve a more sustainable way to manage their energy system.

Barcelona and Madrid have successfully started to incorporate civil engagement and participation online, through the platforms called Decide Madrid and Barcelona Decidim. The function in these platforms include citizen debates, citizen proposal, citizen budget and citizen plan.

Adopting hybrid management model in smart cities is one way to bring together different actors, interests, and practice to share a same vision. It is a way to simplify and clearing up uncertainties in managing multiple complicated projects such as smart city.

Different from traditional business model, hybrid management model aims to respond to multiple mission. Smart city initiatives with hybrid management serve the purpose of not only generating profit, but also communicating with the citizens as well as managing multiple projects at once.

In 2019, Dowling et al. documented the smart city initiatives Australian Local Governments’ employ in their jurisdiction. With the limited resources and scale that municipalities have, local governments should be deliberate in implementing Smart City Initiatives in their jurisdiction.

ICT is a powerful tool to achieve smart city including in the dimension of the governance system. Utilising ICT to encourage better public participation in the policy design and decision making is considered one of the goals of smart city approach.

The attractiveness of a smart city is in the eye of beholders, Romao et al. (2018) argues. Through his study on the factors that influenced how residents and tourists rate the attractiveness of their cities. For instance, population growth is influenced by the economic condition and the availability of cultural interaction in the city.

One of the objectives of Smart City concept is to incorporate the public into the city’s decision making. “People-centric” governance are the core framework that many smart cities incorporate in their masterplan. However, in many cases, Smart City only reflects the opportunistic nature to promote economic activity without even considering the inhabitants needs.

Housing affordability, traffic congestion, air pollution are common issues that cities across the world face with the pressure from various human activities. However, despite the similarities, each city may also have issues unique to them due to the varying socio economic or geographical condition.