Building smart cities

The Sri Lankan Government is preparing to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Siemens to obtain technical support to develop ‘smart city’ infrastructure for the Megapolis project, creating a timely need to discuss what sort of technology would best improve the living standards of millions.   

Smart cities make urbanisation more inclusive, bringing together formal and informal sectors, connecting urban cores with peripheries, delivering services for the rich and the poor alike, and integrating the migrants and the poor into the city. Promoting smart cities is about rethinking cities as inclusive, integrated, and liveable.

Many of the needs of developing countries centre on providing and maintaining modern infrastructure (roads, power plants, water treatment plants, sewage systems and transit systems). Since this built environment lasts a long time, getting the right infrastructure in place shapes a city for decades to come. 

Planning a city with the right infrastructure, and not merely replicating past practices that often have been haphazard, means relying more on evidence and analysis about how sustainable cities can and should grow.

A big part of designing ‘smart cities’ revolves around anticipating and planning for growth, which often means examining the practices (and errors) of other urban areas. Websites such as City Mayors offer decision-makers worldwide a window into what has worked – and what hasn’t – in other jurisdictions. A similar initiative about urban indicators has been developed by the World Bank-supported Global City Indicators Facility.

Experts agree that denser cities, with more people using resources and services more efficiently, are a key element in sustainable development. Currently, it is estimated that while 70-80% of global Gross Domestic Product emanates from cities, so do 70-80% of greenhouse gas emissions. The concept of a ‘smart city’ builds on statistics such as those, key indicators of a city’s success in moving to a sustainable growth path. Private sector companies such as Siemens also show how they have entered the field by developing urban indices to help decision-makers build better.

But ‘smart cities’ are also about good governance, the sustainable use of resources and give inclusivity to everyone, even stray animals. Smartness is about doing more with less, which means absorbing and creating space for local tech companies and organisations to design smaller projects that will address specific issues. Multinational companies such as Siemens can provide assistance but it has to be founded on systems that require the buy-in of people with detailed planning to ensure transparency.   

Smart Cities also need strong institutions and well-enforced zoning and property tax systems are essential prerequisites to a successful regeneration program. This means the Sri Lankan Government will have to empower and absorb municipalities, local governments and provincial authorities into what has so far been a very top-down system. As elected entities they have a massive role to play in making their constituencies develop. 

Leadership has an important impact on planning and implementation. The capacity to inspire trust and bring stakeholders together is based on the credibility of the Government. This is a crucial gap the Sri Lankan Government must work on to effectively push forward for the Megapolis plan to succeed and ensure its own political survival.