Getting Smart: Is The GCC Seeing The Transformation?

From less traffic congestion on roads to connected healthcare systems, smart cities are hoping to revolutionise the way the region functions. But what are the pitfalls to avoid and where exactly are we headed?

- Aarti Nagraj

The GCC region has been witnessing transformation on an unprecedented scale in the last few years, with economic challenges and technological progress having a combined effect on the nature of change.

Arguably, one of the main aspects of this transformation is the move towards becoming ‘smart’, with most regional governments aggressively expanding the adoption of new technologies as they strive to increase efficiencies and ease the lives of their populations.

The definition of a smart city varies from place to place, according to Fadi Salem, research fellow at the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG).

In some cases, the goal is purely to increase the technological implementation and the number of apps, he says, in a focus that is more about ‘digitising’ and making things electronic than focussing on other measures.

Other smart cities, however, look beyond technology transformation towards issues including quality of life, access to data and efficiency and sustainability measures that can be achieved using technological means.

Obviously the latter is the model that cities should strive to follow, argues Salem, and in that sense Dubai has stood out in the region for its well-defined strategy on becoming smart, with a clear goal and time-bound objectives.

The Smart Dubai initiative, formally undertaken in March 2014, aims to establish Dubai as the smartest city in the world, focussing on initiatives in six dimensions – the economy, environment, people, mobility, living and governance. The emirate has even created a new entity – Smart Dubai – to oversee, implement and achieve its targets.