Opening smart doors too soon : an analysis of the City of Cape Town's strategic priorities

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2020-12
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ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Although smart cities offer technological solutions to urban challenges, many cities do not comprehend what a smart city entails and as a result, often adopt utopian, far-reaching visions and aims, shaped by the global north, which in turn lead to unsuccessful urban development. Inspired by this, the purpose of this paper was to investigate the potential for smart cities within Cape Town, South Africa, and to determine a refined approach to smart cities within the context of Cape Town, that will alleviate the challenges and enhance the city. This paper commences by studying the utopian smart city vision of South African cities by President Cyril Ramaphosa, thereafter the City of Cape Town’s socio-economic state is investigated as well as the smart city strategies currently in place in the city. The paper proceeds by studying the strategies in place within the CoCT’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and the capital investment budget to determine the city’s main development priority. Thereafter, the socio-economic and smart city strategies are compared to the official International Organization for Standardization (ISO) smart city indicators. The research route of this paper eventually allows the identification of the potential of smart cities within the City of Cape Town and determines a smart city vision that is more suited to the needs of cities within South Africa.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Alhoewel slim stede (“smart cities”) tegnologiese oplossings vir stedelike ontwikkeling bied, begryp baie stede nie duidelik wat ‘n slim stad in werklikheid behels nie, en neem hulle gevolglik ‘n utopiese benadering aan met verreikende doelstellings en visies, gevorm deur die globale noorde, wat tot gevolg lei, tot onsuksesvolle stedelike ontwikkeling. Voortspruitend hieruit, is die doel van hierdie artikel om die potensiaal van die slim stede beginsel in Kaapstad, Suid-Afrika te ondersoek met ‘n verfynde benadering tot slim stede binne die Stad Kaapstad konteks te bepaal, ten einde die uitdagings van die stad te verlig en te verbeter. Hierdie artikel se inleiding begin met die bestudering van die utopiese-slimstad visie van Suid-Afrikaanse stede en sluit aan by die visie van President Cyril Ramaphosa, waarna die sosio-ekonomiese toestand van die Stad Kaapstad ondersoek word asook die slimstad-strategie soos die Stad Kaapstad dit tans hanteer en benader. Die referaat handel verder met die bestudering van die strategie wat binne die Stad Kaapstad (“CoCT”) se Geïntegreerde Ontwikkelingsplan (GOP) raamwerk en kapitaal-begroting bestaan ten einde die Stad Kaapstad se ontwikkelings prioriteite te bepaal. Die sosio-ekonomiese en slimstadstrategieë word daarna vergelyk met die amptelike Internasionale Organisasie vir Standardisasie (ISO) vir slimstad-aanwysers. Die navorsings-roete van hierdie artikel identifiseer uiteindelik die potensiaal van slim stede binne die Stad Kaapstad konteks, en bepaal 'n slim stadsvisie benadering wat meer geskik en doelmatig is ten einde die behoeftes van stede in Suid-Afrika aan te spreek
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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2020.
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