The Key Factors Affecting Smart City Transformation Readiness

Digital and data technology are often seen as the key ingredients of smart city development. Yet, many cities come across roadblocks when establishing their smart city only by adopting the latest technology. Often the technological reliance has only created additional complexity related to data management, security and governance. Thus, there are FIVE key factors that Yigitcanlar et al. (2022) believe to be the non-ICT factors that determine the transformation readiness for cities, in the case of Australian local city governments. The indicators to smart city transformation readiness are:

1. Distance to major transportation infrastructure and capital cities, or the proximity to domestic and international airports or main passenger/import/export seaports; and capital cities or top-ranked universities. This factor indicates the importance of connectivity between cities. Smart cities do not work in isolation but rely on the network beyond regional and national borders. In the case of Australia, this connectivity is related to airports due to the geographical condition of stretching distance between urban centres that can only be linked through airports. 
2. Remoteness value, or access value to physical and social service or other larger centres. The remoteness does not indicate physical distance, rather the accessibility to service centres. Availability of libraries, community centres, education centres and other social services suggests that people are connected to their communities and can access public services. 
3. Population density, or the number of people living and working in a local government area. This factor highlights the importance of population densities to create more vibrant, innovative, and productive communities. Higher population density also tends to consume more efficient resources and energy due to the compactness.
4. Unemployment level, or the percentage of unemployed people in the labour force. With low unemployment, the city shows that it creates economic certainty and opportunity to facilitate a smart city that can further contribute to job growth. 
5. Labour productivity, or the number of worker skills, technological change and management. Development of smart cities benefit greatly from the availability of labour and financial capital. 

Reference

Yigitcanlar, T., Degirmenci, K., Butler, L., & Desouza, K. C. (2022). What are the key factors affecting smart city transformation readiness? Evidence from Australian cities. Cities, 120, 103434.