Building Green Smart City Capabilities in South Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Information and communication technology is currently developing rapidly. It has created a great number of opportunities for governments worldwide to meet the demands of the public in providing services including environmentally friendly public services for the community and citizens. This study aims to present a case study on public services of South Sumatra government programs in order to develop a green smart city concept by combining smart city and green IT concepts which aim to align and incorporate green IT components, including pollution prevention, product stewardship, and clean technology into conceptual variants, essential elements, and strategic principles. A smart city is an innovative and modern concept utilising technology to facilitate and provide public information and to improve environmentally friendly public services through smart applications. South Sumatera is one of the provinces in Indonesia that has been implementing a smart city to provide environmentally friendly public services through the command centre. It is used to monitor an entire government agency’s activities and communicates with the public. To fulfil the aims of the study, this study identifies the comprehensive environmentally friendly public services through Natural Resource-Based View Theory perspectives. In addition, this study deploys in-depth interviews with sources or informants as a form of data search and direct observation. The number of informants used as research respondents consisted of several elements of the government, including the executive, legislative, and implementing agencies. The study reveals that the South Sumatera Government has several environmentally friendly public services that could be deployed to prevent pollution and reduce the emission in their activities. Further, the government in South Sumatra has product and service stewardships and invests in clean technology to minimise the adverse impacts of their activities on the environment.

Smart City in Indonesia: Review Studies and Lessons for Sumatra

“…In the smart city concept, maximizing the application of ICT in many public services is critical. It is because the idea of smart city is not only the capacity to automate activities such as public services or traffic systems, but also the ability to monitor, analyze, and build city management systems in real time to improve efficiency, social equality, and quality of life (Batty et al, 2012;Hasmawaty et al, 2022). Andrea Caragliu et al (2011), in their research, provide characteristics of smart cities that distinguish them from conventional cities.…”

“…These characteristics are development based on economic growth; utilisation of technology infrastructure and computer networks; increased role of the technology industry and creative industry in development; community participation in the implementation of development and public services; and sustainable natural resource and environmental management. In other words, smart city concepts are concerned with increasing the quality of public services (Hasmawaty et al, 2022).…”

“…The following are some previous studies that apply different methods and approaches in developing smart cities that are adjusted to the conditions of provincial, city, and district governments around the world (Hasmawaty et al, 2022). First, the research conducted by Mora et al, (2019) used information, communication, and technology (ICT) innovations for a sustainability approach to encourage environmentally friendly waste management and reduction with a mobilebased e-waste information system development strategy.…”

“…Research with the bibliometric method on the issue of Smart City in Indonesia in general have been done by (Effendi et al, 2016;Afrianto & Tamnge, 2015;Larasati et al, 2018;Mahesa et al, 2018;Achmad et al, 2018;Rachmawati, 2019;Suartika & Cuthbert, 2020;Hayati et al, 2020;Kurniawan et al, 2020), for example, recently Hasmawaty et al, (2022) present a case study on public services of South Sumatra government programs in order to develop a green smart city concept by combining smart city and green IT concepts which aim to align and incorporate green IT components, including pollution prevention, product stewardship, and clean technology into conceptual variants, essential elements, and strategic principles.…”

“…The Indonesian government targets to have 100 smart cities in Indonesia by 2025. To achieve this target, the government has worked with various stakeholders, including local governments, the private sector, and the community (Achmad et al, 2018;Hasmawaty et al, 2022;Hayati et al, 2020;Rachmawati, 2019).…”