The Smart City as Policy Concept in the Arab World: A Critical Research into the Strategic Visions of Urban Development in Abu Dhabi

Abstract

This article reviews the smart city as a policy concept in Abu Dhabi. It conceptualizes smart city development goals into urban and extra-urban and review smart city development programmes in terms of ex-post and ex-ante. Extra-urban refers to development goals that go beyond the spatial or conceptual boundaries of the city. This will help to demonstrate how the pursuit of extra-urban may compromise the attainment of urban development goals. The paper uses Abu Dhabi as the frontline city in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the race to attain the smart city status, having led consistently in the McKinsey Global Institute poll of 2018 and the global indexing exercises conducted by the International Institute for Management Development and Singapore University of Technology and Design in 2020 and 2021. The study has used qualitative document analysis method to review policy documents regarding the smartification initiatives in Abu Dhabi. The analysis reveals that ex-post programmes are more urban dweller oriented or urban centred with programmes involving the digitization of government services and free Wi-Fi connectivity in public transport, while ex-ante smartification programmes (as seen in the development of Masdar city) tend to be extra-urban, elitist and global in nature but do not take into account social sustainability.

Conceptualizing an Informational Paradigm in the Pursuit of Sustainable Cities and Communities

“…This limitation impedes data collection due to insufficient training, skills, and a reluctance for coordination and collaboration, leading to challenges in transparency, accountability, and corruption, hindering local social participation [47,48]. Interestingly, academic studies on the crisis of representative democracy in Sustainable Development are more prevalent in developing countries than in developed ones [48,57,[72][73][74][75][76]. Castells emphasizes that expanding ICT platforms enable new civic engagement forms, such as online activism, participatory mapping, and digital platforms for community organizing [4].…”

Unlocking the Potential of Sustainable Smart Cities: Barriers and Strategies

“…For instance, Tunisia embarked on e-administration in the 1990s to modernize its administrative systems and has recently focused on generalizing e-services and establishing frameworks for e-government achievements [50][51][52][53]. Similarly, in December 2006, Bahrain announced plans to initiate e-government in the Gulf, aiming to enhance online services through various channels including portals and mobile devices [54][55][56][57]. Jordan, Egypt, and Oman have also made significant strides in integrating ICT with government services to enhance efficiency, participation, and transparency, which are essential for fostering a competitive, robust, and knowledge-based economy [57][58][59].…”