Smart | City | Region Symposium and Exhibition
'Smart city’ research is a recent academic focus, particularly in relation to cities in the global south. As Gauteng and its municipalities explore advanced technologies in order to streamline service delivery, enhance revenue collection, and better manage urban environments it has become increasingly important for the GCRO to begin researching these approaches and situating them within a larger global discussion.
On 26 August the GCRO hosted a symposium and exhibition on ‘Smart cities’ entitled Smart | City | Region. The ambition behind the event was to spark a conversation that could inform a research trajectory on ‘Smart cities’ for the GCRO. The event was hosted as part of the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival 2015, at the Digital Innovation Zone, a part of Wits’ new Tshimologong Precinct.
The symposium was divided into two parts. The first explored the conceptual underpinnings of the ‘Smart city,’ and was entitled ‘What Smart City?’. Prof Judy Backhouse introduced the concept through her research on Johannesburg, and highlighted the importance of the ‘Smart city’ not entrenching social inequality through strengthening the digital divide. Dr Bonolo Mathibela from IBM presented technological solutions to urban challenges. Neil Hoorn from the City of Cape Town’s Open Data Project highlighted the importance of open data, and Ling Tan from Umbrellium in London finished the session with compelling digital projects enacted in the public realm. The session highlighted the multi-faceted complexity of ‘smart city’ approaches, and important social considerations that have to match new urban technologies.
The second session, entitled ‘A Smart GCR?’, saw the Gauteng Provincial Government present on e-governance, and the cities of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni present on their ‘smart city’ strategies. This session opened up and interesting discussion around the role of municipalities in the supply of smarter services and infrastructure to residents, and also presented interesting future avenues of research for the GCRO in understanding how smarter cities, and the infrastructure that supports them can better serve the entire city-region.
The symposium was followed by the exhibition and launch of new online and interactive GCRO products. These include a new GCRO website, a new GCRO identity, a new GIS website, a new Ward Profile Viewer, the inclusion of GCRO data on ESRI’s Urban Observatory website, and the public showcasing of four interactive data visualisations produced by students from the Wits Digital Arts Division in partnership with the GCRO. All of these outputs were put on touch screen display, and visitors were able to interact with them. The venue looked out over Johannesburg’s skyline, and guests were treated to delicious cocktail food and drinks. The exhibition celebrated the GCRO’s new products, but also offered a glimpse into our future, which will undoubtedly be more digital, more innovative, and deeply engaged.
