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The GDS2040 Smart City themed week will look at plans to improve service delivery through use of current technologies, in an attempt to convert Joburg into a “smart city”.
WITH the century not yet into its teens Joburg is looking ahead, with a draft Growth and Development Strategy (GDS 2040) intended to take the city into the 2040s on a wave of technology.
 A series of events between 26 and 30 September will culminate in a campaign to inform businesses and residents about plans to improve service delivery through smart systems, in an attempt to convert Joburg into a “smart city”, defined as an environmentally friendly city created from a combination of concepts and technologies which enhance energy efficiency, water and waste management and contribute to the conservation of resources.
Should this technological dream be achieved it could make a huge difference to schools in disadvantaged areas and enable the provision of broadband internet access at libraries and other City-owned community facilities.
It may well take the next three decades to achieve this aim, however. Currently, only 15 percent of households in the country have access to computers and even fewer have access to the internet, although, according to the GDS 2040 draft, “a significant minority enjoy high-speed access via corporate networks, domestic connections and the wireless 3G networks”.
“Broadband networks are clustered in the main urban economic nodes, effectively excluding township areas, informal settlements and non-urban or agricultural areas. This has been characterised as the digital-divide that mirrors the broader socio-economic disparities that have been bequeathed by the apartheid system to contemporary South Africa,” notes the GDS draft.
In an attempt to encourage community participation in discussions about technologies that will make the lives of residents easier the five-day campaign will highlight the provision of affordable technology under topics such as traffic management and Wi-Fi technology advancement, among other initiatives.
 The City's JBNP is being rolled out to schoolsThe programme includes:
- A technology showcase, where private industry can demonstrate its products and services;
- A ward-level consultative, interactive, knowledge-sharing session where Joburg citizens can share their opinions;
- A crime management roundtable workshop;
- A smart-health solution;
- Bridging the technology divide;
- An inter-departmental workshop for the Smart Cities Framework; and
- A technology showcase.
According to the GDS draft: “The idea of a ‘Smart City’ is predicated upon the idea that the optimal deployment of information and communications technology (ICT) can play a critical role in a city’s development; and indeed, it may permit ‘leapfrogging’ to take a city to a qualitatively higher state of development.”
Already the City, in cooperation with the private sector, is rolling out a high-speed fibre optic network to parts of Joburg that have traditionally been under-serviced.
The draft suggests that broadband access will, in the future, become a human right enshrined in the Constitution in the same way as access to water and shelter.
“This is the case because it provides information, enables access to services and employment, ensures interpersonal and professional communication and the ability to use it is fast becoming a prerequisite for a significant proportion of jobs in the economy.”
Smart city will, in turn, make way for smart infrastructure, which means more effective, and environmentally sustainable service provision including smart meters, intelligent traffic management systems and surveillance systems that will go a long way to improve development and delivery in the city.
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