Placing smart cities: framework and approach

In recent years, South African debate about smart-city development has tended to peak at the time of the annual State of the Nation (SONA) address. During his term, Cyril Ramaphosa has repeatedly flagged the creation of smart cities as a national priority. But the discussion of smart city development in South Africa predates Ramaphosa's election as president in 2018. In the early 2010s, various think-tanks and senior government officials were suggesting that the three biggest metros in South Africa - Cape Town, eThekwini and Johannesburg - should begin to adopt smart-city solutions to improve their data collection and analytics capabilities - which would in turn lead to improved service delivery and urban management. At this time, the discourse focused on the use of new technologies to encourage innovation and efficiency in government.