Page 13 - Implementing ITU-T International Standards to Shape Smart Sustainable Cities: The Case of Dubai

Implementing ITU-T International Standards to Shape Smart Sustainable Cities – The Case of Dubai

With reference to the ICT Dimension, it is important to highlight Dubai’s effort in the deployment
of advanced technologies in the Emirate. It is worth mentioning that Smart Dubai is coordinating
with the UAE Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) to promote and assess in a
standardized way, the use of ICTs in the city to guarantee its sustainable growth in the future.
Based on the lessons learned from Dubai’s experience, the cities wishing to go the smart and
sustainable way, should enhance the management and control of the sustainability risks
associated with the intensive use of ICTs, especially Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) and
Cybersecurity policies including Child Online Protection (COP) strategies.
Dubai’s economy is diversified, relying predominantly on the trade, tourism, services and finance
sectors. The use of productivity and economic development KPIs in Dubai can be important tools
to support the achievement of city goals. During the assessment process, it was identified that
Dubai has implemented several initiatives to enhance the use of ICTs to improve productivity
and economic growth. The city is currently in the process of enhancing its assessments of the
impact of ICTs in city economy, productivity and innovation capabilities. Dubai’s experience in
this area will also contribute to the KPI standardization processes on smart cities, economic
growth and sustainable development, helmed by ITU.

The applicability of environmental sustainability KPIs in smart sustainable cities requires a deep
understanding of the environmental challenges that cities face every day and how ICTs are able
to address them in an efficient and optimal manner. Dubai has implemented several projects
that highlight this important aspect, especially for the management of scarce resources such as
water and energy. Dubai has included ICTs as key enablers to optimize the provision of urban
services to Dubai citizens, thereby aiming for a more efficient water-to energy mix in the coming
years. Under the leadership of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE), the city has been
working to ensure energy sustainability and environment protection in collaboration with public
and private sector organizations. The Dubai Municipality (DM) is also using ICTs to support the
management of other environmental aspects such as air quality and waste management. The
use of ICTs to reduce urban greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in Dubai, is currently addressed by
DSCE through new integrated policies and the analysis of the impacts of ICT-based projects in
the utilities, transport, waste management and building sectors, which are major sources of GHG
emissions in Dubai.

The city dimensions on equity and social inclusion have been evaluated with due consideration
being given to their relationship to the Governance dimension of the city. Following the
assessment carried out in Dubai by ITU, it is important to highlight that smart government
services have been broadly deployed in the city. This reflects the adoption of a clear strategy
and vision of Dubai in this matter. These actions form the key elements of Dubai’s strategy,
contributing towards the attainment of a future smart city model.
Quality of life KPIs that assess the impact of ICTs in the Health, Education and Safety sectors,
were identified to be of relevance during the pilot project, as Dubai is a city that has
implemented several ICT services in the health and city safety sectors. Based on their extensive
knowledge and experience in the introduction of ICTs to improve the provision of these services,
Dubai is invited to contribute to ITU standardization process for smart sustainable cities KPIs.

Physical infrastructure developments in strategic sectors such as energy and transportation are
key to Dubai`s strategy to have an excellent smart city infrastructure. The city has developed
several projects that introduce ICTs to improve the efficiency of service provision. The KPIs
assessed within the scope of the smart city infrastructures in Dubai, show an important level of
maturity linked the use of these technologies on a city level. This experience, can be taken to
present and future smart sustainable city standardization efforts.

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