Page 28 - 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

In this context, Dubai has introduced and operated different smart sustainable city activities
across their strategic dimensions that are mature enough to be assessed through the proposed
ITU KPIs. The smart city activities carried out in Dubai have been developed by the different
entities over the last few years. Subsequently, the move to assess the performance/progress of
these activities has been triggered by creation of the Smart Dubai initiative (Smart Dubai, 2016).

During the KPI assessment and verification process, the smart city activities described in this
Section have been identified and the data collected reflects a comprehensive integration of ICTs
in the delivery of Dubai city services.

The desired triumph linked to the implementation of Dubai’s smart sustainable city initiative is
based on two criteria: (i) smart city practices implemented by the different entities that
contribute to Smart Dubai’s vision; and (ii) Dubai’s ability to measure performance using
different smart sustainable city KPIs contained in ITU-T Recommendations during the first year
of evaluation.
This section highlights a few of the Dubai’s smart city activities within each dimension of the ITU
SSC KPIs. The analysis of each KPI (for Dubai) has been elaborated on in Annex 1.

3.4.1. Dimension 1: Information and communication technologies (ICT)
The ITU KPIs which assess ICTs have been considered by Dubai within their transversal strategic
dimension of ICTs. These KPIs have also been determined to be a key enabler in reaching the
Smart Dubai goals.
Dubai has demonstrated that to become a smart-sustainable city, cities should they have a
secure and reliable ICT infrastructure, and a portfolio of important services and devices that
citizens can use. In view of this, ICTs are an integral part of Dubai’s urban administration
framework. The development of ICT infrastructure to deliver services in the city is promoted and
regulated by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of the UAE (TRA); which is
responsible for the regulatory aspects of the telecommunications and information
communications technology industries in the UAE (TRA, 2016).
Smart Dubai works closely with TRA to define and understand the most efficient measurement
framework for ICT use to achieve its smart city vision. To achieve this, KPIs are collected at a
national level and then are reviewed and interpreted to the Emirate level with an understanding
of the national and local context (while also taking into account international standards). This
allows traceability of the data and also helps facilitate an understanding of ICT policies for the
development of smart sustainable city projects. This cooperative work between Smart Dubai
and TRA provides a positive example for other cities (See Box 1).

18