Page 29 - 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

Box 1 – ICTs KPIs extrapolation to a local and emirate level

TRA assesses the performance of ICTs and network development on a national level. For example,
one of the surveys they design, the ICT Household Survey, occurs every two years. TRA also carries
out the annual market review, which summarizes the state of the fixed, mobile, and data
telecommunications services in the UAE in terms of subscribers, penetration, revenues, usage (traffic
volumes) and quality of service.
UAE’s high quality ICT data and understanding of the importance of KPIs for decision-making
facilitates the extrapolation of the data to a local level thereby supporting Dubai in their process of
assessing the impact of ICT use. This is not applicable to all cities of the world, as sometimes ICT data
is only reported on a national level and city level data is always not available. Dubai and TRA counts
on the support of the Dubai Statistics Center (DSC) to carry out surveys and processes the ICT data
to build performance metrics for decision-making.

Another important aspect related to the sustainability of smart cities and the roll out of ICT
Technology, is Electromagnetic Fields (EMF). It is an emerging issue that has attracted attention
and discussion in the context of smart sustainable cities due to increasing awareness on this
matter. ITU SSC KPIs provide a one of a kind assessment framework to support smart cities in
the process of assessing the impacts of EMF on a city level and to facilitate the process of
incorporating EMF policies into smart city initiatives. UAE is committed to following
international guidelines on EMF. TRA issued an EMF guideline endorsing international
non-ionizing radiation guidelines in 2010 (TRA, 2010). Dubai Municipality Environment
department has endorsed these guidelines in Dubai through the “Guidelines for the Sitting and
Installation of Telecommunication Towers” in 2013 (Dubai Municipality, 2013).

With reference to security and privacy aspects, Smart Dubai, through its Dubai Data
Establishment (DDE), defines policies in data confidentiality and privacy. In 2016, the Dubai Data
Establishment began addressing these issues collectively with several key public and private
institutions, such as the Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC), TRA, and the Dubai Police
Department. Smart Dubai and Dubai Data Establishment are addressing information security
with Dubai Electronic Security Center through the “Dubai Information Security Regulation.”

3.4.2. Dimension 2: Environmental sustainability
ICT offers technologies that help cities manage environmental resources such as water and
energy. Cities also rely on smart technologies to facilitate environmental quality management
and control processes, such as, air quality management, noise control or green area
maintenance.

Dubai faces environmental challenges similar to leading metropolitan cities in the world
including air pollution, waste management, and high CO2 emissions. Dubai manages these
environmental challenges through different entities such as Dubai Municipality (DM), the Dubai
Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), and the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy. All of these
entities shape the environmental sustainability of the city and collaborate with Smart Dubai to
identify opportunities for the introduction of ICT related services. Such services improve the
efficiency of management processes, environmental resources, and related infrastructures.

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