Page 16 - Guide for smart and sustainable city leaders: Envisioning sustainable digital transformation

Guide for smart and sustainable city leaders: Envisioning sustainable digital transformation

2.1 Starting your digital transformation journey

For cities wishing to initiate their digital transformation journeys as a means to becoming smart
and sustainable, it is important to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all model as each
city has to start from a different baseline for its transition. Additionally, each city varies in terms
of demographics, resources and development challenges. The transition to smart sustainable
cities has to be viewed as a reiterative process, of implementation planning and reviewing of
outcomes and feedback. However, it is important to understand that SSC means embracing a
continuous journey for driving digital transformation and cannot be considered to be the final
destination.

This report intends to assist city decision-makers (including municipal and government
representatives) by re-defining the way in which the city's infrastructure is built, digital
technologies are implemented, services are offered, inhabitants are engaged and systems
linked, with the aim of transforming cities into inclusive, sustainable, reliable, robust, resilient
and smart living environments.

Given that the establishment of a SSC is a long-term process and cannot be achieved overnight,
it is essential that a series of generic steps are laid out that would not only allow for monitoring
progress but would also promote sustainable development and digital transformation. In
addition, with each city must be able to quantify improvements over time in line with the SDGs,
as well as with the city’s individual targets. The main elements related to digital transformation
are depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Elements of digital transformation

Inhabitant Engagement

Emerging Technologies

Data Analytics

Performance Management

In this context a series of basic steps for developing smart cities in the context of digital
transformation have been envisioned.

Each of these steps described in this document are required when commencing the digital
transformation process for supporting smart sustainable cities.

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