Page 15 - Building digital public infrastructure for cities and communities

should be assembled to meet local development needs and their development process should
be grounded using collective intelligence, bottom-up actions, participatory governance, open and
user-driven innovation, and community-led urban development (Mora & Deakin, 2019).

The “bottom-up” approach of sustainable smart city design and implementation appears to
offer a more equitable model for urban development that recognises a diverse range of users,
in addition to being advocated to ensure the widespread adoption by the local residents. Smart
city technologies are constructed in a particular socio-historical context and thus are shaped by
politics, budgets and local culture as much as by the technical specifications and capabilities of the
technology itself (e.g., processing power, bandwidth) (Angelakis et al., 2017). Cities can thus play
a crucial role in sustainable development by connecting various elements like economy, energy,
environment, science, technology, society, culture and investment. These links help create the
integrated policies necessary for achieving sustainability.

Our goal is to have an inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe and secure digital future for all (United
Nations General Assembly, 2024a). At the city level, one way to achieve this is to adopt a digital
transformation strategy and implementation for a holistic people-centred city operation and
management. By utilizing the full potential of digital transformation to support urban operations,
services’ provisioning and the engagement and participation of residents, smart sustainable cities
can be key enablers for achieving the main objectives envisioned in the New Urban Agenda and
the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) addressed in the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development.

However, as optimistic as this may sound, empirical evidence indicates that the effective digital
transformation necessary to achieve the SDGs needs much more than supply-side and demand-
side initiatives. According to the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) in his Policy Brief 5, “Our Common
Agenda, A Global Digital Compact (GDC) – an Open, Free and Secure Digital Future for All” (“the
Policy Brief”) (United Nations, 2023), a concerted effort is still needed to: connect the remaining
2.7 billion people, more than one billion of whom are children and most of whom live in least
developed countries; introduce policy and financial investments to make broadband and mobile
devices affordable and reliable; and make a global effort to strengthen digital learning and skills,
with targeted efforts for women, girls and young people, so that everyone can take full advantage
of the opportunities of connectivity and employers and workers can adapt to digital transformation
(United Nations, 2023).

Supply-side initiatives are not enough for a successful human-centred digital transformation at
scale. A demand pull is also needed through the provision of Digital Public Goods (DPGs) and
services that are meaningful for people and communities. Despite the rapid growth in demand
for ICT infrastructure and the rapid development of digital applications and services, and their
inclusion in almost any digital transformation strategy at a national scale, some notable challenges
still remain.

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