The Strategic Vision 2030 As A Catalyst For Riyadh Smart City Making

Abstract

The paper explores the process of smart city-making. The literature mentions two approaches to this process. One insists on the “hard” side of developing ICT infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT) and smart buildings. The other, however, focuses on the “soft” side of the smart city which advocates the setup of a strategic vision and attendant policies to boost social transformation, a knowledge-based economy, continuous learning and building up human capital. In its intent to become a smart city, Riyadh starts by adopting the Strategic Vision 2030 and the accompanying programs and initiatives to instil social and economic changes followed by pouring the required investments to establish advanced ICT infrastructure, e-government and smart urban functions. The study relied on secondary data gathered from official websites, government reports and relevant documents to measure indicators of the six smart city components adopted. The results indicate that securing the political will from the highest authorities to instigate appropriate policies to foster the process of smart city-making has been proven necessary at least as seen in the case of Riyadh.