Developing an integrated framework to assess South African small and rural municipalities’ readiness for smart city implementation

Abstract

In South Africa, small and rural municipalities are engulfed in service delivery issues. This affects large municipalities severely because people migrate from small and rural municipalities to big cities to access basic service delivery, resulting in population growth for these big cities. As the population increases, resources become constrained and thus limited in providing basic services in big cities, which, in turn, triggers endless protests about basic service delivery. Small and rural municipalities need to manage their resources effectively for such municipalities to provide basic service delivery to their citizens. The literature postulates that municipalities can transform their cities by implementing the smart city concept. The smart city concept has been around for more than a decade; the term was coined around 1991. However, small and rural municipalities have a low implementation of a smart city due to the lack of an integrated framework for assessing small and rural municipalities’ readiness for smart city implementation. This study mainly aims to develop an integrated framework as an artefact for assessing small and rural municipalities’ readiness for smart city implementation. Hence, the study followed a design science research methodology. During the design science research process, a systematic literature review is conducted to develop a conceptual framework, which is then revised through empirical work. This study revised a proposed conceptual framework using interview data. During that stage, an assessment tool to gauge the readiness of small and rural municipalities for smart city implementation was also developed. The revised framework and assessment tool were evaluated through participatory design and later validated through expert review. Chapter 6 presents the final integrated framework. The finalised integrated framework and assessment tool can be used to assess the readiness of small and rural municipalities to gauge their levels of preparedness for implementing a smart city. Furthermore, municipal authorities can utilise this framework to identify areas needing improvement towards smart city implementation. This study also serves as a basis for future studies.