The Future of Smart Cities: A Community-Driven Approach
African cities are experiencing rapid growth, bringing with it a mix of opportunities and challenges. As these urban areas expand, the question arises: how can we build cities that are not only smart but also fair, inclusive, and resilient?
Smart cities leverage digital tools such as sensors, data networks, and connected devices to improve the efficiency of services and respond to problems in real time. From managing traffic and electricity to enhancing public safety and waste removal, smart technologies aim to create smoother, greener, and more connected environments. Ideally, they also help governments better listen to and serve their citizens. However, without community input, the concept of "smart" can end up neglecting the people it's meant to support.
This has led to a growing movement that prioritizes the voices of residents over those of tech companies or city officials. By starting with the communities themselves, new approaches are emerging that focus on inclusivity and shared decision-making.
Rethinking Smart Cities Through Community Engagement
In collaboration with Terence Fenn from the University of Johannesburg, I explored what this approach looks like in practice. We invited a group of Johannesburg residents to imagine their own future neighborhoods and consider how technology could support those changes. Our research highlights the importance of involving residents in shaping the vision for a smart city, leading to more relevant, inclusive, and trusted outcomes.
The study focused on Westbury, a dense, working-class neighborhood west of central Johannesburg. Originally designated for Coloured (multi-racial) residents under apartheid, Westbury still grapples with spatial injustice, high unemployment, and gang-related violence. Despite these challenges, it is also a place of resilience, cultural pride, and strong community ties.
We tested a method called Participatory Futures, which invites people to imagine and shape the future of their communities. In Westbury, we worked with 30 residents selected through local networks to ensure a diverse representation of ages, genders, and life experiences. Participants engaged in workshops where they mapped their neighborhood, created stories and artifacts, and discussed the kind of futures they wanted to see. This approach builds on similar methods used in cities like Helsinki, Singapore, and Cape Town, where local imagination has informed urban planning in meaningful ways.
Priorities for a Smart Future
Residents identified several key priorities for their neighborhoods. Safety was a top concern, with many imagining smart surveillance systems that could reduce crime. However, they emphasized the need for local control over these systems. Cameras and sensors were acceptable if managed by trusted community members rather than distant authorities. The goal was safer streets, not increased surveillance.
Energy was another recurring theme. Power cuts are a regular part of life in Westbury, and residents wanted solar panels not as a luxury but as basic infrastructure. They envisioned solar hubs that could power homes, schools, and local businesses during blackouts, focusing on self-sufficiency and dignity.
Technology also opened the door to cultural expression. Residents dreamed of using augmented reality to overlay neighborhood landmarks with local history, art, and personal memories. This approach aimed to connect past and future, making technology a tool for storytelling rather than spectacle.
Skills and education were also important. Residents imagined digital centers where young people could learn to code, produce music, or connect globally. These spaces would be opportunities to build the future, not just survive the present. They envisioned smart tools that could showcase local art, amplify community voices, or support small businesses.
Lessons for the Future of Urban Planning
If African smart cities are to succeed, they must be designed with, not just for, the people who live in them. Top-down models often miss the nuances of everyday life. There are growing examples of participatory approaches reshaping urban futures around the world.
In Cape Town, the “Play Khayelitsha” initiative used interactive roleplay and games to engage residents in imagining and co-planning future neighborhoods. In MedellÃn, Colombia, a history of top-down planning was transformed by including local voices in decisions about transport, public space, and education.
These cases, like Westbury, show that when communities are treated as co-creators rather than passive recipients, the outcomes are more inclusive, sustainable, and grounded in real-life experience.
This shift is especially important in African cities, where the effects of colonial history and structural inequality still shape urban development. Technology isn’t neutral; it carries the assumptions of its designers. That’s why it matters who’s in the room when decisions are made. The smartest cities are those built with the people who live in them.