Critical success factors for the digitalization of smart cities

In the ‘industry 4.0’ era, the phenomenon of digitalization of smart cities has gained increasing prominence, as it has the potential to address the problem of resource optimization and the pressure of demand of the growing urban population. In the past, smart city initiatives may not have created desired impacts as these initiatives were limited in scope, focusing on physical digital integration of the underlying systems of cities and of their citizens. This article examines the success factors that affect the digitalization of smart cities based on secondary research. To achieve smart cities’ core objectives of increasing quality of living, providing efficient and optimal services, thereby making the functioning of the city smart through digitalization, it is essential to look at these critical success factors, namely, sustainability, ecosystems and digital citizen. The article points out important elements such as lack of governance of sustainability, methods and processes to enhance participation of digital citizens and inadequate knowledge about structures and value creation through ecosystems that would need to be addressed while digitalizing smart cities. Given the required policy attention and focus, these factors would be expected to make smart cities sustainable, improve the quality of life of citizens and create new economic opportunities, while digitalizing them.