African Smart City Trends, Related Industry Outlook and Challenges: Focus on the Case of Kenya’s Konza Technopolis
Mumo Nzau and Israel Nyadera
National Defence College, National Defence University (NDU-K)
Abstract
Two-and-a-half decades into the 21st Century, Africa continues to be ranked lower in many respects, when compared to many other regions globally. For instance, the continent continues to score dismally with respect to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Two areas stand out: SDG 9 and SDG 11 which focus on “industry, innovation and infrastructure” and “sustainable communities” respectively. This state of affairs presents a critical knowledge gap that beckons for sound and sustainable, actionable solutions for the continent. Against this backdrop, this paper revisits the subject area of Africa’s industrialization with specific reference domain of “smart cities” with a view of critically assessing emergent trends, related industry outlook and the challenges therein, using Kenya’s Konza Technopolis as a case in point. Taking on a thematic, mainly discursive-analytical approach the paper is guided by the following questions with Kenya’s Konza Technopolis as the core point of cross-reference: What is the current status of smart city-driven industrialization globally? How is the African smart city and related industry outlook; and what challenges standout so far? How has Kenya’s Konza Technolpolis Smart City experience been in these respects? In responding to these questions, the main argument in this paper is that while Africa’s smart city-driven industrialization aspirations may appear lofty given the backdrop of various challenges, Kenya and the continent in general stands a better chance to learn better through the experiences of other smart city success stories such as South Korea by focussing not only the ideals of holistically sustainable smart-city driven industrial transformation, but also tapping on unique context-specific nuances and dynamic realities of our time.
Key Words: Africa, Kenya, Smart Cities, Industrialization, Challenges, Konza Technopolis
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