Government-led smart city strategies in the Gulf: a systematic review on policy frameworks, digital innovation, and sustainability, Gideon Nkurunziza, Prof. Joseph M. Ntayi, James Mubangizi, Kenneth Byangwa

Gideon Nkurunziza, Prof. Joseph M. Ntayi, James Mubangizi, Kenneth Byangwa
Makerere University Business School
Makerere University
Uganda

Purpose: Smart cities have become policy priorities for consistency, inclusiveness, and sustainability of their government-driven trajectories.  As such, the study critically reviews smart city developments in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Specific Objectives: The study specifically and systematically; examined the Government-Led Smart City Strategies; examined dominant policy frameworks; investigated digital innovations analysed sustainability integration and compared cross-national similarities and divergences in GCC countries.

Methodology: Hybrid PEO + SPIDER framework, PRISMA and SALSA guidelines on source searches and synthesis were used. 41 peer-reviewed studies were selected via a comprehensive and systematic search from December 2023 to March 2024 in databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar. Secondary searches were conducted in ResearchGate, SSRN, and selected institutional repositories. Data extracted was categorized under author and year, geographical scope for the study, study perspective, components of the smart city addressed, and level of implementation.

Results: GCC countries prioritize smart cities, but face gaps in consistency, inclusiveness, and sustainability. The results reveal existence of gaps in consistency, inclusiveness, and sustainability that need immediate intentions. Such catastrophic gaps are evidenced by presence of uneven progress as evidenced by discrepancies among policy convergence, technology innovations, and environmental demands detailed in this study. The key policy frameworks, digital innovations and sustainability integration practices have been emphasized in this study. Besides, cross-national similarities and divergences in Gulf cooperations play a vital role in creating a sustainable and innovative government led cities of GCC countries.

Implications: The study highlights need for flexible, inclusive, and sustainability-oriented smart city strategies. It suggests transformative approach for smart city developments to optimize the benefits of Government-Led Smart Cities. Therefore, devising more flexible, inclusive and sustainability-oriented ways to frame smart city strategy making is inevitable initiative. There is need to shift from technocratic to transformative smart city strategies with particular attention to policy frameworks, digital innovations and sustainability outcomes. Practical and actionable strategies for government led smart cities are critical for decision-makers.

Originality: The research adds comparative and systematic contributions from methodological and conceptual perspectives to support academia, policy and practice of government-led smart cities. The study provides a comprehensive understanding of smart city development by highlighting the gaps, challenges and strategies for improvement using a systematic literature review approach.

Keywords: Smart cities; Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC); policy dimensions; digital innovation; sustainability lens and Systematic Literature Review (SLR)