Migration Letters

Volume: 21, No: S9 (2024), pp. 1020-1039

ISSN: 1741-8984 (Print) ISSN: 1741-8992 (Online)
[Link]

The Strategic Vision 2030 As A Catalyst For Riyadh

Smart City Making
Tahar Abdulhamid Ledraa*1 and Sami Abdullah Aldubikhi2

Abstract
The paper explores the process of smart city-making. The literature mentions two
approaches to this process. One insists on the “hard” side of developing ICT
infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT) and smart buildings. The other, however, focuses
on the “soft” side of the smart city which advocates the setup of a strategic vision and
attendant policies to boost social transformation, a knowledge-based economy, continuous
learning and building up human capital. In its intent to become a smart city, Riyadh starts
by adopting the Strategic Vision 2030 and the accompanying programs and initiatives to
instil social and economic changes followed by pouring the required investments to
establish advanced ICT infrastructure, e-government and smart urban functions. The study
relied on secondary data gathered from official websites, government reports and relevant
documents to measure indicators of the six smart city components adopted. The results
indicate that securing the political will from the highest authorities to instigate appropriate
policies to foster the process of smart city-making has been proven necessary at least as
seen in the case of Riyadh.

Keywords: Riyadh; Smart City; ICT and IoT infrastructure; Vision 2030; Indicator
Measures.

1. Introduction

The smart city model has lately gained wider currency in the planning literature. Many
cities all over the world are undertaking important strides to embrace smartness in their
urban functioning. Cities usually, take one of two options in their process of smart city-
making. One consists of attaching paramount attention to the “hard” side of the smart city
which is the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
infrastructure and the growth of its Internet of Things (IoT). The aim of such an option is
to boost 1the city’s network to connect myriads of sensors, smartphones and all sorts of
devices to collect, analyze and exchange data for better management and control of traffic,
buildings, energy, water, waste and all aspects of city life [1,2,3]. The other focuses more
on the “soft” side which involves the setup of a strategic vision and policies to foster the
making of a knowledge society, creative class, education, continuous learning, knowledge-
based economy, governance, innovation development, arts and culture [4,5,6]. Riyadh is
no exception to this trend of becoming a smart city. But unlike many other cities, more
interest was bestowed on the “soft” side. It started by developing in 2016 a new Strategic
Vision 2030 which was set up by the highest political authority. In light of this vision, a
new set of policies was drawn to put people at the centre and to foster human capital
building, social transformation and a knowledge-based economy. Huge investments were
then poured into the development of the “hard” side as exemplified by ICT and IoT
infrastructure [7].

2. The Literature Review

Although the concept of smart cities has gained significant attention in recent years as a
way to improve the quality of life, promote sustainability, and enhance efficiency in urban

1,2
Urban Planning Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
 Tahar Abdulhamid Ledraa et al. 1021

functioning, there is no widely agreed-upon definition of what is meant by the term “smart
city” [1,8,3]. A common agreement, however, seems to exist among scholars on its
components. The smart city relies on the ubiquitous use of big data and advanced cloud
technologies to improve the monitoring of urban functions and enhance the city’s
responsiveness to the needs and wants of citizens. In other terms, a smart city needs to be
efficient, responsive, and participative [9,10,1,11].

The literature categorizes the smart city components into two sets, hard and soft. If many
researchers have highlighted the physical or “hard” components, others have emphasized
the social or “soft” ones. The former refers to tangible components like building structures,
network infrastructure, energy grids, waste management, transport networks, etc. The latter
concerns intangible assets like people, social networks, knowledge, education, quality of
life, socioeconomic welfare, creativity and innovation [1,13,2].

The adepts of the smart growth movement advocate that revamping the “hard” physical
space of a smart city would lead to curtailing the worsening effects of air pollution, fixing
the loss of open space, easing traffic congestion, halting urban sprawl and restricting the
skyrocketing costs of services [14,12,15]. In so doing, they claim that the “soft”
components would necessarily follow, the social bonds would be enhanced, the quality of
life improved, and the living standards raised [16,17]. Their detractors embrace different
views. That is to make a smart city, they would rather proceed by the soft domain in which
a strategic vision and a set of policies would be developed to promote social and economic
change, encourage innovation and continuous learning, and motivate knowledge workers.
All this would also ultimately be conducive to upgrading the hard elements of the city.

The view that insists on the “hard” components of smart cities has been criticized for being
too techno-centric with less interest in people and the socioeconomic aspects of planning
and its environmental features [18,19]. In this regard, many smart cities established in the
high-tech corporate-designed models like Songdo (Korea), and Masdar City (UAE), were
vehemently criticized for being too heavily dependent on higher technology. They suffer
many shortcomings as they lack attention to the “soft” components like considering people,
valuing education, nurturing knowledge, upgrading skills, promoting innovation and the
creative class [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,29].

Golubchikov et al. [29] criticize this approach for limiting the analysis to “hard” and “soft”
components. The smart city should transcend the hard-soft dichotomy to be thought of as a
hybrid space with multiple dimensions. The smart city is not an “end state” nor an
“accomplished reality”, but a continuous process. Being an “emerging concept-in-
practice”, an “actually existing smart city” is not yet in operation. It is not enough, therefore,
to reflect only on tangible and intangible structures and networks. It would be more
significant to examine the strategies and policies set up to govern the experience of the city
in its process of becoming smart [29].

Along this vein of reasoning, many academics contend that the smart city model is not
limited to the diffusion of ICT but concomitantly denotes planning policies and programs
that foster sustainable development, economic growth, better quality of life and wellbeing
for city residents and their empowerment [30,31,32,33]. The proponents of the smart city
as a process insist that ICT technology should be seen as a means not an end in itself. It is
leveraged to improve the performance of the government, promote quality of life and boost
social and economic transformation [34,35,36].

For a successful process in smart city making, it is important to juggle the components of
both the hard and soft domains to achieve sustainability requirements, social inclusion and
quality of life demands. Although the ICT technological

infrastructure alone cannot alleviate all the issues encountered in the process of smart city-
making, it can to a great extent help ease and enable it. It is also of paramount importance
that smart city planning blends both the hard and soft components with the concepts of
sustainability and livability into smart city development [37]. To that end, a smart city needs
to use public participation and stakeholders’ involvement to improve the quality of life of
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citizens by leveraging smart infrastructure and digitalization to achieve an inclusive,

sustainable and resilient city [38]. This way, the smart city model becomes not only an end
in itself but rather a means to achieve a better quality of life, citizen empowerment and
urban sustainability.

To operate effectively, however, a smart city needs to develop a state-of-the-art sensing

infrastructure to monitor road traffic, street noise, air pollution, city safety, etc. Not only do
the use of advanced technologies and data mining help improve the functioning of the city
and its infrastructure but they also lead to better service provision and higher living
standards for smart city residents. It must therefore, integrate all its physical, social and
digital components to optimize its urban functions like energy consumption, water use, and
waste collection and disposal [39]. The next paragraphs will discuss the different
components and indicators of smart cities.

2.1. Smart City Components and Indicators

Many frameworks and indicators have been commonly used to evaluate the smartness of
cities and measure their performance, such as the IMD Smart Cities Index (2020) [40] the
Smart City Wheel developed by Cohen (2012) [41], and Caragliu's et al. (2009) [34]
approach. These indicators have mainly been grouped into six smart city components, that
is economy, mobility, environment, people, living, and governance [42,43,34,44,45,46,47].
Sherifi [3] added one more component to the list, the data, whereas Lai and Cole [48] (2023)
included three additional components, perception, privacy and cybersecurity and
technology, to the six already mentioned. Huovila, Bosch and Airaksinen, [49] list the
following dimensions: natural environment, built environment, water and waste, transport,
energy, economy, education, culture, innovation and science, health, well-being and safety,
governance and citizen engagement, and ICT, whereas the International Organisation for
Standardisation ISO [50] used 19 and U4SSC [51] used only 3 dimensions. In their
comprehensive review of the literature on smart cities, Yin et al. (2015) [52] identified four
key dimensions: technology, governance, people, and sustainability. By all accounts, the
dimensions usually cover three main areas, economic, environmental and socio-cultural.
Even though other dimensions with different appellations may be found in the literature,
like e-government, informational knowledge-based society, creative institutions, digital or
ICT infrastructure and the like [52,15,53], they all eventually refer explicitly or implicitly
to more or less similar sets of indicators.

To measure the performance of a smart city, researchers relied on the use of many indicators
to assess each of the above smart city components. According to a review of the literature
by Petrova-Antonova and Ilieva [47], some have used as many as 1152 indicators. The
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) for instance, used 85 indicators, while
the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) [51] and UN Habitat relied on 91 such
indicators. Others like CITYKeys [53] developed an assessment framework with 75
indicators. Lombardi et al. [46] utilized 60 indicators whereas, the OECD [54] used 8
components with 21 indicators and Lazaroiu and Roscia [55] made use of only 18. As it
was stated before, all the indicators were set to measure city performance on smartness,
sustainability, quality of life and people’s well-being. As far as the Riyadh case is
concerned, Bakry et al. (2019) [56] in their extensive review of the scholarly work on smart
cities, settled on the indicators of three key dimensions considered to be of high relevance
to the context of Saudi cities: smart governance, smart infrastructure, and smart mobility.
The following section will delve into the opportunities and challenges of Riyadh's journey
to becoming a smart city.

3. The Potential of Riyadh to Become a Smart City

The Riyadh smart city-making process is not seamless or challenge-free. The sprawling
leapfrog urbanization, low-density development, car-dominated mode of transport, and
large population concentration in the city where about a quarter of the Saudi population
lives, are just some hurdles on the way. To face up to these challenges, the plausible option
was to engage Riyadh in the process of becoming a smart city. In so doing, the smart city
was not considered as an end in itself but a means to an end. That is a process to achieve
the Strategic Vision 2030 objectives like fostering social transformation, knowledge-based
 Tahar Abdulhamid Ledraa et al. 1023

society, quality of life and environmental sustainability. By prioritizing knowledge and

human capital build-up, the process of Riyadh Smart City places citizens at the center
instead of assigning prime importance to digitalization and ICT-centered applications as is
the case in many other cities. ICT and IoT infrastructure are taken as a means to serve the
process of social change, urban sustainability and higher living standards.

The process of transforming Riyadh into a smart city has taken several key steps. First and
foremost, it has secured a strong political will from the highest political authority that
developed a strategic vision for the year 2030. Not only the Vision 2030 defined the mission
and goals of the smart city initiative, but it has also identified the specific urban challenges
that need to be addressed and the desired outcomes of the social and economic
transformation to be reached. City stakeholders were called upon to join their efforts to
implement strategies and projects to achieve the desired outcomes in line with the
established vision and goals. The Vision has also set up a timeline, budget allocations, and
performance indicators to track the progress of smart city-making [7].

From this account, it is clear that Riyadh in its journey to becoming a smart city has
followed a different path in several aspects, primarily due to its strategic initiatives,
developmental context, and sociocultural considerations. Unlike many other examples of
smart cities in the world, Riyadh has prioritized the soft over the hard domain. If many
other cities like Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Amsterdam, and Barcelona have focused
essentially on developing ICT infrastructure and growing their Internet of Things (IoT),
Riyadh has started by securing strong political support to launch a process of social and
economic transformation and establish the necessary strategies and policies to foster the
process of smart city making, then providing the required investments to technological
advancement of its hard domains [7].

If Barcelona has focused mainly on citizen involvement and open data initiatives,
Amsterdam insisted on sustainable technology and energy grid, whereas Tokyo, Seoul and
Singapore have accorded attention to advanced technological infrastructure, with high-
speed internet, widespread IoT (Internet of Things) integration, and robust digital services
for citizens [57, 58]. Riyadh however, has first launched a social transformation program
and economic diversification, leveraging smart technologies to shift from oil sectors to a
knowledge-based economy, followed by significant investments in digital connectivity and
cutting-edge high-tech infrastructure as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 program [7].

Although both Singapore's Smart Nation initiative and Amsterdam's Smart City program
are government-led strategies that encompass various sectors [59], Riyadh's approach is
unique because of its ambitious Vision 2030 platform that governs the Riyadh Smart City
project intending to transform it into a world-leading smart city through strategic
partnerships and investments in education, human capital building, healthcare and digital
infrastructure [7].

While Riyadh's approach shares some similarities with global counterparts like Singapore,
Barcelona, Tokyo, Amsterdam and Vienna, in its focus on digital transformation,
governance and sustainability, the Riyadh case is distinct in several aspects as its experience
is quite recent and still evolving. Unlike these world-class cities which have a long-standing
history of leveraging technology for smart urban solutions,
particularly in digital governance, smart mobility, and sustainable living [58,59], the
Riyadh approach is unique in its recency and emphasis on establishing first the ambitious
Vision 2030 initiative which aimed at diversifying the economy and reducing oil
dependence by focusing on areas such as smart transportation, smart governance, digital
services for citizens, and environmental sustainability.

If Singapore, Barcelona and Amsterdam offer insights into how cities can leverage
technology to enhance citizen engagement and sustainability, Riyadh presents a lesson on
how to gain political support, and harness partnerships with different stakeholders to speed
up the process of smart city-making.

In conclusion, Riyadh's approach to transforming into a smart city is interesting in many

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ways. It offers lessons for cities worldwide willing to engage in the process of becoming
smart cities by retrofitting their smart city components and upgrading their urban structures
to integrate advanced technological infrastructures and the Internet of Things (IoT). The
Riyadh smart city model can be inspiring for cities in the developing world, particularly
Arab Gulf cities that can pour significant investments into leveraging smart technologies
for smart urban solutions to face up to their urban challenges. The Riyadh smart city
showcased a process with a unique blend of traditional urban structures and ultra-modern
city initiatives integrating cutting-edge technologies to improve various smart city
dimensions such as economic growth, governance, environmental sustainability, citizen
engagement, living standards and urban mobility.

4. Materials and Methods

This section delves into the measurement method adopted in this study to assess the
indicators of Riyadh's process of becoming a smart city. It relies mainly on the IMD Smart
Cities Index [40]. The measures used rely mainly on the widely used frameworks developed
by Giffinger et al. [15], Caragliu et al. [34] and Cohen [41] (2012) Smart City Wheel. They
all identified six dimensions to evaluate the smartness of a city: smart economy, smart
mobility, smart environment, smart people, smart living conditions, and smart governance.
Each dimension is further divided into specific indicators and metrics that can be used to
evaluate the smartness of a city. For that matter, the study utilized another commonly used
index, the Smart City Index, which was developed by the IMD World Competitiveness
Center to appraise the level of smartness based on indicators covering a wide range of
factors delineating the six smart city dimensions [40].

The method adopted for this study is based mainly on qualitative analysis using essentially
secondary data collected from various official websites and reports. They could be
government websites and reports emanating from different public and private institutions
or smart city platforms, newspaper articles, official documents, and literature in the field.
The Saudi Vision 2030, the Riyadh Municipality, the IMD Smart City Index, and the Royal
Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) websites, are just one such institutions whose
websites provide valuable information about the process of Riyadh's transformation into a
smart city. The data gathered was used to assess the indicators set to measure the six smart
city components detailed below.

The study used only indicators for which metrics and data were provided from the
secondary sources cited above. The assessment of indicators relies on rankings provided by
international or research institutions like the Global Cybersecurity Index, and the Institute
of Management Development (IMD). It could also be some figures adopted as targets by
some national or local institutions like zero CO2 emissions by 2060, the increase of per
capita greens in Riyadh from 1.75 to 28 m2, or else the reduction of fatal accidents per
100000 citizens from 28 to 13 as a result of SAHIR traffic smart monitoring, etc. The
economic competitiveness index was used to measure the smart economy component. The
fact that Riyadh has improved its position 23 places within the last three years, is a good
indicator of its economic performance. Similarly, other indicators of the smart economy
like public finances, economic reforms, technical development financing, and support for
technical development were evaluated by using rankings issued by the IMD smart city
index or other measures reported by different publication outlets such as reports,

newspapers, etc. The same assessment method was used for all other smart city component
indicators. It must be emphasized that the aim of Riyadh's process to become a smart city
is not on how high the indicator metrics are but on how far the process has gone to reach
the targets set in the Vision 2030 initiative for Riyadh to become a leading smart city.

Table 1: The six smart city components and their indicators.

Smart City
Indicators
Components
 Tahar Abdulhamid Ledraa et al. 1025

foreign financial institutions, world smartest capitals ranking,

economic performance indicator, the city’s business efficiency,
Competitiveness, public finances; economic reforms, financing
and support for technical development, real GDP growth rate,
employment-long-term growth, government's ability to adapt to
economic changes, unemployment legislation, cybersecurity,
resilience of the economy, inflation rates for consumer prices,
Smart Economy digital transformation in companies, the market capitalization of
the stock market, and venture capital availability, e-commerce
market increase, online shoppers growth, increase of online stores,
the online market volume projection, compound annual growth
rate, patent registration, citizens opinions about employment
opportunities created by the economy, views about that job
finding services, accessibility to job listings, starting new
businesses.

per capita green space, air quality, reducing annual power

consumption, use of smart meters for water and energy
consumption, projections at planting 7.5 million trees, use of
Smart environment recycled water for their irrigation, environmental cleanliness by
reducing the city carbon footprint, net-zero emissions of
greenhouse gas by 2060, production of clean energy from
renewables, decrease of total energy consumption.

smart traffic management, walkability, cyclability, and public

transport as primary modes of mobility, safety on the road:
reduction of car accidents and fatalities, walk score index, e-
Smart mobility
scooter and e-bike-sharing market growth, public transport,
environmentally friendly metro and bus system, citizens views
about the most serious traffic issue, satisfaction public transport.

the knowledge-based society, city quality of life, higher living

standards, educational attainment, continuous learning, creative
workers and innovation, social reforms and social inclusion, and
public participation, high-speed broadband coverage penetration,
Smart living
increasing government online services, smart city living ranking,
educational attainment, investments in ICT market, healthier
living through CO2 emissions reductions, recreation projects and
entertainment events, social inclusion

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human capital building, achieving social transformation and,

increasing the living standards of residents, progress on the United
Nations human development index, HDI ‘rating scale’, Riyadh
smart city rating, the share of university students enrollment, the
innovation index, expected years of schooling, Gross National
Smart people Income (GNI) per capita, citizen views on basic sanitation needs,
satisfaction with medical services provision, views about
accessibility to health services, satisfaction with public safety,
housing affordability, online security, satisfaction with green
spaces and cultural events, quality of schools, IT skills acquisition,
Lifelong continuous learning

government efficiency, e-government services, accountability,

responsiveness, and transparency (ART), red light sensors at
intersections, social transformation program, Accessibility to
information on local government decisions, Corruption of city
Smart governance
officials, citizen participation, public private partnership program
(SHAREEK), Residents contribution to decision making of local
government, Residents’ provision of feedback on local
government projects.

5. Results and Discussion

5.1. Smart Economy Indicators

Being the capital city and by far the largest one in the country, Riyadh is trying hard to
strengthen its position as an emerging financial and business hub at the global level in
keeping with the Vision 2030 goal to promote it to become among the 100 top-ranked world
cities. As a result of the many programs set to achieve the city’s economic transformation,
Riyadh is attracting direct foreign investments and multinational companies’ regional
headquarters making it among the fastest-growing economies in the G20 in 2022 [60].
Fundamental to this rising smart economy is the city’s cutting-edge ICT infrastructure and
the mega projects being realized which in turn led to increasing foreign direct funds being
poured into the local economy as seen in the number of foreign financial institutions which
has risen from 453 in 2019 to more than 2900 in 2022 [61]. The factors mentioned above
are all indicators of the city’s smart economy. No wonder, Riyadh is ranked the third-
smartest capital among G-20 states, jumping 23 places within only three years according to
the Institute for Management Development Smart Cities Index [62]. This would not have
been possible without the embracing of government policies that are conducive to economic
reforms in recent years to enhance the city’s competitiveness among the world's leading
smartest capitals. These economic reforms seem to have had an impact on the city’s
economic performance indicator which led to a huge leap being made on a global level
from 48th to 6th place within the span of just two years (2021 - 2023) [63,64]. The city’s
business efficiency indicator as measured by the extent to which enterprises are performing
in an innovative, profitable and responsible manner has jumped from 26th to 13th rank
globally within the same period (2021- 2023) [63].

Competitiveness is another important indicator of a smart city economy. In this regard,

Saudi Arabia and by extension, Riyadh has managed to advance its ranking on a global
level from 32nd in 2021 to 17th position in 2023. It has also been ranked third among highly
competitive economies hence, well ahead of many G20 countries. In its 2023 report, the
World Competitiveness Center of the International Institute for Management Development
(IMD) showed significant improvements on many smart economy indicators. The first rank
on a global level was accomplished on indicators like public finances; economic reforms,
financing and support for technical development.
 Tahar Abdulhamid Ledraa et al. 1027

The second rank was also attained on indicators like real GDP growth rate, employment-
long-term growth, government's ability to adapt to economic changes, unemployment
legislation, cybersecurity, and legal environment support for the development and
application of technology. The third rank was also reached on indicators like the resilience
of the economy, inflation rates for consumer prices, digital transformation in companies,
the market capitalization of the stock market, and venture capital availability [63].

The development of e-commerce and related applications are other indicators of a city’s
smart economy. Nearly all companies and commercial establishments have their services
and transactions provided through their websites and applications. Suffice it to note that the
e-commerce market is increasing sharply. The figures show 12.9 million online shoppers
in 2018 and is expected to reach 19.3 million by the end of 2023. The number of online
stores has also increased from around 29 thousand to about 36 thousand between 2020 and
2021 [65]. The e-commerce online share is currently at 7.1% and is estimated to increase
to 10.1% by 2027. The online market volume is estimated at $11,619.1 million by 2023
and projected to reach $14,833.2 million by the year 2027 with an expected compound
annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2027) of 6.3%, placing it the 29th largest market for e-
commerce on a global level [66]. This is an indication of the staggering growth of Riyadh's
smart economy due to the significant city-wide internet penetration, improvements in high-
speed broadband coverage, widespread internet technologies, and smartphones, which have
boosted the e-commerce market.

The smart city economy is mainly driven by innovations produced by cutting-edge research
within universities and research centres. Riyadh's smart city economy is no exception in
this respect as it attempts to become innovation-based. In this regard, King Saud University
has made a big leap in patent registration which amounted to 1592 in 2022 [67].

Both quantitative objective and qualitative subjective indicators are used for smart
economy component measurement. The former set of indicators is discussed above.
Concerning the latter set of subjective indicators, the analysis relies on the opinions
expressed by Riyadh respondents to a questionnaire survey conducted by Smart City Index.
As far as employment opportunities are concerned as an indicator of a smart economy, a
large proportion of citizens (68.6%) think the city economy and businesses are creating
new jobs. In keeping with this opinion, a high percentage (61.3%) of respondents declared
that job-finding services are readily available. Similarly, 78.8% of respondents acquiesced
that finding employment is being made a lot easier by online access to job listings.
Likewise, 76.8% of them say that starting new businesses is being quite remarkably
facilitated owing to the online services and platforms that Riyadh Smart City has provided
[68].

5.2. Smart Environment Indicators

Kumar (2020) asserts that cleanliness, greenness, and the provision of recreational
opportunities for residents of all backgrounds and all ages are used as indicators to assess
the smart city environment component. Regarding the greenness indicator, it is measured
by the per capita green space which is currently at 1.75 square meters and projected to
amount to 28 m2 as set by the Green Riyadh Project. Pursuing this objective would not
only make Riyadh greener but it would also improve the air quality in the city by cutting
CO2 concentration by 3-6% and reducing dust accumulation in the air which will boost the
city's environment quality. By so doing, it is hoped to lower the Summer ambient
temperature by 2 Celsius degrees and by 8-15 Celsius degrees in the afforested locations in
the city. This will also have an important repercussion in reducing annual power
consumption by 650 gigawatts per hour [68]. A network of stations for monitoring air
quality has been put in place throughout the city by King Abdulaziz City for Science and
Technology (KACST). To monitor water and energy consumption, smart meters for each
type were deployed [69].

The other indicator to achieve smart environmental sustainability which is associated with
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the Green Riyadh Project aims at planting 7.5 million trees to enlarge the size of green

spaces which will be irrigated by leveraging the recycled water in the city through an
efficient management system [68]. Needless to say, water conservation and minimizing its
consumption are of paramount importance for the smart city environment. A campaign
known as “TARSHID” is currently underway to launch and accomplish more water and
energy retrofit projects to encourage people to rationalize and save non-renewable
resources.

The environmental cleanliness indicator would be appraised by reducing the city's carbon
footprint. In keeping with Riyadh's strategic sustainability goal and the making of a low-
carbon environment, the government has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions of
greenhouse gas by 2060 [70]. As a result, a target of 278 MtCO2eq of GHG emissions the
production of clean energy and a goal of 50% renewables in the power capacity mix in
2030 was set. The “TARSHID” policies have managed to decrease the total energy
consumption by about (1.4%/year) to around 232 Mtoe in 2021. This is a huge leap
compared to the previous 4% per year increase over 2010-2015. [71]. All these measures
would contribute to upgrading the urban resiliency of Riyadh smart city and raise its
capacity to survive and thrive the stresses and shocks that climate change would produce.

However, Riyadh City faces several urban challenges that may hamper any attempt to
achieve its environmental sustainability. Among such challenges are the huge population
influx of newcomers to establish themselves in the city which leads to growing dependence
on foreign goods, materials and food to support the needs of residents and increases
demands for water consumption and energy use. All this would cause a much bigger
ecological footprint of the city putting a huge burden on its infrastructure and threatening
its environment [72,73,74,75]. Riyadh Residents account for about a quarter (25.3%) of the
total Saudi population (8.660.885 out of 34.218.169) [76]. The current ecological footprint
per capita for Saudi Arabia is estimated at 5.77 global hectares per person. The size of
Riyadh’s ecological footprint would therefore be around 50 million global hectares
(5.77*8660885) [77]. This would mean that the area required to maintain Riyadh's lifestyle
would be 253 times the size of the city. Such a situation is utterly unsustainable. Therefore,
it is time to foster the smart city model to address these sustainability challenges. The Smart
City uses technological advancements in terms of wireless sensors, real-time data
exchange, digital infrastructure, and the like to achieve system optimization, innovation,
knowledge society and behaviour changes to support the city environmental sustainability
[78].

To figure out how a smart city model would work, a prototype with the name ALNAMA
Project is being planned in Riyadh over an area of 10 square kilometres to become a smart
zero carbon district. It is intended to promote a smart self-sufficient community with
sustainable living where only renewable energy and recycled water are used. it is also
characterized by a zero-waste, car-free city and 37 kilometres dedicated to a running and
cycling track [79].

5.3. Smart Mobility Indicators

Smart mobility is another key measure of a smart city. It is about improving urban mobility
using advanced technologies and smart traffic management systems. Riyadh has made
significant progress in this regard. Smart transportation systems have been implemented
using sensors to collect data, and real-time monitoring, to improve the decision-making
process and smart parking solutions [56]. This has greatly improved the efficiency and
effectiveness of the city's transportation infrastructure, reducing traffic congestion and
improving the overall mobility and commuting experience for city residents.

Following Vision 2030 targets which insist on retrofitting city streets and neighbourhoods
to become walkable friendly by putting people at the centre of the design and planning
process. Accordingly, smart mobility focuses more on people than on cars. Its main
indicators would thus be smart traffic management, walkability, cyclability, and public
transport as primary modes of mobility.

As far as smart traffic management is concerned, Riyadh City is covered by an automated

 Tahar Abdulhamid Ledraa et al. 1029

traffic management camera system known as the “SAHIR” system. The system is
connected to a control and command centre to track and monitor road traffic in the city.
The platform provides video streaming to instantly screen the traffic flow all over the road
system. There are plenty of sensors and cameras installed at the intersections of the road
network to control and safeguard the traffic environment to improve traffic safety and
enhance the road network efficiency. This has managed to limit excessive speed and
enforce obedience to red-light signs at intersections. This smart monitoring has
significantly lowered traffic accidents by about a third of what it was. The official figures
show that during the last five years, car accidents have been reduced by 34% and fatal ones
by 51% making important savings to public finances of more than $1.6 billion. The number
of deaths per 100 thousand has also dropped from 28 to 13.5 in 2022 [80].

Riyadh city walkability is another indicator used to assess the smart mobility
component. Walkability is evaluated by the walk score index which is for Riyadh 81 out of
100. This score value means that walkability in the city is very good, in the sense that most
service destinations can be reached on foot as most amenities are within walking distance
from an address [81]. The Vision document has also stressed walkability as an objective in
planning and reshaping city neighbourhoods. In this regard, a pedestrian network all over
the city neighbourhoods with some cycling roads has been introduced.

Cyclability is another measure of smart city mobility. E-scooters and e-bike-sharing are
gaining growing popularity among Riyadh citizens who are increasingly taking to micro-
mobility to get around city streets. The E-Scooter sharing market size in Riyadh is rising
fast at an annual growth rate of 5.72% between 2023 and 2027. The projected market
volume for 2027 is estimated at US$3.630.000 [82]. The user penetration is expected to be
around 0.5% in 2023. E-scooter and e-bike-sharing use and sales are accomplished
exclusively online via smart devices and applications [83].

Public transport is an indicator of paramount importance to smart mobility in a city. Riyadh

has been working hard to integrate public transport into its smart mobility system.
Alongside the conventional mode of transportation dominated by the private car, the city
has also adopted a major public transport system with 176 km metro lines coupled with a
combined 1905 km bus route network length to cover all residential neighbourhoods. A
highly developed ICT infrastructure was set up to run the system. It is worth mentioning
that the metro has a smart and safe driverless train control system and automatic
electrification. Both metro trains and buses are equipped with free on-board Wi-Fi service,
LED lighting, lower energy consumption, CCTV monitoring and a smart ticketing system
[69]. All this would contribute to smarter and interconnected modes of transport in the city.

As they run on ultra-low-sulfur fuel, the Riyadh public transport buses are thus
environmentally friendly contributing to reducing CO2 emissions and traffic congestion in
the city [69]. This is a vital characteristic of the sustainability of the smart Riyadh city.

The opinions expressed by citizens about mobility issues in their city are also used to assess
the smart mobility component. The study relied on the findings of a questionnaire survey
conducted by Smart City Index among Riyadh residents. The results show that the majority
(72.7%) of respondents consider traffic congestion as a serious issue in the city.
Consequently, a large proportion of them (60.8%) thought that public transport would be
satisfactory as it helps to some extent, circumvent the congestion problem in Riyadh [68].

The effects of smart mobility and public transportation are manifold. Not only do they
promote residential satisfaction, increase safety on the road and contribute to lower
environmental pollution, but they also ease all sorts of movement, save time, enhance
walkability and public health. They also foster smart living which will be discussed below.

5.4. Smart Living Indicators

If in many cases, smart cities have been techno-centric with a focus on the “hard” side as

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exemplified by a focus on ICT infrastructure and buildings [18,37], Riyadh smart city
however, has people at its centre by first emphasizing the “soft” side to which all the
indicators of smart living refer. These indicators are mainly the knowledge-based society,
city quality of life, higher living standards, educational attainment, continuous learning,
creative workers and innovation, social reforms and social inclusion, and public
participation. Not only has the Saudi Strategic Vision 2030 referred to all these indicators
in one way or another but it has also insisted on setting up the required cutting-edge
infrastructure by leveraging advancements in ICT and developments in IoT. Huge
investments have been made in this regard so much so that high-speed broadband coverage
has well surpassed 90% with increasing government online services [7].

The Vision document requested for Riyadh to become one of the top-ranked 100-word
smart cities that offer smart living conditions for citizens to live, work, and thrive. In this
regard, the International Institute for Administrative Development indicated that Riyadh
has attained some qualitative advancements on its "IMD" index of smart cities for the year
2020. As such, Riyadh has outperformed many well-known world-class cities such as
Tokyo, Rome, Paris and Beijing, jumping 18 places to rank fifth among G20 capitals in
smart city living. This progress would not have been possible had Riyadh City not
embraced digital transformation, data management and artificial intelligence in keeping
with Vision 2030 objectives. This accomplishment reflects the progress achieved through
the widespread use of smartphone apps and digital platforms provided by the local
government which in turn had a great impact in raising health and safety indicators for
Riyadh citizens. [84].

Although the economic shift from fossil-based to knowledge-based was first laid out in the
Eight Development Plan (2005–2009), the social and economic transformation process
gained momentum right after the promulgation of the Saudi Vision 2030 in 2016. The
Vision set up a special program to bring about social transformation to achieve smart living
which entails that city residents would enjoy higher living standards within a safe, secure
and vibrant urban environment. In this respect, the document highlighted the retrofitting of
the urban environment to be more liveable, walkable and sustainable. It should also ensure
quality of life, foster effective and transparent e-government, and promote innovative
digital infrastructure [7].

Saudi authorities have attached a special importance to the capital city of Riyadh. They
have made clear that the knowledge-based economy and society coupled with state-of-the-
art ICT infrastructure will be the cornerstone for the city's future development (MEP, 2010).
For that, smartness, quality of life and sustainability were key issues that have to be met
along with effective widespread e-government and expanding government online services.
A recent report by Datareportal mentions that the internet penetration rate in Saudi Arabia
stood at 99.0 per cent which is slightly better than that of Northern Europe (97.4%) [85].
As a result, many government services are provided online through e-government portals.

Educational attainment and higher education institutions are other indicators to measure
city-smart living. Being the capital city, Riyadh has the largest proportion of residents with
higher educational attainment. It has also many public and private universities and research
institutions. All these institutions foster the formation of knowledge workers and increase
the share of the creative class within the urban community.

Quality of life is another indicator to evaluate smart living. Many programs have been
established in recent years for Riyadh to boost its quality of life and by the same token, to
get a higher rank in the top 100 world-class cities as stated in Vision 2030. For that matter,
it was decided to make Riyadh a smart city [86], and the city municipality has managed to
procure a larger share of the $500 billion allocated to 285 municipalities in the country to
achieve this goal by integrating smartness in both the “hard” and “soft”

domains of the city [87]. The hard domain consists of developing the ICT infrastructure to
run smart buildings, smart mobility, and smart management of energy, water and waste [2].
Whereas the soft domain involves the making of an urban environment of quality where
 Tahar Abdulhamid Ledraa et al. 1031

the creative class would appreciate living in the city and also where the knowledge society
would thrive through continuous learning, good governance, and the development of arts
and culture [1,22]. This would improve city management and attract investments to create
job opportunities while improving the city environment [87,88].

Riyadh is also developing local knowledge-based clusters and financial districts such as
Riyadh Knowledge City (RKC), Riyadh Techno Valley (RTV) and King Abdullah
Financial District (KAFD), to foster the knowledge-based society and concomitantly
enhance smart living [89,90]. Needless to say, these projects constitute the building block
of smart city-making and hence, smart living. As such, huge investments are required to
develop cutting-edge ICT infrastructure. For this reason, the Saudi ICT market invested
$24.62 billion in 2022 and the amount is expected to increase up to $195.96 billion by 2027
[91].

Smart living involves healthier living as well. For that, the National Energy Services
Company (Tarshid) in partnership with Siemens plays a vital role in creating a healthier
and cleaner environment through cutting CO2 emissions in government buildings by 4300
tons [92]. Smart living, however, does not only require healthy living and ICT
infrastructure, a pleasurable lifestyle, and green urban spaces for recreation and
entertainment are crucial elements to making cities smarter. The Green Riyadh project cited
above is set to provide city residents with the opportunity to follow a smarter lifestyle
within the confines of a cleaner healthier urban environment.

As far as entertainment festivals are concerned, Riyadh season, a state-sponsored annual

entertainment and sports festival, is one of the largest winter entertainment events usually
running from October to March. The 2022 event has attracted more than 7 million visitors
of all ages in less than two months [93]. Through these events and projects, Riyadh Smart
City organizes activities and events that celebrate life and nature, and promote art and local
cultural heritage as is the case with the Diriyah Gate Project [94]. Social inclusion is an
indicator of smart living. The Smart City Index survey conducted in Riyadh found that
68.6% of its citizens support the claim that minorities feel welcome in the city [68].

5.5. Smart People Indicators

Smart people are another component of smart cities. The indicators measuring smart people
revolve basically around human capital building, achieving social transformation and,
increasing the living standards of residents. To that end, Riyadh is undertaking a
conspicuous change particularly as policies stemming from the Human Capital
Development Vision Realization Program are put into play. This is only one of thirteen
programs set to address reforms to boost human capital and improve educational attainment
as advocated by the Saudi Vision 2030. As a result, important progress has been made on
the United Nations human development index (HDI) which improved from 0.583 in 1980
to 0.875 in 2021 on a scale ranging from 0 to 1 [95]. Similarly, the Institute for Management
and Development (IMD) assigned Riyadh to group 1 among countries with the highest HDI
quartile with BB ‘rating scale’ in 2023. This constitutes a rise from its previous B rating in
2021. Concurrently, Riyadh smart city rating has improved from 39 to 30 between 2021
and 2023 [68].

In line with the Vision 2030 recommendations, Riyadh accounts for the largest
share of university students enrolled in 250 study programs offered by 16 universities. That
is 28.3% of the total number of higher educational institutions in the country [96].
Consequently, the innovation index developed by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the
WIPO, has increased from 30.90 in 2020 to 33.40 in 2022 on a measurement scale of 0 to
100 [97]. Educational attainment is a vital indicator of the smart people component. In its
2023 report, the smart city index indicates that the expected years of schooling in Riyadh
have increased from 15.7 to 16.1 between 2018 and 2021 [68].

The Gross National Income (GNI) per capita is often used as a good indicator of
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1032 The Strategic Vision 2030 As A Catalyst For Riyadh Smart City Making

smart people's well-being, living standards and the average level of education per person.
In this regard, Riyadh has seen its GNI per capita in purchasing power parity increase from
$5.072 in 2018 to $5.745 in 2021 [68].

Establishing a knowledge-based society and the creative class are the building
blocks of smart people and, by the same token, smart cities. Accordingly, KSU has
launched two main promising projects to pave the way to the process of making Riyadh a
smart city. These are a knowledge hub to foster a knowledge-based society known as
Riyadh Knowledge Corridor (RKC) and a science and technology park known as Riyadh
Techno Valley (RTV) [97,98,89,90]. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology
(KACST), King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) and the City of Information and
Communication Technology (CICT) are other projects to work for similar objectives.

The compounded indicator of health and safety is also used to assess the smart people
component. In its Riyadh survey, the Smart City Index found that 84.9% of respondents
declared that basic sanitation meets the needs of the poorest areas 81.4% found medical
services provision satisfactory and 72.2% of them thought that recycling services are
suitable. A great majority of respondents (88.2%) thought that online arrangements of
medical appointments have improved access to health services. About half of the
respondents (49.4%) said that public safety is not a problem in Riyadh while 81.1% thought
that CCTV cameras managed to make people feel safer. About 64% seem to find the city’s
air pollution to constitute a serious problem. 56.3% found housing affordability not to be
an issue at all [62].

Online security is another measure of smart people. Here again, the Global Cybersecurity
Index revealed that Saudi Arabia has made a strong leap moving up 11 places within two
years to be ranked second in the world by 2020. [99].

As far as recreational and cultural activities are concerned, the survey that Smart City has
conducted, revealed that a majority of respondents were satisfied with green spaces
provided, and also with cultural activities like shows and museums with a percentage of
69.2% and 77.2% respectively. For that, 84.6% of respondents found that online purchasing
of tickets has eased attendance at cultural and artistic events [68].

Not only basic education is provided to all children, but most of them have access to good
schools as declared by 78.6% of citizens who participated in the survey. 74.1% of them
think that IT skills are taught well in schools which is a vital qualification that the new job
market requires desperately. Lifelong continuous learning is an important characteristic of
knowledge-based societies which is also crucial to smart cities. Local institutions in Riyadh
tend to provide this lifelong learning to its citizens as declared by 72.8% of respondents
[68].

5.6. Smart Governance Indicators

Concerning smart governance as a smart city component, its indicators are government
efficiency, e-government services, accountability, responsiveness, and transparency
(ART), red light sensors at intersections, social transformation program, Accessibility to
information on local government decisions, Corruption of city officials, citizen
participation, public-private partnership program (SHAREEK), Residents contribution to
decision making of local government, Residents’ provision of feedback on local
government projects.

Aligned with Saudi Vision 2030, electronic government or E-government is now widely
used in Riyadh. The widespread use of smart devices and the advancement of ICT
applications have led to ensuring efficiency, transparency and participation in performing
government functions and providing all sorts of public services. To develop good
governance, many applications are now in use to fulfil a wide array of public services
ranging from filing complaints to business registration, child school enrollment, auto
registry, building permits, real estate development, and many more services.
 Tahar Abdulhamid Ledraa et al. 1033

To boost such smart governance services and internet-based facilities, the Saudi Data and
Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) upgraded the "Tawakkalna Services" application
to provide well over 241 with seamless and enhanced service delivery to beneficiaries to
improve citizens' quality of life in the city. The provided services include health, education,
transport, public services, entertainment events, and many other services [100].

Government efficiency as a measure of smart governance, was assessed by the extent to

which government policies were effective in improving city competitiveness. As a result of
this efficiency, Riyadh has managed to progress 11 places on the competitiveness index
from 24th to 11th position within just two years (2021-2023) [63].

Concerning accountability, responsiveness, and transparency (ART) as indicators

to Riyadh smart governance, the municipality has developed an electronic services portal
named “Madinaty” (my city), to allow citizens to inquire about different government
measures and activities. The “Madinaty” portal contains more than 24 services to cater for
the needs of city residents and visitors. The electronic services provided range from
building, construction and excavation permits, to commercial activity licenses and
investment services, booking appointments with officials, filing reports or complaints,
searching for parks and events and the like. A specialized team deals with all filed
complaints about all sorts of municipality services and a response must be provided within
5 days or less. Such a portal helps deliver public services efficiently and effectively [101].

Similarly, all government agencies and offices use applications to accomplish all
the required services online. For instance, the Ministry of Interior services like issuing and
renewing passports or delivering birth and death certificates are made online through
ABSHER applications. The Ministry of Education developed (NOOR) applications to
provide all services related to schooling, or following students’ performance in class and
the like.

Not only do these electronic services portals enhance smart governance through
the provision of speedy and efficient services but they also allow citizens to get involved
in city affairs and give feedback about service delivery and government decision-making.
More precisely, Riyadh municipality has developed an e-participation (TAFAUL) platform
to enhance citizen participation to have a say in city matters and promote collaboration with
beneficiaries or even raise complaints to appropriate government entities.

In the context of a highly centralized governance system with a primarily top-down

planning approach, public participation was not a priority in the planning agenda. This was
confirmed in a report issued by the Ministry of Municipality and Rural Affairs (MOMRA)
which revealed the limited citizen participation in city planning. However, in compliance
with Vision 2030 objectives, Riyadh has adopted a new way of governance where
electronic government, transparency, public participation, urban entrepreneurship and
public-private sectors partnership reinforcement program (SHAREEK) [102] are key
elements in the process of Riyadh smart city making. This is a clear indication that in the
case of Riyadh, the “soft” side has priority over the “hard” side in smart city making. The
“Shareek” program could pave the way towards a bottom-up approach intertwined with a
top-down one for an effective implementation of Riyadh smart city. Joining these
seemingly inconsistent approaches in smart city implementation has also been suggested
by other researchers like Breuer et al. [103], Capdevila and Zarlenga [104] and Doheim et
al. [105].

This new approach towards more public involvement in city affairs has been
corroborated by a recent questionnaire survey conducted in Riyadh by the Smart City Index
in 2023. The questionnaire results revealed that 60.7% of respondents declared that
residents contribute to the decision-making of local government and 63% of them give
feedback on government projects. As a result of such involvement, 82.7% of respondents
confirmed that they have easy access to information on local government decisions which
may

enhance public participation made a lot easier because of online platforms allowing
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1034 The Strategic Vision 2030 As A Catalyst For Riyadh Smart City Making

residents to propose ideas to improve city life according to 76.8% of citizens participating
in the survey. This public participation will increase even more if online voting is provided
as avowed by 73.3% of respondents [68].

6. Conclusions

Being the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh has immense potential to make giant jumps
towards becoming a smart city. As a major economic hub in the region, a thriving business
sector, a high GDP per capita and above all, supportive government policies make it a prime
candidate for smart city transformation. However, the prime asset for Riyadh is not its
cutting-edge technological infrastructure, but its growing young and tech-savvy population,
well-equipped to embrace and utilize smart technologies, which is essential for the success
of smart city initiatives.

The Strategic Vision 2030 insists on building human capital and improving the quality of
life in the city. It is precisely for this reason that, in its journey to becoming smart, Riyadh's
focus was more on the soft rather than the hard domain of smart city making. The Vision
has set up a comprehensive smart city strategy that outlines the goals, objectives, and key
policies and initiatives necessary for the process of Riyadh's smart city-making to succeed.

The already existing strong infrastructure, well-developed transportation network, modern

public transport and metro system, and advanced telecommunications and high-speed
internet coverage play a crucial role in the successful implementation of smart city mobility
while using cutting-edge technologies to provide efficient and sustainable transportation
solutions to reduce carbon footprint and preserve the environment.

City planners tend to be inclined towards smart digital technologies to come to grips with
urban issues like the staggering rate of urbanization, the influx of urban dwellers and their
increasing demands for access to urban services and resources, and the critical issues related
to climate change and environmental pollution. However, Riyadh appears to have realized
that the “hard” side alone, like smart buildings, ICT infrastructure, and smart devices,
would not be enough to tackle these challenges and achieve a successful process in smart
city making. A Strategic Vision with strong political will from higher authorities is required
to support this objective. Many programs, initiatives and policies were set to foster the
“soft” side as expressed in social and economic transformations to accomplish the smart
city components that are smart economy, smart environment, smart mobility, smart living,
smart people and smart governance. The measurement indicators cited above lend support
to the preeminence of the “soft” over the “hard” domain for a successful process in smart
city making at least as is shown in the case of Riyadh.

Based on the above analysis and findings, the following recommendations can be suggested
for Riyadh to successfully transition into a smart city:

Riyadh should prioritize the development of educational infrastructure to promote its

human capital assets and improve the skills and qualifications of its tech-savvy young
population to support the implementation of smart city technologies. This includes
investing in educational systems, high-speed internet connectivity, and improving the
availability and accessibility to continuous learning and skills training and upgrading.

It is important for a smart city relying on Internet technology and data-driven solutions to
implement strict data protection regulations, encryption protocols, and regular security
audits to establish strong data privacy and security measures. The personal information of
citizens must be protected and the integrity of data collected and used in smart city
initiatives needs to be secured.

It is also crucial to ensure citizen engagement and public participation in the process of
Riyadh's smart city-making through their involvement in discussions and shaping of smart
agenda. This can be achieved through increased digital online platforms and

mobile applications to report issues and complaints, provide feedback about city
 Tahar Abdulhamid Ledraa et al. 1035

management and engage in discussions regarding city matters.

Advancement in ICTs, development of IoTs and progress in application platforms not only
help improve service provision but also contribute to raising transparency and
accountability, boosting public participation, enhancing smart governance and fostering the
process of social transformation that has been put in place as stated in the Vision Document.

It is also crucial to foster partnerships and collaborations with all stakeholders from all
backgrounds (all sorts of organizations and NGOs, technology companies, academic
institutions, business groups, etc.) to leverage their expertise and accumulated knowledge
for effective management and efficient implementation of smart city initiatives.

Although cutting-edge technological infrastructure and developed IoT are necessary they
are not sufficient to achieve a smart city. It is important to promote radical socioeconomic
change, human capital building, good governance and public participation where top-down
and bottom-up approaches in decision-making are blended to provide the bedrock for a set
of policies to get the process of a smart city becoming off the ground.

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