by / Muhammad Abdulaziz Al-Sufyan

The acceleration of urban transformation, the revolution in technical information, and the increase in population growth in the cities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia prompted the government to think about establishing smart cities in order to consolidate the concept of a smart city, which began to spread rapidly around the world practically in many cities in the world, especially the densely populated cities, where these meet Cities are the needs of current and future generations in terms of economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects, and social welfare indicators are applied in them in terms of availability of big data analysis, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, 5G networks, innovation and sustainability in them.

The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 has laid down a plan to transform the Kingdom’s cities into smart cities by achieving the goals of the National Transformation Program in the field of digital transformation, as the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing announced the selection of 5 Saudi cities to start transforming them into smart during the coming period, namely: Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Madinah, Riyadh , Jeddah, and the metropolis of Dammam, given that it has many features such as infrastructure, availability of services and readiness through urban planning, in addition to the availability of information technology, communications and the Internet.

Standards have been set whereby smart cities are distinguished by their focus on people and their ability to respond to changing economic, cultural and social conditions, unlike traditional cities.

In addition to striving to provide an environmentally friendly digital environment that stimulates learning and creativity that contributes to providing a sustainable environment that promotes a sense of happiness and health, which will positively reflect on the needs of current and future generations. Therefore, the smart cities that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seeks to establish depends on the smart economy, smart people who represent human and social capital, transparency and smart participation in decisions, smart transportation based on modern technology, a smart environment, and a smart life that is concerned with health conditions, the safety of the individual and the enjoyment of educational facilities. Good housing and social bonding.

The government of Saudi Arabia sought entry

In the world of smart cities, where it began to equip the infrastructure and create a complete system to manage all city facilities and services through smart and interconnected electronic systems.

As this ambitious project comes within the ambitious aspirations of the Kingdom’s 2030 vision, which seeks to diversify the Kingdom’s economic base without relying on oil as a major resource for the state, as it will depend on economic projects that include advanced manufacturing using artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, and vital and advanced technologies in the field of Security and advanced logistics services, providing advanced health care services, converting government services to electronic, activating the data economy, finding smart solutions such as smart transportation systems, smart energy, or what is known as renewable clean energy such as wind and solar energy, as well as cybersecurity, smart parking, Internet of things solutions, smart education and healthcare Smart and artificial intelligence

The Kingdom also seeks to enhance the concept of quality of life in smart cities through the use of technologies and smart data as a means to solve the challenges of sustainability in Saudi cities that are currently developing, by using data and technology to improve transportation, energy use, health and air quality, or to drive economic growth.

Therefore, cities are centers of innovation and creativity, but they also face great challenges such as rapid urbanization, climate change and increasing pressure on city services such as transportation and health care. To face challenges and take advantage of opportunities, cities are encouraged to become smart cities, which is what the Kingdom has done during the last period through the implementation of Many important projects in many fields, such as the Riyadh Metro project, the economic cities projects, and the conversion of many government services to electronic, in addition to the projects of NEOM, The Line and the Red Sea, which mainly rely on artificial intelligence, in addition to the Kingdom’s orientation towards smart transportation through the expansion of the use of cars. Electricity and build economic partnerships there with major manufacturers and establish stations to charge electric power, which is what the Public Investment Fund is working on by diversifying investments in this field.

In conclusion, the Saudi government intends and seeks to implement the quality of life program and achieve citizen welfare by establishing smart cities, operating and empowering people from them.