The three honours students, Omar Ally, Jason van Staden and Candice Visser have
recently completed their research proposals. They have presented their topics
and received feedback from a panel. The
research which they will be conducting this year is summarised below.
Omar Ally:
My research topic is ‘Smart Cities from the Perspective of Braamfontein
Youth: Results from an Importance-Performance Analysis’. The younger subgroup is being targeted for a
few reasons. Braamfontein is home to
many colleges and student residencies and as such has a large population of the
district which is young. The young
locals will be able to give innovative perspectives on what a smart city should
comprise given their day-to-day interaction with the area.
Africa
has its own background, history and culture. Consequently, to simply copy the
successful implementation of another city may not be as successful in this
context. As an ever improving district
with many change initiatives already under way, Braamfontein would be a good
place to start.
In
other smart city implementations, the characteristics of the smart city is
determined by a group such as the government or an organisation that is at the
helm of the smart city initiative. The
factors of the smart city that is developed by these groups are thrust on to
the citizens and the city itself without regard as to whether the citizens
actually want all of those factors to constitute the smart city. The citizens also have little to no say in
the addition of factors that they think may have been overlooked by the group
or that they really would like to see in their city.
The purpose of this research is to carry out
an empirical survey of young adults through the application of an
importance-performance analysis to determine the most important factors of a
smart city from the perspective of these young adults in Braamfontein. Young adults are defined as people between
the ages of 18 – 35.
Jason van Staden:
My research topic aims to uncover important influential factors in
determining a City of Johannesburg resident’s intention to use the city
website. The website platform for interaction with the government is a key
enabler of a smart city, as literature suggests many aspects of a ‘smart city’
can be facilitated, if not achieved through ‘smart interactions’ between the
government and its residents. This ‘smart interaction’ can be conveniently
achieved through the city’s website. There is however a problem that appears
from literature: that the adoption and inherently the usage of government
websites are quite low. This is primarily where my research comes in, as it
aims to uncover potential reasons for this, by testing certain factors to see
if they prove influential in describing a resident’s intention to use the City
of Johannesburg’s website. The factors will be tested by surveying residents
within the City of Johannesburg region.
My research will be able to provide valuable insight into key factors that determine a resident’s intention to use the City of Johannesburg’s website. This insight can then be translated into practice, as government authorities will have a starting point for deciding on what to focus website design and functionality, as well as emphasize market campaigns on the influential factors uncovered. This will then, potentially, increase adoption and help the city become smarter.
Candice Visser:
I will be doing an importance – performance analysis on resident
satisfaction. A large scale survey will be used to solicit
responses from City of Johannesburg (COJ) residents.
The study will focus on current City of Johannesburg services provided
within the dimensions of a smart city. The dimensions of a smart city identified
from literature are Transport and Mobility, Participation in Governance of the
City, Health and Safety, Habitat and Utilities, Entertainment/ Leisure, and
Information and Communication Technologies. The intention of the study is to
identify the service areas with the strongest correlation to satisfaction for
residents, which would then indicate the smart city service needs of residents.
The high priority service areas will hence be identified based on its
importance to residents.
By uncovering the smart city needs of residents, this study will offer assistance to the City of Johannesburg by exploring relevant smart city initiatives as it relates to the South African context.
