Amongst the many things the pandemic has shown us, the most encouraging is that when faced with the need and the opportunity, South Africans have the willingness to embrace technology to restructure our present and the foresight to plan for a reimagining of the future.
Smart phones, smart-remote offices, smart homes, smart cars, smart shopping and, now, slowly and necessarily, the reshaping of South Africa’s urban centres as smart cities.
This is less science fiction than science reality, as the necessity of ensuring health and safety accelerates the digitisation of how cities operate, incorporating innovation and available technologies to rationalise operations, improve efficiency, simplify engagement and take the logistics of running a city to a higher level.
“A year ago, in February, President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke of a smart city in Gauteng and while there were many who applauded him and understood where he was coming from, there were some who felt South Africa had greater issues to concern itself with,” said Mandisa Ntloko-Petersen, Chief of Marketing at BCX.
+INFO: BusinessTech
