Caught in the midst of traffic at Lagos after attending a discussion about the electricity challenges in Nigeria, I told my driver about how smart cities would improve people’s lives. He gave me a skeptical look, which I interpreted as “will I ever see this come true…?” I read recently an article about strategies for […]
African Cities in Motion
Driving once in the middle of Lagos’ traffic hassle, I could feel the driver’s desperation. I told him about people working on the smart cities concept, and how information technology could enhance citizens’ quality of life. I felt then a rather skeptical reaction. Last week, IESE Cities in Motion Index (CIMI) was released. My colleagues […]
Smart citizens for smart cities and countries
In my post of last week on urbanization and smart cities, I quoted my colleague at IESE Business School Prof. Ricart: “in order to have smarter cities, we need smarter citizens.” I read in the newspaper about a Nigerian immigrant who found an envelope containing more than €16,000 in cash and cash-equivalents, and handed it […]
Increasing urbanization and smart cities
Urbanization is on the up. The prospect is that by 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities – for Africa, the prediction is 50 percent. The challenge is for cities to offer improved living conditions to their citizens. To this end, the concept of “smart cities” is being developed. In essence, […]