Introduction
Smart cities are an approach to development that integrates many modern technologies, especially information and communications technologies. They aim to serve urban development that is modern, more flexible, and suitable for the requirements of economic growth in a digital world.
Many countries worldwide are rushing to adopt this approach in various ways, including developing the existing urban environment while building new ones. The smart cities approach promises to provide more sustainable urban environments by using modern technologies to manage the daily operations of the facilities and services of these environments and relying on clean energy sources.
Smart cities as a development option are not exclusively related to employing technological development to serve economic and social development but rather reflect a strategic orientation to the priorities and objectives of this development. This orientation significantly affects the future of people whose governments focus on smart cities as a strategic option.
Not all of these effects are positive; indeed, some may be negative enough to reconsider the priority given to smart cities as a developmental option compared to other alternatives. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the nature of smart cities and the expected impacts of making them a strategic development choice for people’s future.
On the other hand, the smart cities option sounds more technologically developmental than it is for real. The global trend towards transforming existing cities into smart cities and building new ones reflects political and security orientations on a global and local scale.
In addition, different countries’ approaches and strategies regarding smart cities vary greatly depending on their circumstances. These countries also differ in their readiness to adopt smart cities as a developmental priority. Therefore, the expected impact of this option on people’s futures in these countries varies.
This paper aims to provide a balanced vision, based on the available information, of the ambitious Egyptian program for smart cities, which is progressing rapidly. The paper discusses the approach of smart cities as a strategic option in the Egyptian context and presents the governing approaches to this option.
The paper also highlights the Egyptian smart cities program’s objectives and associated visions. It then outlines the main features of the current evolution of this program. Furthermore, the paper reviews partnerships used by the Egyptian government in planning and implementing projects within a program, focusing on how the nature of these partnerships impacts the program and its developmental goals. Finally, the paper discusses the most important precautions that should be considered to balance between the expected positive effects and the potential negative impacts of this program.
Smart Cities as Strategic Option
The ongoing urban expansion necessitates new approaches to managing the increasingly complex urban infrastructure. These approaches should achieve several objectives, including enhancing functional efficiency, reducing costs, and improving the quality of life to enhance economic performance while preserving the environment.
Smart cities represent a promising option for achieving this challenging equation. Smart cities are an integrative solution that relies on the integration of various modern technologies working together cohesively, taking into account the diverse needs imposed by urban expansion in the digital age.
Since 2016, Egypt has embarked on an ambitious project to build numerous smart cities. The number of planned cities for construction has increased from 17 cities to 38 cities, with a total estimated area of approximately 530,000 acres.
This clearly reflects that the tendency towards smart cities is a key strategic choice in the government’s visions for the future of economic and social development in Egypt. Two main approaches govern this strategic orientation towards building new smart cities in Egypt: the developmental approach and the security approach. The paper discusses each of these approaches in the following sections, in addition to the desired objectives from them.
The Developmental Approach
The developmental approach to smart cities involves balancing economic growth with achieving sustainable development goals and mitigating environmental degradation. The following points outline the various aspects of the developmental role of smart cities.
Development of Modern Urban Environments
Smart cities promise to construct urban environments that provide a better quality of life for their inhabitants. This means that relying on the latest technologies in the stages of urban planning, design, construction, and management of facilities and services enables the creation of high-quality urban environments that allows for the preservation and enhancement of this quality over time.
Among the technologies proposed for use in smart city projects in Egypt is Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. Utilizing this technology in the planning, design, and implementation stages ensures urban environments of a higher level of functionality, with optimal utilization of resources and consideration of environmental preservation factors. This helps in creating more sustainable urban environments and provides better opportunities for economic and social development.
Digital Governance and ICT Infrastructure Development
The concept of digital governance, or smart governance, entails digitizing governmental services and operations to enhance their performance and improve citizens’ access to them. The concept of digital governance is closely linked to the strategy of expanding smart cities, as this strategy relies on the development of communications infrastructure and information technology, which in turn are essential prerequisites for achieving digital governance.
This means that smart cities will have the communications and information technology infrastructure available from day one, allowing governmental services to be managed through digital governance. This facilitates citizens’ access and enhances efficiency.
Modern Transportation Systems and Smart Traffic Management
The transportation systems for goods and passengers, or transportation sector, are fraught with crises and chronic problems in the Egyptian reality. Most of these problems stem from the deterioration of the infrastructure in this sector and the lack of sufficient investments to keep up with the increasing pressure on it. This pressure results from population growth and the expansion of urban areas, foremost among them is Cairo.
The concept of smart cities encompasses a fundamental aspect related to the use of communications and information technologies, as well as advancements in other fields, to modernize transportation means and systems. This aims to achieve higher functional efficiency while ensuring greater control and management over traffic, tailored to the complexities arising from population growth and urban expansion.
Smart city projects in Egypt are supported by a number of projects to modernize the Egyptian transportation network in general. However, these projects prioritize connecting smart cities to other urban communities, facilitating access to them. These projects aim to utilize modern alternatives that rely on clean energy sources and emit lower levels of environmentally harmful emissions; foremost among them are various carbon compounds.
The Electric Rail Project
The transportation network upgrade projects in Egypt include the electric rail project in East Cairo. This project represents the first route between Cairo and the new administrative capital. The new electric train is Egypt’s first light rail train and the latest model of previous tram lines. These train lines are distinguished by their closed tracks, so regular road intersections do not disrupt their movement.
The project plan, which is supervised by the National Authority for Tunnels, includes the implementation of a 90-kilometer electric train line in three stages. The first and second stages comprise 12 stations and extend over 70 kilometers, while the third stage includes four stations and spans 20 kilometers. The electric train is characterized by a high passenger capacity of 60,000 passengers per hour in each direction. Additionally, its speed reaches 120 kilometers per hour, meaning that the journey from Cairo to the new administrative capital takes approximately 50 minutes.
The cost of the electric train project is approximately 35 billion Egyptian pounds. Seven Egyptian construction companies are involved in the project, undertaking civil construction works, including the train’s bridges.
The Chinese company AVIC International Holding Corporation (AVIC INTL) oversees the manufacturing of trains that will operate on the line, with an initial quantity of 22 trains. The company also undertakes train maintenance and provides spare parts, and the value of the Chinese company’s contract amounts to about one billion and 500 million dollars. Finally, a French company, RATP DEV, is responsible for the management and operation of the electric train line, with a contract value of one billion and 183 million euros.
The Monorail Project
In addition to the electric train, modern transportation projects connecting smart cities to the old urban communities include the monorail project. According to press reports, the Egyptian government aims to implement two monorail projects. One of the two lines connects the New Administrative Capital with Cairo, including two stages, the first with a length of 45 km, and the other with a length of 11.5 km. This project includes the construction of 21 stations. The second monorail project connects 6th of October City to the Mohandiseen district in Greater Cairo. Its length is 42 km and includes the construction of 10 stations.
The monorail uses electricity as a power source and is therefore environmentally friendly. Press reports claim that the monorail costs less than the subway. This may be true in the case of subway lines that need to penetrate dense residential areas; however, it is not true in open areas. There has also been controversy regarding the cost of monorail projects in Egypt, with claims that they are higher than similar projects worldwide. The Egyptian government has denied this, stating that the total cost of the project is approximately 2.2 billion euros.
The Egyptian government contracted with a consortium of three companies to undertake the design and implementation work for the two monorail projects. This includes a 30-year project management contract with a usufruct system. The consortium includes the Canadian company Bombardier, responsible for building signaling and communication systems as well as supplying trains, along with the Egyptian construction companies Arab Contractors and Orascom, which are responsible for the civil construction works of the project. Additionally, the National Authority for Tunnels has contracted with a consortium of two companies, namely Hill International and HJI group from the United States, to provide consultancy services and oversee the implementation stages of the project.
The High-Speed Electric Rail Project
Finally, as part of the Egyptian Smart Cities Program, modern transportation network projects include the construction of the high-speed electric train. The project consists of a regional train network, which is considered the longest electrified railway in the Middle East and Africa. The total length of the proposed lines to be implemented is 2000 kilometers. The project aims to connect 60 cities with trains reaching speeds of up to 230 kilometers per hour, serving millions of citizens daily. The project includes a total of 60 stations, including 22 stations for the high-speed train and 38 stations for regional trains.
The project includes a line connecting the city of Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea coast to the cities of Alexandria, New Alamein, and Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean coast, with a length of 660 kilometers. The second line is approximately 1100 kilometers long, extending from Cairo northwards to the city of Abu Simbel in southern Egypt, passing through the cities of Luxor and Aswan. Finally, the length of the third line is about 225 km, extending from the city of Qena in Upper Egypt to the city of Safaga, passing through the city of Hurghada on the Red Sea coast. The project includes running three types of trains: express at a speed of 250 km/h, regional at a speed of 160 km/h, and goods’ freight tractors at a speed of 120 km/h.
The project is being executed by a consortium consisting of Siemens AG from Germany, which has announced it as the largest project in its history, along with Arab Contractors and Orascom Construction from Egypt. Siemens is responsible for implementing the project’s systems, including signaling, communications, and control systems, as well as manufacturing and supplying the trains for the project lines. The two Egyptian companies are responsible for the civil construction works. The contract with the consortium includes providing maintenance services for 15 years starting from the planned project completion date in 2025.
Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is a very broad concept. The United Nations worked to support countries’ adoption of this concept and work to implement it through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was approved by all member states in 2015.
Despite media propagation of smart cities as a sustainable option, studies that addressed this relationship are limited. The findings of these studies indicate that implementing smart city projects responsibly can contribute to achieving sustainable development goals. These studies have so far encompassed areas such as sustainable urban and community goals, responsible consumption and production, cost-effective and clean energy, as well as clean water and sewage.
The discourse surrounding Egypt’s smart cities program frequently emphasizes sustainable development goals. Factual references in this discourse are almost exclusively limited to clean energy use, with limited references to garbage recycling.
Reducing Management and Operating Costs
The smart city approach is distinguished by leveraging information technology solutions that enable reducing the operational and administrative costs of city facilities compared to traditional methods. This is primarily due to the capabilities provided for collecting and analyzing data across all relevant activities within unified control centers. This reduces resource wastage resulting from inefficiencies and lack of information.
There are no clear indications in the data released by official entities or private sector companies associated with the Egyptian Smart Cities program regarding the extent of the program’s focus on reducing management and operational costs. However, there are signals pointing to centralized control and management systems, particularly concerning communications infrastructure and transportation systems. However, it cannot be ascertained to what extent the use of control and management centers extends to traditional facilities such as water supply, electricity, and sewage.
Green Development and Smart Energy Solutions
The term “green development” is repeated in statements and media reports about the Egyptian Smart Cities program. According to these reports, this term entails providing more green and open spaces, with the per capita share reaching 15 square meters, for example. There are also indications of modern solutions for waste recycling.
However, the most discussed factor is reliance on clean energy sources and smart energy solutions. Yet, these indications lack clear details, making it difficult to assess whether smart city projects in Egypt adopt a comprehensive approach covering all aspects of green development and smart energy solutions. This approach includes aspects beyond providing green spaces, waste recycling solutions, and clean energy use.
Most of the indications place the focus on using electrical energy to operate modern transportation systems, without mentioning that the cleanliness of electrical energy depends on its generation methods. Electrical energy can be clean and sustainable, such as hydroelectric and wind power, or polluting and unsustainable, such as power plants that rely on coal, petroleum, and gas. It’s worth noting that the majority of electricity generation sources in Egypt currently rely on the latter.
Security Approach
The concept of smart cities generally involves an important security aspect. This aspect concerns responding to the security requirements of large, densely populated cities using advanced technological infrastructure. For Egypt, the various features of this approach are key to smart cities as a strategic option. Below, the paper discusses the most important features of the security approach in the context of smart cities in Egypt.
Exiting the Old Urban Fabric
The urban fabric of Egypt’s ancient cities, especially its capital, Cairo, combines different features. These features reflect its historical development, some of which date back to the Middle Ages and perhaps ancient times as well.
Many of these city areas were not planned at all but rather grew organically, reflecting the prevailing culture at the time of their creation and throughout the following centuries. The pre-planned areas were affected in one way or another by the older fabric and underwent various developments that led to a decline in the level of urbanization there.
All of this poses security challenges related to the difficulties of movement through the dense urban fabric, and difficulties in using modern surveillance methods. Therefore, exiting from the old urban fabric, meaning providing alternatives that are not affected by its problems, is a key solution to enhancing security capabilities in controlling movement and exercising effective surveillance.
Integrated Security Systems
Integrated Security Systems ISS refers to a comprehensive, interconnected network of diverse security components that work together to provide a cohesive and unified approach to security management. This approach relies on the use of modern communications and information technologies, foremost among is artificial intelligence technology.
The Egyptian smart cities program includes the use of integrated security systems. In 2019, a press release was published announcing the Administrative Capital Real Estate Development Company’s contract with the American company Honeywell. Under this agreement, the American company will provide the New Administrative Capital with integrated security systems that use the latest available technologies. This includes monitoring systems spread throughout the city, integrated into a single control point (the Integrated Command and Control Center ICCC).
Surveillance Potentials
Communications and information technologies offer unprecedented possibilities for monitoring public spaces for security purposes. This is in addition to increasing the capabilities of surveillance by using video cameras. These technologies also include the use of the Internet of Things to connect sensors and motion detectors to integrated control centers.
Video surveillance integrates with video management systems and footage records from different spaces. This allows video data to be analyzed in real-time or reviewed later for investigative purposes. Video data analysis includes the use of artificial intelligence technologies, such as facial recognition technology, identification detection through motion characteristics, and others.
The construction plan for the New Administrative Capital includes the deployment of 6,000 surveillance cameras in all public spaces in the city. The plan also includes the use of intrusion detection systems, motion detectors, and alarms to detect unauthorized entry or suspicious activities.
Traffic Control
Controlling movement to and from cities and vital facilities within them represents one of the most significant security challenges in modern cities. Smart city solutions provide capabilities that allow for easier and more efficient handling of these challenges; foremost among them is access control systems.
Access control systems regulate both entry to and exit from areas and facilities that require security. This is achieved using technologies such as access cards, biometric scanners, and PIN codes. Integrating access control with other security systems enables better monitoring of checkpoints and enhanced control over them.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a very important aspect of smart city projects in general. In addition to the fact that it has become a major concern in today’s digital world, the heavy reliance of smart city projects on communication and information technologies constitutes an additional factor in the importance of Cybersecurity.
Smart cities are based on an extended and complex information infrastructure that depends on the integration of the work of different information systems. Hence, life in smart cities depends greatly on these information systems. This means that the exposure of its information systems to hacking may lead to them stopping their work or being misused, which could have catastrophic results. Therefore, protecting these systems is a critical priority.
Goals and Ambitions
Smart city projects in Egypt represent a highly active area in terms of the extensive discourse from various stakeholders involved, particularly the Egyptian government. The volume of published materials about these projects reflects the government’s prioritization of this program, the recognition of its significance by Egyptian and foreign private sector entities, and the vast investment potential it presents.
On the other hand, this discourse reflects the aspects that interest these parties and the actual orientations shaped by the various interests of each. These orientations are expected to influence the actual development and implementation of smart city projects in Egypt in the foreseeable future.
Assumed Goals
Egypt State Information Service published a report on the Smart Cities program in 2018 titled “Fourth Generation Cities: Smart Communities in Egypt“. The title illustrates the Egyptian authorities’ keenness to present the Smart Cities project as an extension and completion of the urban expansion strategy based on building new cities, which started in Egypt in the latter half of the 20th century.
The term “fourth generation” refers to three previous stages of this strategy, encompassing approximately 30 new cities. These cities are categorized into first-generation cities such as Tenth of Ramadan, Sixth of October, and Sadat City, second-generation and third-generation cities such as Al Obour, Badr, and Sheikh Zayed.
Various media sources praise the assumed goals of smart cities project for driving economic and social development forward. These goals include developing advanced infrastructure to attract investment, creating more job opportunities, and providing urban environments that enhance living standards with higher quality facilities and efficiently managed services. Additionally, many reports indicate that the smart cities program is part of Egypt’s commitment to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals agenda.
Announced Plans and Targeted Projects
The concept of smart cities appeared in Egypt for the first time in 2008 within the framework of the real estate development sector. Several Egyptian companies operating in this highly competitive sector sought to provide solutions based on providing advanced digital infrastructure as a competitive advantage for their products offered in the real estate market in Egypt.
The State Smart Cities Program in Egypt began in 2016 and initially aimed to construct 17 smart cities. However, the program has witnessed remarkable growth in recent years, with the number of planned cities exceeding forty, according to statements of officials and businessmen connected to the program.
Published figures vary on the number of cities and their details. While press reports indicate that the implementation of 17 cities has begun as a first phase, statements by the Assistant Minister of Housing indicate that work has already begun to establish 30 cities. The Smart Cities Program also includes projects for infrastructure and transportation systems, which were previously mentioned in detail in earlier sections of the paper.
Local and International Partnership Options
The local and international bodies chosen by the Egyptian government to design, develop, and build smart cities are a major indicator of the government’s directions and perceptions of the goals and role of these cities. This choice also reflects the type of expertise and capabilities that the government considers a priority in this field.
Most Prominent Local Partners
The most prominent partners of the Egyptian private sector in Smart Cities Program projects are major construction sector companies in Egypt, such as the state-owned Arab Contractors Company, Orascom Company, Hassan Allam Sons Company, and Talaat Mostafa Company.
It is worth noting that the companies participating in the Smart Cities Program are mostly traditional contracting companies, and there are no companies specializing in the communications and information technology sector among them. Therefore, its participation in projects related to smart cities comes through alliances with specialized foreign companies that provide the expertise, equipment, and technical equipment necessary to integrate modern technology into these projects.
This partnership between local and foreign companies does not involve the transfer of expertise in technology-intensive projects due to the difference in specializations between the two parties. Perhaps it would have been preferable to push some Egyptian companies specialized in the communications and information technology sector to play a role in these alliances, which would allow the transfer of specialized knowledge and the development of local competencies.
Foreign Partners
China’s participation as a country, through many of its major companies, in projects related to the Egyptian smart cities program stands out for two important reasons. The first reason is that China is the only country directly involved in supporting this project. This is reflected in the fact that the largest Chinese participation is represented by a major directly state-owned company, The China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).
The second reason is that Chinese participation comes within the framework of a vision for close coordination between Egypt’s Vision 2030, which is the Egyptian strategic development framework, and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative for international development cooperation. Egypt occupies an important place in this initiative, due to its unique geographical location at the intersection of the continents of the ancient world.
The China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) is responsible for constructing the Central Business District in the new administrative capital of Egypt, which serves as the city’s central hub and one of its key districts. This neighborhood occupies an area of about 505 thousand square meters and is planned to be the hub for dozens of commercial and residential buildings, in addition to the necessary infrastructure. This neighborhood also includes one of the city’s prominent landmarks, a tower with a height of 385.8 meters. Under the supervision of the Chinese company, 16,000 Egyptian engineers and workers participated in the construction of the neighborhood, along with four thousand Chinese engineers and workers.
Huawei, the prominent Chinese company, serves as a major developmental partner in smart city projects and related infrastructure initiatives. The company enjoys a strategic partnership with the Egyptian government across various developmental programs and projects. Huawei has also formed alliances with several major construction companies in Egypt, such as its partnership with Talaat Moustafa Group to provide smart city services in Egypt. Previously, Huawei collaborated with the same company and others in the real estate development sector in Egypt to implement smart city models in projects like Madinaty and Al Rehab owned by Talaat Moustafa Group.
Besides Chinese companies, several foreign firms have secured significant contracts to implement projects related to Egypt’s smart cities program. Prominent among these companies are German Siemens and American Honeywell, in addition to others previously mentioned in the paper. The key observation regarding these companies is that most of them have longstanding close relationships with successive Egyptian governments. In other words, these companies represent enduring development partners with a strategic presence and significant influence across various development sectors in Egypt.
The Impact of Local and Foreign Partnerships
The partners, whether local or foreign, in the Egyptian Smart Cities Program, are considered permanent strategic partners of the Egyptian state in its development projects. This fact reflects the great weight of these prominent partners, which goes beyond simply monopolizing the majority of development contracts to participating in drawing up development strategies and identifying priority projects. This can be demonstrated by the rates of consultation meetings at a strategic level between representatives of the Egyptian government of the highest level and representatives of these companies. Some of these companies also organize conferences, seminars, round tables, and exhibitions to discuss the future of development in Egypt.
Since these companies aim to cater to the needs of their investors, who desire markets for their products and services, it is plausible to suspect that the selection of development options and priority projects is influenced by these interests. This raises questions about the extent to which the decisions made in the smart cities program take into account the public interest and the real needs of society.
The Current Reality of Smart Cities in Egypt
Egypt has already begun establishing several new smart cities years ago. The most prominent model is the New Administrative Capital, and New Alamein City also stands out as a famous model. But the announced number of cities that have begun construction and are planned to be established is much greater than that. This section reviews the available details about these projects and discusses what the choice of their geographical locations reflects about the targeted development orientations.
The New Administrative Capital
The New Administrative Capital is the most prominent project of the Egyptian smart city program. In addition to being the first project in this program, it is also the largest ever. The total area of the city upon completion will be approximately 180,000 acres, which is more than a third of the total area targeted for all smart cities intended to be established.
The first phase of the project covers an area of 10,000 acres, and aims to accommodate 0.5 million people in this phase. The transfer of about 40,000 to 50,000 government employees from Cairo to the new capital has already begun, and it is planned that their number will reach 100,000 employees within three years. It is also planned that the administrative capital’s capacity will reach 6.5 million people when completed.
El Alamein, El Galala, and others
Among the most prominent cities, parts of which were established, is the city of New Alamein on the Mediterranean coast. The city is located 34 km west of Alexandria and is planned to be an international tourist and cultural destination. The targeted area for the city of El Alamein is more than 48 thousand acres, the first phase of which covers 8 thousand acres. The city’s targeted capacity is two million people.
The work that has already been completed in the city includes the first phase of a drinking water desalination plant with a capacity of 100,000 cubic meters per day, for which an amount of 3 billion pounds was allocated as investments. The development of the coastal road from Alexandria to Matrouh to serve the new city also cost an amount of 320 million pounds.
The program also includes the city of Galala, which according to media reports has attracted investments of US$100 million. It is planned to be divided into three sectors with areas of 5,550 acres, 2,050 acres, and 6,900 acres.
In addition to New Alamein and Galala, there are also, for example: the cities of East Port Said and New Mansoura (5,200 acres – 680,000 people), Nasser City, west of Assiut (6,000 acres – 680,000 people), and the city of West Qena (9,000 acres).
Urban Development Pattern for Smart Cities Distribution
The non-detailed maps available for media purposes illustrate the ambition of Egypt’s smart cities program. The city projects planned under this project extend across the length and breadth of the country. It also represents the back of ancient Egyptian architecture and a duplication of the already existing cities in the Delta, Upper Egypt, and the northern coast of Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea.
It can be noted that the plan of the Egyptian smart cities project does not really deviate from the prevailing pattern of Egyptian urbanism. For thousands of years, this pattern remained almost completely confined to the Nile Valley and stretches along the Mediterranean coast mainly and the Red Sea coast to a lesser extent.
Lessons learned from Egypt’s new city experiences over the past decades indicate that establishing new cities near old cities often leads to:
- Urban extension: New cities gradually expand until they eventually integrate into the urban fabric of existing cities, creating additional pressures on infrastructure and services.
- Continuation of Dependency: New cities continue to rely on older cities for many services and facilities, increasing burdens on the older cities and complicating the challenges they face, particularly in the transportation sector.
This means that building new cities near old cities does not necessarily solve problems of congestion and overcrowding; instead, it may exacerbate them in the long run.
Infrastructure Investments
Smart cities require advanced infrastructure that goes beyond traditional needs such as water supply, electricity, and sewage networks. In addition to these basics, smart cities require infrastructure dedicated to advanced communications, data centers, digital control centers, etc.
In addition, new cities inherently require investments in transportation infrastructure to connect them with existing old cities. The smart city model tends to have these transportation systems rely on modern technology and use clean energy sources.
In general, infrastructure investments represent a larger proportion of the total investments required in smart cities compared to other traditional development approaches. This impacts both the initial investment needs of smart city programs and the rate of return on these investments.
A Critical Reading of Egypt’s Strategy for Smart Cities
Despite the positive aspects of smart cities as a promising development strategy, there are several negative aspects that must be considered. Some of these issues relate to the concept and implementation of smart cities per se, while others pertain to the Egyptian approach to this option. Both elements lead to different effects, which will be discussed in the following points.
The Impact on Human Rights
The approach of smart cities as a development option raises numerous questions and concerns regarding the protection of human rights, both for their residents and for the general citizens of the countries adopting this approach. This approach relies on integrating various modern communications and information technologies, each of which poses different human rights risks, most notably applications of artificial intelligence technology.
However, smart cities, as studies indicate, raise additional legal and human rights concerns that technology experts often overlook. These issues include equality, access to services and job opportunities, and the right to development. The paper discusses the most significant of these concerns in the Egyptian context.
Smart Cities, Surveillance and Privacy
Press reports stated that the New Administrative Capital, which is the most prominent model of the smart cities program in Egypt, will have a surveillance system consisting of 6,000 surveillance cameras distributed throughout the city and covering all public spaces there. Additionally, streetlights will serve as points for Wi-Fi networks, and electronic cards will be used for building access. These systems are fully integrated and managed through a centralized supervision and control center.
This level of surveillance and control may be justified by security needs, but it remains a source of several concerns regarding potential threats to the right to privacy. The aforementioned systems collect a huge amount of data through which people can be identified and their whereabouts determined at any time. In addition, this data can be analyzed to obtain a lot of information about people’s lifestyle and behavior.
Simply collecting such data and deriving such information about individuals represents a significant intrusion into their right to privacy. Therefore, protecting this right while achieving legitimate security objectives requires responsible handling of the data collected by these systems, ensuring that its collection does not exceed its legitimate purposes. Additionally, ensuring the safety of individuals and protecting them from criminal acts such as threats, blackmail, and others requires that all data collected by such systems be secured against the risk of unauthorized access and breaches.
Smart Cities and the Freedom of Movement
The comprehensive and continuous surveillance mentioned earlier in the previous section is in itself a factor threatening the freedom of movement for residents and visitors of smart cities. Additionally, excessive reliance on identification technologies poses an obstacle to freedom of movement.
Identity verification should not be a requirement for legitimate access to all places and facilities. This surpasses reasonable security measures, which are primarily concerned with ensuring that individuals do not pose a threat to the safety of others, a condition that does not typically necessitate identity disclosure in most cases.
This exacerbates the need to use smart cards and similar technologies to access places, potentially requiring individuals to obtain these cards even in situations where security necessity does not dictate it. This results in wasted time and effort, making the cost of accessing certain places higher than the expected benefit, thereby limiting freedom of movement.
Smart Cities and Economic and Social Rights
Development options, especially their strategic aspects, have profound effects on ensuring the economic and social rights of citizens. Balancing the interests of different segments of society, as well as ensuring fairness in distributing the benefits of development, are essential conditions that must be met in choosing development paths and during their implementation stages.
When it comes to the option of smart cities, its reliance on information and communication technologies (ICT) represents a key advantage with undeniable benefits. However, it also raises several concerns that must be carefully considered and addressed when implementing this developmental option.
One of the primary goals of any developmental option is to create more job opportunities. The more diverse these job opportunities are in terms of required skills and educational levels, the closer they are to achieving fairness. Additionally, it is essential to consider the distribution map of skills and qualifications within society to ensure equal opportunities and fair coverage of the workforce needs across different societal groups.
Smart cities heavily rely on advanced communications and information technologies to operate and manage their facilities and services efficiently. They also provide advanced infrastructure that attracts businesses interested in leveraging these technologies, thereby achieving a reasonable level of profitability relative to the high initial costs involved.
This leads to two main outcomes regarding the quantity and quality of job opportunities that smart cities can create, whether in operating their services and facilities or in attracting businesses. The first outcome is that the rate of these jobs relative to the size of investments will be lower compared to traditional alternatives. Generally, technology-intensive businesses rely less on human resources.
The second outcome is that the expected job opportunities tend to favor individuals with higher qualifications and advanced skills, especially those related to handling the latest technologies. Such a composition of expected jobs contrasts with the current composition of the workforce in Egypt, where unskilled and moderately qualified labor predominates.
This means that the vast majority of the community may have limited access to the job opportunities provided by smart cities. This may not pose a significant problem if there is a balance among multiple development options, including smart cities, and if investments, especially public investments, are distributed among these options in a way that aligns with the current composition of the workforce in Egypt.
At the same time, investing in education and training programs can increase the number of qualified individuals who can access the job opportunities offered by smart cities over time. This allows for directing more investments towards them while maintaining fairness and equal job opportunities. However, it’s worth noting that smart city programs actually receive significantly more concentrated investment compared to other development programs, especially given the severe lack of investments in economic sectors other than oil and natural gas in Egypt at the present time.
The Impact on Development Orientations and its Justice
In addition to being a developmental approach in itself, the smart city approach generally influences the pattern of development orientations in the adopting country. This impact can be positive when the vision of smart city programs is comprehensive enough to include various developmental aspects that should be addressed in parallel with progress in the program itself, ensuring that the developmental impacts are more just. The paper discusses some of the problems associated with the smart city approach in the Egyptian context.
Equality in Investment Distribution
Smart city projects require a huge amount of investment in their early stages. The state usually bears the burden of the vast majority of these investments. This is because attracting the private sector to invest in new cities in general, and smart cities in particular, requires the availability of a minimum level of infrastructure, facilities, and services that the state must provide.
For Egypt, which faces diminishing primary income resources due to various factors, reducing government investments becomes a necessity. Undertaking a large number of smart city projects simultaneously is bound to impose a significant burden on the state’s overall budget. This necessarily affects available investments in other sectors, including essential services like education and healthcare. The issue is not just about improving the quality of these essential services but also about providing necessary expansions to accommodate population growth while maintaining the current service level, which falls below what is actually required and is explicitly mandated by the Constitution.
Smart cities, as they progress in their development stages, also begin to attract domestic and foreign private sector investments at the expense of existing cities and other investment sectors. Consequently, and depending on its employment rates, they inherently disrupt the geographical and sectorial distribution of investments, whether governmental or private. This necessarily reflects on the services provided to citizens, the job opportunities available to them, and their overall livelihood. The severity of this impact increases downward on the income distribution pyramid, leading to greater hardship for lower-income segments.
The Impact on the Existing Urban Environment
Theoretically, constructing new smart cities and reducing essential spending for the development, maintenance, and repair of existing urban environments are not inherently connected. However, when government investments are limited, this link cannot be ignored.
This is especially true when the rate of work on new city projects exceeds what is necessary. Moreover, private sector investments in urban development will also gravitate towards these new smart cities because they provide an opportunity to offer competitive and attractive real estate products to high-income groups, which these investments seek to satisfy in any way.
Therefore, the lack of balance between investment rates in smart cities and investment in the development and renovation of existing urban environments can lead to an increase in the deterioration of these environments, affecting their facilities, services, and security negatively. This, in turn, impacts the quality of life and safety of their residents.
This issue extends beyond visibly deteriorated and informal urban areas. It also includes regions that were relatively better off until recently, due to the cascading impact of shifting attractiveness and value from old urban fabrics at various levels to new urban developments.
The Impact on Traditional Development Sectors
Traditional development sectors, which do not heavily rely on technology, suffer from declining investment rates. They also face a gradual withdrawal of capital, as investment shifts towards technology-dependent sectors, encouraged by the establishment of smart cities to enhance profitability.
As a result, traditional sectors not only suffer from a lack of ability to create new job opportunities, but their contraction may also lead to the loss of existing jobs. This increases the economic and social challenges facing Egypt, where many citizens depend on these sectors for making their livings.
Conclusion
The smart cities approach is considered a necessary development option in the current and future digital world. This reality underscores the importance of Egypt’s focus on adopting this approach. However, as highlighted in this paper, the Egyptian smart cities program should pay attention to numerous considerations to balance the positive and negative impacts of this developmental choice.
The rapid and massive expansion of smart city projects can exacerbate their negative impacts and preempt the growth required for some of the development needs of these new cities, reducing the expected positive impacts.This paper sought to present a balanced vision of the Egyptian smart cities program, discussing its development and security approaches, its goals and plans, and its most important projects. It also discussed the pattern of partnership between the state and the local and foreign private sector in these projects. Finally, the paper discussed the caveats of the negative effects of this project on both human rights and developmental justice in Egypt.