Brian Murahwa attends workshop on digital technologies & management of urban services

The workshop on critical approaches to Smart Cities in Africa was attended by a team of interdisciplinary international researchers from France, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and South Africa who deliberated on societal implications of the use of digital technologies in the management of urban services in African cities. The five-day workshop (19-23 June 2023) acknowledged the various challenges being faced by rapid urbanisation across African cities in the fields of transport, health, education, governance, energy and water amongst others and the importance of data to improve everyday urban life. Apart from the highly structured indoor sessions, with presentations from invited guests from both the public and private organisations, the workshop also had slots for site visits. The team visited a newly established and growing ‘smart city’. Developed as one of the new urban clusters to ease congestion in Dakar and stimulate urban development, the new city of Diamniadio is now home to some of the government departments and hosts the country’s biggest data centre, Senegal Numerique. The institution (Senegal Numerique) was established with the main purpose of harnessing innovative digital technologies to enhance public services, consolidate governance, and stimulate economic growth.