Nearly 80 percent of UAE residents say they’d be happy living in a smart city, a new survey has found.
The top three resident expectations of a smart city were environmentally friendly business practices, paperless government services, and fast, affordable, city-wide internet connectivity.
The study, titled Building the Cities of the Future, was a collaboration among Mastercard, Smart Dubai and Expo 2020 Dubai.
Elias Aad, vice president, head of strategic growth business, MENA, Mastercard.
“This study clearly highlights the importance and power of partnerships when it comes to developing smart cities and driving sustainable and inclusive growth. Consumers are clear about their expectations, and it is the responsibility of the private and public sectors to come together to build inclusive, dynamic cities,” said Elias Aad, vice president, head of strategic growth business, MENA, Mastercard.
Dubai has said it wants to become the happiest city on the planet, a goal the trio says is closely aligned with the study’s finding that 79 percent of UAE residents would be happy living in a smart city. Dubai has also been ranked as the best smart centre in the Arab world for development of creativity, innovation and delivery of new technology, according to the second edition of the Smart Centre Index.
Meera Al Shaikh, international relations and partnerships section manager, Smart Dubai.
“Over the past few years, we have raised Dubai’s profile as a smart city that meets the needs of its citizens. The quest to continue learning, knowledge contributions and collaborations is key to the development of tomorrow’s smart cities, and as a member of Mastercard’s City Possible network, we are actively engaged in sharing our experiences and taking on board global best practices,” said Meera Al Shaikh, international relations and partnerships section manager, Smart Dubai.
Sixty-seven percent respondents shared that they expect their smartphones to be the primary channel to access city services.
“Respondents cited ultra-fast mobile connections, driverless taxis, and virtual medical diagnoses from AI doctors as the most exciting innovations in the cities of the future,” a statement said.
Fifty-three percent of UAE respondents consider living in a sustainable city as the most exciting innovation in future smart cities and this increases with respondents’ age, the statement said.
Further, 54 percent of respondents expect Covid-19 to accelerate the development of smart cities, and many respondents also report that they expect habits adopted during the pandemic to change their behaviour permanently.
The top three trends expected to continue are working from home (27 percent), less cash and the preference of card, contactless and electronic payments (21 percent) and an increase in online shopping with reduced shopping trips to malls (15 percent).
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