As hubs of human activity, interaction and connection, cities around the world have been hit hard by the impacts of COVID-19. Amidst this uncertainty the burning platform for Smart City transformation has become clearer than ever before.
Smart City digital transformation can no longer be seen as a ‘nice to have’ – COVID-19 resulted in us all experiencing different levels of isolation and a lack of connectedness. Now we've emerged from the immediate crisis, there is a unique opportunity to improve connection by embedding digital infrastructure and Smart City initiatives as part of the business-as-usual design, development, operation and maintenance of our cities.
Smart city transformation in a post-COVID world uses KPMG’s Smart City Stack framework to demonstrate how cities can build the digital infrastructure required for Smart City transformation. This framework provides a useful prism through which to consider the opportunities to accelerate Smart City transformation on the road to recovery from COVID-19.