Dubai Policy Review 2

Can smart cities help us achieve true sustainable development? With merely a decade to go to deliver on the 2030 agenda and the universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), digital development is seen as a forceful catalyst that can help governments close developmental gaps and accelerate progress. In particular, smart and sustainable cities are becoming microcosms of policy and governance transformation challenges we face in our drive towards achieving the SDGs. They are the juncture where the governance issues we face in addressing developmental goals intersect with the promises—and challenges—of the digital future. Additionally, they are also the arena where policy innovations and governance dilemmas emerge and interact.

How can Arab governments navigate these major double-edged transformations? More importantly, how can they do so rapidly, but safely; with agility, but also with inclusiveness that leaves no one behind? In other words, how can we deliver on the promises of smart cities, ‘digital by default’ governance, data-driven public policy, knowledge-based digital economies and artificial intelligence adoption across the governance apparatus? How can we succeed in reaching these grand goals sustainably, without causing harm to society, damaging decades-old economic models, destroying established safety nets, infringing on personal rights or causing social unrest? What types of policy instruments do we need? Which public administration tools would suit the region’s context? What governance structures would help achieve local, as well as global, objectives? Finally, what combination of skillsets and capabilities do governments need to respond to challenges faced by their populations and not others?
 
The Dubai Policy Review (DPR) is published by the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government with the aim of contributing to the advancement of future governance and public policy, through rigorous, accessible and actionable thought-leadership and practice-oriented knowledge. The journal targets the policy and government community with the objective of contributing to higher government quality, better government practice and informing future policymaking directions. The Dubai Policy Review (DPR) offers authoritative insight on future trends in public policy and government practice from global thought leaders in diverse public policy domains. These include, but are not limited to, innovation, digital transformation, social policy, economics, political science, management, leadership, wellbeing and sustainable development.

File added date:  March 2021

Published by:  MBRSG

URL: https://www.mbrsg.ae/home/research/innovation-and-future-governments/dubai-policy-review-2