How Kenya can build smart cities that change lives

A week ago, BBC published a story titled, 'What it’s like to live in the world’s smartest cities for 2025'. It featured five top cities across the globe where residents rely on cutting-edge technology and innovation to conduct their daily affairs. From self-driving buses to AI-controlled traffic lights to buildings that manage their own energy use, residents of those cities enjoy “smart living”.

In one hotel in the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area in Japan, guests automatically check themselves in and enjoy the services of robotic staff. Guests also get to enjoy “smart beds” that adjust the temperature for optimal sleep.

In San Francisco, the United States, you may not need an Uber to your next destination; a self-driving Waymo car will take you there if you have the app. And if you happen to live in Seoul, South Korea, you don’t need door keys since homes often have doors that unlock with digital codes.

Welcome to the world of smart cities, a concept that has not only become a buzzword in the built environment but one that is defining urban planning in the 21st century. In a smart city, technology and data-driven solutions are used to improve the way people live, move, and interact with the city around them.

Smart cities are characterised by safer streets, cleaner environments, and efficient services – all powered by data and digital systems. To realise this, effort is made to ensure everything is people-centred. Interestingly, this echoes the theme for this year’s World Cities Day, marked on October 31: People-Centred Smart Cities.

It is encouraging to see that Kenya has joined the smart cities movement with ambition, investing in projects such as Konza Technopolis, the ongoing digital transformation of Nairobi, and the integration of technology in transport, waste management, and urban planning. These are good signs of progress toward a more connected and smart urban future. But we should ask ourselves: Smart for whom?

The real test of a city’s intelligence is not in how much technology it deploys, but in how well it improves everyday lives of its residents. It’s a good thing to invest in artificial intelligence, sensors, and digital platforms. However, if we do this without considering the lived realities of ordinary citizens – the mother waiting hours for water, the commuter trapped in traffic jam, or the youth struggling to find work – then we risk building cities that are technologically advanced but socially disconnected.

A people-centred smart city begins not with code or infrastructure, but with understanding the everyday struggles and aspirations of its residents. Data and technology must serve as tools to make public services more inclusive, transparent, and accountable. For example, can the technology allow residents to report broken streetlights, track waste collection, or participate in budget monitoring? Or, can open data expose inefficiencies and corruption while empowering citizens to demand better services?

In other words, smart cities ought to solve real problems and improve people’s lives. If all they do is flood citizens with apps, screens, or wrap public life in flashy tech, then they are not worth the effort. Indeed, it has been said that sometimes, the smartest cities might not even feel digital on the surface. They quietly gather the right data and use it to make citizens’ lives better.

Kenya already has promising examples. In Makueni County, residents participate directly in budgeting processes through digital and in-person consultations. In Nairobi’s informal settlements, community mapping initiatives use digital tools to document access to water points, sanitation, and health facilities, giving planners real insight into local needs. The lesson here is that technology becomes transformative when it is grounded in citizen participation.

But above all, “going smart” requires collaboration where residents, policymakers, innovators, and the private sector co-create solutions. Counties, for instance, could partner with resident associations to test digital tools for waste management, security alerts, or participatory budgeting before scaling them citywide. Universities and start-ups can bring the technical expertise, while residents provide the lived experience. If we put people at the heart of smart city agenda, we can build urban spaces that are not only efficient but also equitable, resilient, and humane.