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A review of the pathways, opportunities, challenges and utility of geospatial infrastructure for smart city in Nigeria

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Abstract

Smart city is one of the fastest growing socio-economic and scientific initiative in the world. Still, it is only in principle and a mere blueprint for many developing countries. This study reviews literature on smart city in Nigeria and developing countries. Our aim is to explore ways to improve the quality of Nigeria’s urban areas, based on recent research on the concept of smart city and its implementation. We summarise key research findings, and gather evidence that shows what composition of urban governance, social, economic, and environmental factors, that would influence actualising a smart city in Nigeria. Although knowledge has grown tremendously in the current literature on the definition, significance, governance, policy, and implementation of a smart city, its significance in Nigeria and other developing countries is supplemental. As an environmentally friendly initiative, a smart city will support urban sustainability and livelihood in Nigeria in a myriad of ways—environmental protection, and mainstream urban services, including public security and safety, access to quality health care, efficient power supply, clean water distribution, assets management, smart transportation, etc. However, despite her unique traditional urban agglomeration trends, Nigeria is unambitious and constrained towards actualising a smart city. Actualising a smart city in Nigeria and other developing countries would require radical and ambitious policies on development of human and infrastructural capacity, as well as institutional reinforcement. This highlights the need for more research, of which we are optimistic that the findings of this research will support with its new insight and clear guidelines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geoinformatics and Surveying, University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, Enugu, Nigeria

    Ugonna C. Nkwunonwo

  2. School of Energy and Electronic Engineering, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Felister E. Dibia

  3. Psi-Data Limited, Lagos, Nigeria

    Joseph A. Okosun

Authors
  1. Ugonna C. Nkwunonwo
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  2. Felister E. Dibia
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  3. Joseph A. Okosun
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [UC Nkwunonwo], [JA Okosun] and [FE Dibia]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [UC Nkwunonwo] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ugonna C. Nkwunonwo.

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Nkwunonwo, U.C., Dibia, F.E. & Okosun, J.A. A review of the pathways, opportunities, challenges and utility of geospatial infrastructure for smart city in Nigeria. GeoJournal 88, 583–593 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10626-3

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