Putrajaya is a Malaysian federal administrative center and is called also City in the Garden. Due to this factor, this chapter intended to access the insights of the Putrajaya smart community initiatives since a quantitative research approach has been employed where a self-administrated questionnaire was developed to gather information from the respondents which consisted of different sections with both open and close-ended questions. A total of 163 forms were distributed in different locations within the smart community sites. A descriptive analysis on the usage was carried out to access the initiatives, and recommendations are suggested at the end of the chapter.
TopIntroduction
Smart community is a concept focusing on ‘grooming’ up or equipped the community with technology and innovation knowledge on information and communication technology (ICT), providing with ‘smart’ infrastructure, solving social problems, and improving community’s quality of lives. The concept was first discussed in the year of 1993 in Silicon Valley, California, United Sates of America, where business leaders, community members, government officials and educators decided to help the region to overcome economic recession (Lindskog, 2014). At present, the smart community concept and definition evolves to meet the current need. This concept is famously being used worldwide, trending, and popular.
The concept and goals between ‘smart’ community’ and ‘smart city’ is intertwined in many cases. Based on Yigitcanlar, Kamruzzaman, Buys, Ioppolo & Costa & Yun (2018), the smart city concept focuses on three main drivers that are smart cities-community, technology, policy in which, connects to productivity, sustainability, accessibility, wellbeing, liveability, and governance. This indicates that smart community focuses on micro-environment in which emphasis on the citizens with knowledge, training, and skill sets especially those who are living in the rural areas. On the other hand, smart city focal point is on the macro-environment, whereby the facilities, infrastructure of township and planning, policy makers and governance, multi-stakeholders from healthcare, educators, telecommunications, and the Internet broadband marketers are also vital. In this matter, both are inextricably related and equally important.
According to Australian Smart Community Association (ASCA, 2017), government initiatives depending on the uniqueness and dynamic of its own community. This depends on the history, composition, linked to and address community needs towards better living, health, and happiness. The goal for society is to synchronize the mission towards achieving the Industrial Revolution of 4.0 for better quality lifestyle. Most importantly, all the initiatives are meant for the community and the community must involve in determining needs, decisions making and assessing the benefits of smart projects (ASCA 2017: 6). Based on Kassim, Yeap, Nathan, Hashim, & Ramayah, (2019) the concept of smart city and smart community is centered upon the goals of governments, developers, social-culture, economic factors, technologies advancement, and values.
In addition, there was a comprehensive review was conducted by Chai, Cvetkovic, and Page (2020) on the initiatives and benefits of building a smart city. The application of technology within communities by providing information and communication technology (ICT) in all areas of the city will help to improve the resource utilization, urban management, and services. These initiatives will eventually bring together the various service functions of the city into diverse, complex, interconnected, and manageable system and the same time will improve the communities’ living quality. Therefore, three main stakeholders should incorporate in achieving this mission are the community, government, and private sectors.
Furthermore, based on Nor Sallehi (2017) smart city is the application and territorialization of practices that brings ICTs and people together to enhance the innovation and knowledge. In Malaysia, there are four selected areas for the development of smart city that are Greater Kuala Lumpur (KL), Iskandar Malaysia (Johor), Smart Selangor, and Putrajaya Smart City. A national-level framework called Smart City Framework Malaysia (MSCF) designed to guide local authorities in planning and developing local smart cities. These framework covers government, economy, environment, people, living, mobility, and digital infrastructure as main mechanisms of Malaysian smart city (https://www.malaysia.gov.my/portal/content/30947).