Reframing Smart City in Sub-Saharan Africa: Inclusive engagement approach and co-design tools for a developing economy

Sub-Saharan African communities face an urgent need for affordable housing, new working and learning environments, and new technologies to support sustainable development. This paper reframes the Smart City concept in the Sub-Saharan African context and provides insights to the main research questions: 1. How can inclusive engagement process for Smart Community enhanced in an African context? 2. What kinds of information and communication technology (ICT) tools can support such processes? We conducted a focus group study in Keetmanshoop, the Karas region in Southern Namibia. In addition, we interviewed eleven urban planning stakeholders about the urban development situation and participatory urban planning in Namibia. The study confirmed the view according to which participatory model and engagement of people is beneficial approach for the urban development. In terms of transparency and people having a voice in the process, the quality of urban development may be seen improved in terms of “building communities” with feeling of ownership from the community rather just than building houses for those in need.