With Vision 2030 in full effect, the Kingdom is already tackling what it means to have better human communities through urban landscapes

Back in 2019, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman created a body to just focus on artificial intelligence (AI), because as forward-thinking as he is, he could see that this type of technology is here to stay. And being the visionary that he is and wanting to put his country first, he knew an agency like the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) would be one of many forces that would meet the country’s Vision 2030 AI needs.

One aspect of AI is Smart City Technology, a concept that’s unknown to those who don’t know anything about this type of technology, but it’s something that most large cities rely on. Basically, it’s a tool where data is taken from sensors to manage a city’s services effectively and efficiently without disturbing residents. With street cameras, satellites, apps that residents can use to give feedback, agencies like SDAIA can improve the wellbeing of residents and traffic flow, bring environmental awareness, install IoT cameras that monitor cleanliness in public spaces, and improve waste management. Essentially, Smart City technology is a kind of humble service to the inhabitants of a city, providing solutions to services that affect residents and tourist’s everyday life, and how people move through that town with ease and prosperity.

In the US, Miami, Columbus, Fresno, and Louisville are well regarded smart city technology cities. Internationally, Singapore, Zurich, Amsterdam, and Oslo are some of the known cities heralding in this area.  But, Saudi Arabia is also one of the countries in the Arab World leading in smart city technology. With the Kingdom’s rapid growth, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 initiatives that includes the 2027 Asian Cup that will take place in Trojena, Expo 2030, and the 2034 World Cup, all major cities in the Kingdom are getting smart city technology ready.

One of SDAIA’s responsibilities is to ensure that cities in the Kingdom are smart city ready. Because when Vision 2030’s major world events have come and gone, Saudi Arabia will heavily rely on tourism so smart city technology will never stop as the country looks to the future. And let’s not forget, Saudi Arabia is a pilgrimage country for the millions of Muslims living around the world, so cities like Mecca and Al Madina have to be efficient at handling the millions of visitors. If it’s one thing Saudi Arabia is doing, it’s not looking back. The Kingdom has a population of 32 million people, of which 63% are under the age of 30, according to Reuters and which is almost half of the Kingdom’s workforce. 

“Looking ahead, we will continue the mission to leverage infrastructure, data and Al to support efforts of realizing Vision2030 aspirations and beyond,” says Dr Sattam Alsubaie, CEO of Smart City Center of Excellence Data for SDAIA. “Al and other technology are a major enabler to the mega-events like the FIFA World Cup 2034 and Expo 2030, as well as a major enabler to Riyadh megacity aspirations,” he says.

This month, the Kingdom’s Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, Majed bin Abdullah Al-Hogail shared how the country will adopt the Digital Twin Model by 2025, which will make for better planning and coordination in Saudi cities. But, creating better urban offerings is just one part of the Kingdom’s urban planning strategy. SDAIA’s President, H.E. Abdullah bin Sharaf Alghamd has noted how sustainability is also at the forefront of smart city technology. Cities in the Kingdom must also be sustainable, so working with the Mayor of Riyadh Region, His Highness Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz bin Ayyaf, Saudi Arabia will be rolling out sustainable and diverse projects that will be a global model not just for the Kingdom but for other cities where smart city technology is at the forefront.

Recognizing that Saudi Arabia has been dealing with the need to appease large crowds for centuries is Dr. Hotham Altwaijry, Assistant Director for the Advanced Recognition Technologies and Digital Identity at the National Information Center- a subsidiary of SDAIA. Recently sitting down with him in Riyadh, he noted how for 1,400 years, Saudi Arabia has had to deal with and find solutions for crowd management for Hajj.  As a result, he said “We have visits from people from around the world asking us about the technologies that we use, because they want to implement our practices into event management like New Year’s Eve events and how to get crowds together.”

Riyadh has to be a smart city efficient as many of the major events coming to the Kingdom in the next decade will take place in the capital. Already, Riyadh is full of districts with new ones that will be unveiled soon. Creating new cities requires a sort of maintenance, which requires smart city technology and Dr. Hotham Altwaijry and his team are on it.

For those that doubt the Kingdom’s rapid smart technology know-how, Dr. Maher Shirah Director General of Smart Riyadh from the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, invites them to go to Saudi Arabia and see it for themselves. “One image is worth a thousand words so seeing is believing. At the end of the day we live in the same world, and it doesn’t make any sense to develop in a place and not in another, hence collaborating with others in the Middle East, Europe, and the West makes not only a smart city, or a smart country, but a smart world,” he says. The Crown Prince is keeping the Kingdom’s leaders on their toes, ensuring that they meet the Vision 2030 mandates and standards. He [the Crown Prince] wants to double Riyadh’s population by double in the next decade and Shirah stresses that this cannot be done without smart city technology, because when a city doubles in size infrastructure also doubles. And leaders are working fast with only 6 years to accomplish Vision 2030’s smart technology goals. “If we do it the old way it will take thirty to forty years,” says Shirah.

Al-Kobar, a city in Saudi’s Eastern province is near two other major cities: Dammam and Dhahran (where Aramco the state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Group is headquartered). Smart city technology projects are in full swing in the province, under the Sharqia Development Authority led by Mohammed Aseeri, the VP of Regional Transformation- and these projects like monitoring the 15-mile King Fahd Causeway will contribute to the local economy. The causeway links Saudi Arabia to Bahrain and due to the vast lanes, gas stations, rest areas, and border checkpoints, it requires monitoring and making sure that it’s running smoothly.

And, Al Madina is one of two of Saudi Arabia’s most holy cities one reason being, it’s where the Prophet Muhammad is buried. Most know the city to only be a major pilgrimage site, but it is also becoming a robust chemical manufacturing center, tech hub, and it houses the largest oil refinery in the Kingdom, the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refinery. Their Smart City Experience Playbook, is aimed at improving the lives of residents in the city. Abdulrahman Ibrahim, Chief Data and Innovation Officer for the Al Madina Region Development Authority explains that there are 9 million people that visit the city a year, and they expect 30 million visitors by 2030. “We came up with a big list of challenges and we are prioritizing them, and categorized them under six priority sectors so we can know where to apply technology in these areas,” he says.

The Playbook focuses on the city level and is a first of its kind, because other cities like Amsterdam and Melbourne that have done playbooks only focus on the street and district levels- not the city level. This Al Madina Playbook will improve the lives of the city’s citizens and visitors for the next few years.

“Since the inception of SDAIA, we have been deploying data-driven solutions to confront national and urban challenges, steered by a forward-looking vision for the future of our cities,” says Dr. Alsubaie. “We have managed to leverage infrastructure, data, and Al in serving national priorities on three different levels.” With all that’s going on in Saudi Arabia smart city technology is an inevitable necessity. Without it, the Kingdom would not be able to host global events or grow at the rate the Crown Prince is demanding. But as forward-thinking as he is, and the creation of SDAIA being a testament to that, along with the energetic passion of the youth, there is no doubt that Saudi Arabia will be able to pull off its ambitious goals.