Smart Cities: Progress and Challenge in Establishing Liveable Cities

Cities are now trying to become smart ones. Various information and communication technology-based applications to support the achievement of a smart city have been implemented. However, its achievement seems to have not been linked to liveable cities. This paper is aimed at describing the progress of the development of smart city, particularly the one to support liveable city. Besides, it is also intended to identify challenges faced in the development of smart cities, especially the ones to support liveable city. This paper is made and based on the analysis of secondary data in the form of smart city masterplan, particularly the one on the strategies, programs, and applications. The location of the study area is Blora Regency, Central Java, one of the cities belonging to the 100-Indonesian Smart City Movement. The data are also obtained by having an in-depth interview about the implementation of the programs and the applications to support the liveable city through the dimensions of smart living and smart environment. The result shows that the progress of the development of smart city is shown through several programs and applications that are planned to support liveable city. In this regard, most programs have been implemented. Some of the applications have been implemented. Challenges in the form of the roles of stakeholders and public awareness to achieve liveable city, human resources in charge of providing services and applications as well as the community’s ability to use them. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.