Background

ASToN is a network of eleven local authorities that are looking to conduct a digital transformation in order to become more inclusive and sustainable towns and cities.

This flagship program is funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), managed by the National Agency for Urban Renewal (ANRU), and uses URBACT knowledge and tools.

At the heart of this network is the belief that there is an opportunity for cities across Africa to be ‘smart cities’ – to harness digital, data and technology, and use integrated and participatory approaches in order to improve their policies, services and make life better for their citizens.

Crucially, we see digital maturity as key to the cities’ ability to properly harness digital, data and technology and become players in the field. We know the capabilities required among city practitioners range far beyond technical expertise. The role of the network is to build capacity across the cities, to achieve their aims in an appropriate and sustainable manner for each local context.
We believe that by creating a cohort of partners that collaborate and learn from each other, and taking a results-oriented approach, these ASToN cities can become leading digital players.

In this section of the baseline study we introduce our framework for assessing the digital maturity of the ASToN cities, which combines the digital maturity at the local authority and the territory level and indicates their readiness to embark on digital transformation.

We provide an analysis of the digital maturity of the network based on our research and insight highlighted in the city profiles in Chapter 3. Throughout the course of Phase 1 of the ASToN project we have discussed the definition of ‘smart city’ with the network, and we go on to explore it in more detail in this document.

We then move on to summarise the shared challenges and areas of learning for the African cities taking part in the ASToN network.