1. TOWARDS THE DIGITAL CITY IN eTHEKWINI: An overview of debates and issues Nancy Odendaal School of Architecture, Planning and Housing University of KwaZulu-Natal

2. OVERVIEW OF DEBATES ICTGovernance Cities ?

3. SPATIAL LIMITATIONS  Centralization of Metropolitan Government  Location of Citizens in relation to Municipal offices  Ward system  ICT as information and inter-active decision-making tool

4. CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE  Cooperative approach to service delivery  Continuous flows of information and knowledge sharing required  Examples: IDP Nerve Centre and DIMS  ICT as coordination and information dissemination tool

5. NPM AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE  The relationship between e- governance and Managerialism  ICT and organisational cultures  Emphasis on economic growth and service efficiency  Digital Divide  ICT and institutional / policy imperatives

6. UNDERSTANDING INFORMAL NETWORKS AND PROCESSES  The relationship between the “space of flows” and “space of places”  Grassrooting the space of flows  Value added by ICT (Castells, 2000)  Smart Communities  Local Government as facilitator of the “Digital City”

7. EMPOWERMENT AND ACCESS  Socio-cultural responses to Digital Technology  Spatial constraints to ICT access  “Splintering Urbanism” (Graham and Marvin, 2001)  Universal Access  Sustainability and backbone support

8. ICT INITIATIVES  ICT initiatives at various levels, with multiple aims  Developmental aspects not always clearly stated, but expected  Mostly focused on administration, yet empowering potential realized  Digital Divide at local level  Influence of Managerialism

9. eThekwini ICT Policy ADMINISTRATION  Connectivity amongst Municipal Offices  Enterprise-wide GIS  Internal Coordination  Efficiency  Communication  Holistic approach  Community connectivity  Skills development  Intranet GOVERNANCE  Infrastructure  Included the excluded: SMME development  City-city networks  Other govt. agencies?  Emphasis on LED  SMME development  Web site  Empowerment of small firms  Smart Xchange  E-community strategy ICT-CITIES- GOVERNANCE SPATIAL COOP. GOVT. ICT & NPM NETWORKS ACCESS

10. CONCLUSION  Holistic framework  Integration  Organisational difficulties  Central driver  Socio-community aspects to be considered more carefully  Digital city v.s. Smart Communities?