Rapid urbanisation is placing unprecedented pressure on urban systems, with cities in the Global South expected to experience the highest infrastructural and governance strain by 2030. Smart cities, anchored in advanced digital systems, low-carbon energy transitions, and networked, decentralised governance, have emerged as a strategic response to these complex urban challenges. However, the viability of smart city programmes is contingent on the readiness of existing municipal infrastructure to support digitalisation, decarbonisation, and institutional restructuring. Whereas cities in the Global North have made significant progress in operationalising smart city frameworks, many Southern cities remain constrained by ageing infrastructure, fragmented governance, and limited institutional capacity. In South Africa, policy commitments to smart city development have gained momentum across national and metropolitan spheres, yet gaps persist between strategic intent and on-the-ground implementation. This study evaluates the infrastructure readiness of the Benoni City Council Office, within the City of Ekurhuleni, to support the smart city transition. A qualitative case study design was employed, integrating policy and literature analysis with semi-structured interviews involving municipal officials. The assessment examined three core dimensions of smart city readiness: digital infrastructure performance, environmental and energy systems, and decentralised governance capacity. Findings reveal that the Benoni municipal facility lacks critical ICT architecture, including integrated data systems, automated operational technologies, and digital service platforms. Decarbonisation capacity is severely limited, with no renewable energy deployment, outdated electrical systems, and absent energy-efficiency retrofits. Governance practises remain predominantly centralised, restricting adaptive decision-making and community participation. Interview insights further exposed low levels of institutional awareness regarding Ekurhuleni’s smart city agenda, signalling a disconnect between municipal strategy and operational execution. The study concludes that the realisation of smart city implementation at the municipal facility scale will remain structurally constrained in the absence of targeted capital investment, systematic digital capacity enhancement, and governance reforms that institutionalise decentralised, data-driven decision-making processes. In response, the research advances the Infrastructure–Institutional Readiness Integration Framework (IIRIF) as an operationally grounded pathway for synchronising infrastructure rehabilitation, digital integration, energy resilience, and institutional coordination within resource-constrained municipal environments. The framework prioritises phased infrastructure modernisation, the embedding of digital systems within routine operational workflows, and the institutionalisation of decentralised governance architectures as critical implementation enablers. Through effectively bridging the divide between strategic ambition and operational readiness, the IIRIF offers a model for advancing sustainable and technologically enabled urban development across the Global South.
Mndzebele et al. (Fri,) studied this question.