City planners have sought to readjust smart city interventions in order to incorporate more human centric designs that encourage more interactions between citizens, technologies and institutional solutions (Siokas et al., 2021). Therefore, cities have encouraged the utilization of more modern technologies related to telecommunications, real-time processing, and the sharing of physical assets in order improve services or encourage citizens’ participation (Garau et al., 2020; Raghava Rao and Kumar 2022). Smart city developments have also been applied to smaller scales such as campuses or compounds in which more interactions between people and hard infrastructure can be expected (Dameri et al., 2016). In this context, the idea of smart and connected communities (SCC) has emerged as a label for urban interventions towards achieving more connectedness and better services in urban communities (Al-Saidi and Zaidan, 2023). The SCC concept emphasizes the development of synergies through the use of technology, infrastructure, and local community participation (Damiani et al., 2017; Shaw and Sui, 2018; Sui and Shaw, 2018). However, SCC projects have shown a degree of variation with most cases on the challenges of implementing the SCC concept stemming from high-income countries in the Global North (Al-Saidi and Zaidan, 2023). So far, there is a lack of knowledge on the feasibility of SCC interventions in other political-economic contexts such as that of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. City developments in the GCC region are dominated by top-down and state-centric urban planning as well as public investments. For this region, the SCC concept can offer valuable contributions towards more local and demand-driven urban development.

GCC countries are experiencing a technology-driven transformation towards a low-carbon and energy-efficient built environment (Al-Saidi and Elagib, 2018; Zaidan et al., 2019). This is reflected in region-wide efforts to adopt renewables, encourage the development of low-carbon smart cities (e.g., Masdar city in the United Arab Emirates and Lusail city in Qatar), and invest in ICT-based solutions for infrastructure (Saxena and Al-Tamimi, 2018; Al-Saidi and Zaidan, 2020). This push is a part of the highly publicized and controversial efforts of GCC governments to reshape urban development through mega-projects, centralized master planning, and westernized approaches conveying modernism and global affluence (Acuto, 2010; Aoun and Teller, 2016; Rizzo, 2017b; Zaidan, 2019). This is often contrasted with the conservative societies of the region, the large consumption footprints, and the preferences of local people for large and isolated residential houses rather than high-rise buildings or congested high-tech cities (Zaidan, 2019; Ansari et al., 2020). The GCC countries have a recent history of independence and modernization through the use of oil and gas revenues for economic growth that is dominated by the involvement of state companies. In order to encourage more urban sustainability in the Gulf and other parts of the world, it is important to rethink future directions for urban planning with the aim of achieving more participation and less environmental damage. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only been a global health crisis but also a time to rethink sustainability and the living spaces of communities (Rosa-Jimenez and Jaime-Segura, 2021). From empty streets to disruption of traffic patterns, it has been a living experiment about how cities may work in a different way, and a time to reflect on our place on Earth. Urban resilience has been, more than ever, a key factor in the way we conceive our urban future.

The SCC idea raises several questions with regard to the premise of “community” and its associated social aspects such as coherence, privacy, acceptability, and affordability. While forms of connected communities already exist in the region (e.g., through district cooling and centralized waste management), these technologies are often analyzed in terms of beneficial smart city applications that are provided via commercial (monopolistic) service providers at a district level (Mohasses, 2018; Al-Saidi and Zaidan, 2020; Zaidan and Abulibdeh, 2021). The benefits of connected communities in the region demand a broader discussion in terms of the scale and feasible/desirable directions. This can aid policymakers in designing city plans that combine prudent investment, smart technology, and community participation.

This paper analyzes the development of connected communities by focusing on the social context of urban planning in the Gulf region. Using interviews with experts and data on prominent case studies highlighted in the recent academic literature, it aims to localize community-level developments within smart city initiatives in the GCC region. The paper presents challenges for the implementation of SCC projects in city developments in the Gulf and critically reflects on the relevance of the SCC concept for this region. By studying these cases, the question arises as to whether the underlying urban development model in the GCC region can allow more local-level developments. In doing so, the paper highlights critical elements for the development of SCC projects in the region and connectedness aspects in major urban mega-projects. These critical elements include the leading applications and sectors of connection (e.g., energy, waste, cooling), the scale of the developments (e.g., commercial buildings, compact communities, or large smart cities), and organizational aspects (e.g., community cooperatives or centralized control).

In order to contextualize the urban planning model of the smart city development in the region and assess the feasibility of more locally led approaches, this paper relies on a mixed method approach by using recent academic literature, expert interviews, and data from projects. Firstly, a literature review was conducted in order to assess the trend towards smart cities in the GCC region and identify prominent cases (See Sections 3 and 4.1). In this literature review, conducted in August 2021 using the Scopus database, we searched for all publications with any of the following words in the abstract, keywords, or title: smart cities, smart city, smart communities, smart community, connected communities, connected community. In addition, publications had to include any of the following country names: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or the UAE. The resulting dataset of 155 entries was then sorted to exclude purely or predominantly technical papers, inaccessible papers (9 cases not available on common online platforms), or papers irrelevant to the region or topic (e.g., with only a peripheral relation to the topic or the region). The final dataset of 23 publications was then qualitatively analyzed using the software MAXQDA in order to code parts of the publications that may identify prominent cases and particular challenges (see Section 3.)

Secondly, expert interviews with seven academic experts from Qatar (3), Oman (1), the UAE (1) and non-Gulf universities (2) were conducted in 2022 with the aims of validating the selection of prominent cases, contextualizing the urban development model, and assessing the viability of community-level or locally led smart city interventions. These experts are university faculty with publications or academic track records on smart cities in the Gulf. Using these interviews and the mentioned literature review, several cases with varying levels of connectedness and participation were identified and later categorized in three main categories (Section 4.1). These three categories differ in terms of the scale (i.e., large, mid-size and small city developments) and the connectedness (i.e., connectedness increasing in smaller projects). Particularly local-level community projects cover more components of the SCC idea (see Figure 1). Besides, results from these interviews, together with insights from pertinent literature known to the authors (who have expertise on this topic) were used for the comparative contextualization of the smart city model in the GCC region and the assessment of the feasibility of more local approaches (See Sections 4.2 and 5). The assessment is carried out by reflecting on the key three components of SCC interventions (Figure 1). In pertinent academic literature, SCC projects are seen to incorporate both technical interventions related to advanced infrastructure or technologies for better connectedness (e.g., smart communication, energy or transport systems) and people’s interaction (i.e., as collaborative users or in designing the community) (Damiani et al., 2017; Shaw and Sui, 2018; Sui and Shaw, 2018). Besides, smart services towards enhanced connectedness (e.g., connected buildings, smart sensors, etc.) have been a constituting component of SCC projects which should ultimately lead to improved lifestyles (e.g., easier access to services or cost savings) and sustainability (e.g., more energy efficiency and a smaller ecological footprint in general) (Al-Saidi and Zaidan, 2023).

GCC states have recently been interested in showcasing modernity and adopting new technologies for their (global) cities (Acuto, 2010; Aoun and Teller, 2016; Al-Saidi, 2020a). This notion is one factor explaining the push towards smart cities, and it is reflected in several megaprojects to construct futuristic planned cities across the region. Most of these cities exhibit modern ICT infrastructure and some smart applications, although not all of them include low-carbon interventions (Al-Saidi and Zaidan, 2020). Self-labeling and competition within and among some GCC countries to build more attractive and extravagant urban developments make the characterization of the smart city movement in the GCC region difficult. For example, many of the urban projects in Saudi Arabia are labeled under the category of industrial or economic cities. This label emphasizes the partnership with the private sector, but these cities do have some smart applications (e.g., smart grids, smart basic services, and high connectivity) (Aina, 2017). Similar developments in Qatar and the UAE are well publicized as smart, and even sustainable, cities. Using the academic literature selected for this paper, we highlighted some prominent cases in GCC countries (with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar, and the UAE providing most of these cases) and the thematic coverage of papers (Table 1). It is notable that most of the literature adopts a city-wide (and mostly technical) perspective, whereas local or community cases are scarce.

Another explanation for the push towards smart cities lies in environmental and economic considerations. GCC countries see technological updates and low-carbon urban development as a vehicle for economic diversification and ecological modernization (Al-Saidi and Elagib, 2018). In order to achieve this, they rely on ambitious national visions within which smart city initiatives are located. Smart city initiatives are reflected in e-government projects, innovation strategies, or specific smart city programs within the national visions (Saxena and Al-Tamimi, 2018; Asmyatullin et al., 2020). These initiatives are still maturing, and they are challenged by a wide range of contextual issues, as depicted in Table 2 using the selected literature. Although these challenges might be common to GCC countries, we describe them per country and publication since it is difficult to measure their prevalence based on the current literature.

In this study, we have highlighted the dissemination and relevance of SCC projects within the context of the development of GCC countries. These Gulf countries have had varied SCC experiences, mostly focusing on experimenting with technology-based connectivity within and among buildings. The preferred approach in the Gulf region remains consistent with the planned smart city development through large-scale interventions in the built environment, particularly in new urban mega-projects. These projects are increasingly deploying neighborhood-level controls and a few connectivity technologies that are centrally managed. While this paper shows the current limitations of the wide dissemination of SCC projects in the Gulf, such limitations are not uncommon. SCC experiences worldwide show a large degree of complexity thus emphasizing the need for experimentation with local designs through iterative urban planning processes (Al-Saidi and Zaidan, 2023). This is in line with urban planning literature that recommends testing and evaluating urban designs (Gleye, 2014). Besides, it is important to adequately study the specific context inherent in the environment of SCC projects. For example, Japanese SCC projects have been facilitated by a strong involvement of municipalities, while European projects are embedded within city-wide projects that are often oriented towards EU sustainability policies (Al-Saidi and Zaidan, 2023). In contrast, the Gulf’s context in terms of centralized planning, reliance on the governmental sector and the existence of demographically heterogenous communities has hindered the dissemination of local SCC projects, particularly at the residential sectors.

The future development of Gulf cities towards smart and low-carbon living is dependent on investments in the built environment and community development. This paper has already highlighted how SCC projects are slowly co-evolving due to demographic factors, design choices, and urban planning models specific to the context of the Gulf region. For the promotion of more local and community-based smart city development, the participation of government is essential due to its dominant role in urban planning in the Gulf region as policymaker, planner, property developer, and a major employer. The cases presented in the study have shown that the GCC governments are the driving forces of many large- and mid-size city developments. New urban cities in the Gulf are centrally planned and executed through property developers in which the GCC governments often hold the majority of assets (e.g., through sovereign wealth funds). Besides, the public sector also plays a significant role in small-scale SCC cases, e.g., projects implemented in campuses of universities (with large universities being public ones in the Gulf). In the following, we summarize based on previous analyses the directions for public leadership in allowing community-based projects in the Gulf region to co-evolve parallel to city-wide urban programs:

• Rethinking smart urban development scale and carriers: A return to greener, denser and more livable urban neighborhoods can reduce sprawl in the urban areas and enhance sustainability in the Gulf region. Urban planners need to encourage projects targeting the minimization of communities’ impact on the natural systems while enhancing harmony with the natural surroundings along with human, social, and heritage preservation. People and communities are important elements of smart urban development, and their engagement is important for tackling key goals such as lowering energy efficiency. For example, as building cooling represents one of the largest energy-use sectors in the Gulf region – e.g., more than 60% in Qatar (Zaidan et al., 2022) – it is critical to emphasize behavioral aspects at community and individual levels, particularly in peak demand situations (e.g., the hot summer season).

Local approaches to smart and connected urban development capitalize on community participation in constructing demand-driven and tailored projects that result in improved services and better sustainability outcomes. A wide range of smart services can be locally developed and commonly managed, including electricity and cooling, waste management, transport solutions, or communication technologies. Cases on the implementation of community-level smart interventions have largely stemmed from the liberal democracies in the Global North where bottom-up community building is more feasible. This study reiterates the relevance of the political-economic context for the shape of feasible SCC interventions. It demonstrates only few applications of local SCC projects in the Gulf that incorporate connected and smart infrastructure, participatory planning and users’ participation, as well as services utilizing shared assets. Largely, the SCC applications in the Gulf are oriented towards technological and infrastructure solutions related to resource use efficiency and sustainability in large- to midsize cities. As such, this paper contributes to academic literature emphasizing the need for experimentation with context-specific designs in implementing successful SCC interventions. In the Gulf, SCC understandings are co-evolving with the political economy and the shape of institutions governing the external context of smart urban projects.

Local projects emphasizing connectivity and smart applications are still possible in the Gulf, with an increasing number of projects focusing on public and industrial areas. For example, smart educational campuses represent important pilot projects for the SCC concept and are supported through utilities and governmental stakeholders. The expansion of these projects to the residential sector is important in order to capitalize on the benefits of SCC, particularly with regard to energy efficiency as a paramount concern for Gulf countries. However, the model of top-down planned smart cities rather than bottom-up-initiated SCC is encouraged by demographic and regulatory factors related to the relatively large communities of short-term expat workers, energy subsidies, lack of community organization, low environmental awareness, unclear privacy and security regulations, and co-ownership barriers. As a result, current local-level projects are rarely perceived as connecting people in terms of place-making or community-building. In this sense, it is important to consider these soft factors related to the characteristics of communities in different political-economic and cultural contexts. Communities without legacies of cooperation or a common identity can be challenging for a bottom-up development of SCC projects. Smart city developments need to consider long-term aspects related to community-building and place-making ahead of designing local interventions.

Policymakers and urban planners in the Gulf can support SCC projects through clearing obstacles, piloting projects, and establishing broader SCC strategies. As this study demonstrates, in centrally planned urban development, public leadership in encouraging local smart city projects plays a large role, e.g., in initiating projects at public universities, governmental compounds, or selected residential areas in new cities. The SCC concept holds important promises for both policymakers and communities in the Gulf region. SCC offers many built-in analytics that can help decision makers address paramount issues concerning low-carbon living. On the technology front, there are already many forms of promising technologies such as soft or smart thermostats and advanced controls for buildings. Together with technologies for smart vehicles, transport alternatives, and waste management, SCC can provide important sustainability and financial gains for cities. Moreover, flexibility in commercial or manufacturing settings and in local farms can benefit the community and aid in the development of a transactional market for clean energy and demand reduction. For SCC in residential units to work, occupancy and usage patterns along with behavioral norms and variations need to be understood. Understanding the social elements of the community’s private and commercial residents is critical to a successful implementation of SCC projects.

Smart and connected cities and communities are a part of a larger transition to zero-carbon societies. This study is limited by its regional scope that does not allow for detailed analysis of those community characteristics that can be conducive for certain SCC projects. Besides, the number of successful SCC projects at local levels is limited to few pilot projects that have not matured yet. Additional research is needed to examine the societal attitudes that facilitate the adoption of new technologies aimed at achieving zero-carbon societies in Gulf countries. Further research may focus on the bottom-up approaches to realizing the local community’s shift towards a zero-carbon energy system and thus to energy sustainability from a social science perspective. For a city or a society to plan and implement the transformation process, there must be a set of initial options, which may grow over time. For this reason, a set of well-defined ideas and critical factors that are relevant for the success of zero-carbon transition projects at the local level should be identified in the context of the Gulf countries. The further development of local-level approaches to smart and connected urban developments in the Gulf is highly needed through the engagement of urban planners while involving actors from industry, academia and the targeted communities.