Towards smart city planning from a healthcare perspective: A South Africa-based theoretical model

South African Journal of Information Management

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Towards smart city planning from a healthcare perspective: A South Africa-based theoretical model
 
Creator Moonsamy, Wesley Singh, Shawren
 
Subject Digitl health; smart cities; information systems; Smart healthcare; rapid urbanisation; Joburg 2040; live healthcare console; connect disparate systems; combine data; real-time communication; collaboration on patient care.
Description Background: Rapid urbanisation in cities such as Johannesburg has caused severe congestion, pollution and issues related to accessing city services such as healthcare. The Joburg 2040 growth plan responds to these challenges through uplifting Johannesburg to a smart city by 2040.Objectives: To determine how Johannesburg can achieve the Joburg 2040 growth plan objectives and to reach smart city status from a healthcare technology perspective.Method: Thirty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with public healthcare professionals in Gauteng, South Africa, to better understand digital health systems and processes related to emergency patient care and hospital occupancy.Results: A qualitative interpretive analysis involving three cycles of coding led to the identification of 214 codes, 16 network relationships and six themes (connect disparate systems, combine data, communicate in real time, collaborate on patient care, cooperate on long-term objectives and contain security threats). The themes were incorporated into a theoretical model (theoretical model for achieving smartness in healthcare), associating the six themes and a Live Healthcare Console, a system which was conceptualised in previous research.Conclusion: For Johannesburg to become a smart city from a healthcare perspective, system designers should start by connecting disparate healthcare systems which would then enable downstream processes.Contribution: This research considers smartness from a healthcare perspective and contributes a theoretical model which can be used as a reference for implementing a smart healthcare system.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor University of Pretoria - Publishing fees only
Date 2026-06-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Interviews - Qualiative anlysis
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajim.v28i1.2165
 
Source South African Journal of Information Management; Vol 28, No 1 (2026); 9 pages 1560-683X 2078-1865
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/2165/3648 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/2165/3649 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/2165/3650 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/2165/3651
 
Coverage Gauteng, South Africa — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2026 Wesley Moonsamy, Shawren Singh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT