Research Paper on Smart City Sustainability and Performance Reporting

Introduction

A Smart City is a place where the traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital and telecommunications technologies, for the benefit of businesses and inhabitants (Alaverdyan e al 2018). The British Standards Institute defines smart cities as the effective integration of digital, physical, and human systems in the environment to deliver a sustainable and prosperous future for its citizens (BSI, 2014). There are numerous smart city definitions, and one common aspect is the use of technology to solve sustainability challenges. Sustainability reporting is an essential aspect of company disclosure, and studies prove that sustainability reporting can create value for companies. There are, however, some issues and setbacks in the sustainability and performance reporting in smart cities. This research aims to evaluate the sustainability and performance reporting of smart cities and point out the theoretical and practical issues surrounding this topic. The Global Reporting Initiative guidelines are a set of flexible and voluntary guidelines that help to define report content and quality and provide guidance on how to set reporting boundaries. Another objective of this research is to find out if and how the smart cities are applying the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards or any other standards for their reporting. The paper also evaluates the sustainability and performance reporting of Singapore and point out the similarities and differences between international and national trends.

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These objectives were achieved using an in-depth analysis of relevant information sources. The results indicate a variety of issues on sustainability and performance reporting of smart cities. These issues include transparency and disclosure of the reports as well as a poor adoption of sustainability policies. The research also revealed that the majority of smart cities use the GRI guidelines in their reporting process. The findings also indicate some similarities in the national and national trends of sustainability reporting. To help achieve the stated objectives, three research questions were formulated.

• What are the theoretical and practical issues facing sustainability and performance reporting?
• Are there any similarities between international and national trends in sustainability and performance reporting in cities -Singapore?
• What are the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards, and how do Smart Cities use these standards for their reporting?

Sustainability and Performance Reporting of Smart Cities

Reporting is vital in ensuring that the organization understands its social and environmental impacts, ways it can minimize dangers and maximize opportunities associated with emerging challenges. Reporting is merely a component of a strategic approach to management, which includes other constituents such as implementing policies and evaluating performance.

Sustainability reporting involves providing organizational information about the economic, social, environmental, and governance performance and is a way of improving the commitment of an organization towards sustainable development. One vital tool in planning, project evaluation, and assessing smart cities is performance analysis. There is a difference between the measurement and the reporting of sustainability and performance. Measurement focuses on designing and implementing a performance system while reporting emphasizes the organization's responsibility to account for its actions. In such a system, the parties that make specific decisions are held responsible for either its failure or its success. Durability and performance reporting addresses explicitly how the assessed performance can be used to elaborate disclosure.

Issues in Sustainability and Performance Reporting

Different studies have indicated the existence of challenges and issues on accounting theories, mechanisms, and tools of sustainability and performance reporting of smart cities (Falconer and Mitchell, 2012). One problem that companies face involves the reporting format. Studies indicate that although a majority of the smart cities companies issue reports in the form of a full PDF document, other companies present their reports through their websites and a small percentage using other methods. The differences in the mechanisms of reporting make it harder to choose one means that is standard to all the people in the cities.

Another issue facing sustainability and performance reporting of smart cities is in the methods of certification and compliance. ISO 14001, the international standard which specifies requirements for an effective environmental management system provides requirements with guidance for use but does not establish environmental performance requirements. Sustainability and performance reporting is voluntary, causing a decline in the number of companies practicing sustainability reporting (Falconer and Mitchell, 2012).

Isomorphism influences the company's process of adopting sustainability reporting frameworks (Allwinkle & Cruickshank, 2011). A study published in 2013 indicates the impact of stakeholder's pressure on the transparency of sustainability reports within the GRI framework. The research came out with the findings that some groups of stakeholders, such as customer and clients, improve the quality of the report's transparency. In the report, the findings show that the companies that have very strict shareholders and clients provide reports that are updated and well organized compared to the other companies whose investors and clients are not strict. The levels of pressure from investors also determine how transparent an organization is. The relationship between a company and its stakeholders differs from one organization to another. This relationship affects the openness of sustainable reports (Fernandez, 2014). Apart from that, the fact that a company belongs to an industry that is well known by the consumers makes the company more transparent.

Stakeholder theory states that the purpose of a business is to create value for stakeholders. It is a conceptual framework of business ethics and organizational management which addresses ethical values in the administration. There is an increase in the number of companies citing stakeholder consultation as a critical determinant for selecting indicators. Risk analysis declined as a technique for the selection of indicators as the stakeholder theory came into implementation.

United Nation's New Urban Agenda and the European Union's Urban Agenda are international agendas safeguarding the sustainability of Smart Cities. Some cities, however, have poorly adopted sustainability policies (Marsal, 2018). The reason behind the poor adoption is due to the lack of executive instruments that help in the implementation process. Examples of poor implementation of international instruments include the European Union's Strategic Energy Technological Plan of 2000 and the United Nations' Rio Declaration of 1992 (Marsal, 2018). The main reason for the poor implementation of such instruments is the high data requirements to feed indicators, which in turn puts off poorly resourced potential receivers. These international instruments and agendas also have a poor societal engagement, which results in reduced uptake by citizens. Poor participation is caused by the top-down delivery process, which contributes to a misrepresentation of actual human needs (Marsal, 2018).

Characteristics of the Smart Cities towards Sustainable Disclosure

Smart Cities have introduced efficient transport systems to ensure sustainability (Angelidou et al, 2018). An Intelligent Transportation System uses a series of wireless, communication, and electronic technologies to provide individuals with access to a safer and smarter method of traveling. By providing real-time information about schedules and delays, commuters will be drawn to public transport services. This action reduces private care usage, which in turn, lowers traffic congestion and pollution levels (Xiong et al 2012). Smart Cities also motivate their residents to use clean fuels and practices carpooling to ensure not only sustainability but also growth and development. Public sensitization offers a significant effect on the behavior of individuals. It, however, cannot work when the alternative means of transport are not better than private means (Batty et al, 2012). To increase its efficiency, the cities provide alternative measures of transport for the citizens.

Smart Cities have created open data platforms such as the Helsinki Region Infoshare (Alaverdyan et al, 2018). Cagliari also possesses a Big Data Platform, which allows punctually having access to information concerning aspects such as noise pollution, urban traffic, health services, and well-being of individuals (Garau & Pavan, 2018). These platforms aim to make regional information produced by public companies more accessible to the public. This data is free and can be used by academic and research institutions, government institutes, citizens, or other businesses. Such platforms encourage Smart Cities to maintain the highest possible level of sustainable disclosure. It also makes it easy for residents to access a lot of information. Schools have an easier time passing knowledge t the students due to the accessibility of data. Apart from students, the citizens can use the data storage units to ensure that they are up to date with the latest news. The changes in the systems in the cities can be quickly passed on to the affected residents using the platforms.

Other Smart Cities such as Copenhagen have introduced sensors that measure environmental data such as noise pollution and congestion. These sensors are mostly installed on bicycle wheels and significant streets across the city. The data collected is sent to the town to analyze environmental data and to measure traffic's impact on the infrastructure (Alaverdyan et al, 2018). Such measures enable the cities to keep a close record of the environmental activity and make appropriate measures to ensure that pollution is controlled. This information is relevant in the decision making process on issues such as environmental sustainability.

Trends on Sustainability and Performance Reporting

Most of the countries publishing sustainability reports for the past few years are public companies. This habit is the case in Singapore and the majority of other smart cities around the world. There is also an increase in the use of specific guidelines for reporting both in Singapore and across the globe. These values add integrity, value, transparency, and reliability to reports. A majority of the organizations use the reporting guidelines set by the Global Reporting Initiative. There is also an increased level of external assurance at the international level as compared to the national level.

Smart Nation Singapore

Singapore has, for a long time, embracing technology and innovation intending to transform from a small island to a global city-state. Efforts such as computerization and regional internet connectivity have enhanced Singapore's objective of making information and communications technology an integral part of the day to day lives. The Smart Nation vision, launched in 2014, aims to apply digital techniques in a coordinated and systematic manner to empower citizens, improving lives, uniting communities, and encourage growth and innovation in businesses. This initiative created much emphasis on areas such as harnessing data to enhancing transportation, the use of technology to support and care for the aged and promoting innovation by releasing data to the public ("Technology and the City: Foundation for a Smart Nation," 2018).

The Smart Nation initiative depends on some policy tools to...