Guidelines for Driving the Policy of Smart City Development Mahasarakham Province

Abstract

     The objecties of this research were four-fold: (1) to investigate the driving force of the  smart city development policy of Mahasarakham Province; (2) to ascertain the factors conducive to the success of driving the policy the smart city development in the case of Mahasarakham Province, (3) to ferret out the problems and obstacles that impede and impair the driving force of the smart city development policy, and (4) to determine guidelines for use in driving the smart city development policy.
     The research was qualitative in character.  20 key informants were purposively selected for in-depth interviews; the key in formants comprised four groups of people, namely group 1: five public sector representatives; group 2: five business sector representatives; group 3: five members of the Smart City Development Steering Committee, Mahasarakham Province; group 4: four smart city management experts and one public administration academic. The research procedures consisted of two stages: document study and in-depth interviews. The collected data were analyzed by means of organizing and analyzing the data in line with the objectives of the research.
     Research findings: (1) The driving force of the smart city development policy of Mahasarakham Province encompassed six areas: smart environment, smart travel and transportation, smart living style, smart citizens, smart economy, and smart public administration has simultaneous movement in all 6 sides. (2) Concerning the factors conducive to the success of driving the policy of the smart city development, it was found that the driving of the policy used the community as the base of development and used state of the art technology as the quintessence of the development resulting in the alertness of the community members as to the acceptance of new technology.  (3) Regarding the problems and obstacles of the driving smart city development policy, it was found that the government must be strongly serious about the development of smart city; the government must provide financial, administrative, and legal support so that the creation of sustainable smart city can become a possibility rendering the improvement of the quality of life of the citizens, (4) With regard to the guidelines for use in driving the smart city development policy of Mahasarakham Province,  it was found that Smart City Development Steering Committee, Mahasarakham Province attempts should be made to publicize about the smart city and the benefits to be attained from the smart city development.
 
Article history: Received 4 March 2024   
                            Revised 3 April 2024
                            Accepted 5 April 2024   
                            SIMILARITY INDEX = 7.57%