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Opportunities and Challenges for Becoming Montañita in a Smart City

Abstract:

The rapid and disorganized growth of cities, generates urban expansion and produces a new urban aesthetic, which becomes the expression of economic, social and political transformations. In this current and future development scenario, the idea of smart cities is developed, cities capable of solving, or at least preventing, urban problems with the help of technological devices and platforms in order to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants. Montañita, one of the most visited communities in Ecuador by national and foreign tourists, aims to be a smart city as long as the opportunities that currently exist are taken into account and various challenges faced by the community are overcome. That is why the objective of the paper was to identify the opportunities and challenges that this community has to become in a digital city. A qualitative research was conducted aimed at identifying opportunities and challenges that Montañita has to become in a digital city. For which a documentary review and information gathering was carried out with local agents. As a result, several opportunities were identified, such as the regulations in the country, the projects for technological infrastructure that the local government will undertake in the coming months, and the economy of the community based on tourism. However, several challenges were also detected, such as conflicts among the different government levels, and lack of basic infrastructure, which must be overcome in order to convert Montañita into a digital city.