94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Cities
Sec. Innovation and Governance
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frsc.2025.1552449
TraceTogether contact tracing: A Smart Nation Innovation
Provisionally accepted
Michael Motet Hansen*
Bharat Dahiya- Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The rapid growth of urban populations has compelled cities globally to adopt smart city initiatives to improve efficiency, well-being, and economic development. This research investigates Singapore's Smart Nation initiative to identify the key factors contributing to the success of these projects. Central to the study are citizen participation, government coordination, and innovation, focusing on environments that promote technology adoption and community engagement. A notable example is the TraceTogether app, deployed during Singapore's COVID-19 response, which illustrates how citizen participation can shape smart city outcomes. Using a mixed-method approach, the study includes a thorough literature review, case study analysis, and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders such as policymakers, technology providers, and community leaders. Findings highlight the essential role of citizen engagement, cross-sector governance, and public-private collaboration in developing sustainable and impactful smart cities. The research promotes creating frameworks that prioritise equitable access to technology and encourage meaningful citizen participation, ensuring that smart city initiatives remain inclusive and adaptable across various urban contexts. This study enriches the growing conversation on urban innovation, providing actionable insights to enhance the success and replicability of smart city projects globally.
Keywords: Smart technology, COVID19, Citizens participation, Smart city, innovation, data analytics
Received: 28 Dec 2024; Accepted: 17 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hansen and Dahiya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Michael Motet Hansen, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.