Smart city development is gaining widespread acceptance as a means of mitigating urban development problems. However, the implementation of smart cities faces challenges, especially in developing countries. Urban computing is regarded as an enabler of innovation and smart city development. This study explores the adoption of urban computing to address the smart city and urban development problems of Saudi cities. Using a systematic review, this study highlights the trends and influential contributions of urban computing to smart city research. It identifies the urban computing framework and uses the framework to analyze the use of urban computing in Saudi cities to promote smart city development and sustainability. While Saudi Arabia has taken notable steps in urban computing, especially in providing services, further steps need to be taken to achieve the transformation into smart sustainable cities.
Keywords: Saudi cities; Smart city; Urban computing; Urban informatics; Urban sustainability; Urban transformation.
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