Abstract
The scope of the present paper is to promote social, cultural and environmental sustainability in cities by establishing a conceptual framework and the relationship amongst safety in urban public space (UPS), lighting and Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based surveillance. This framework uses available technologies and tools, as these can be found in urban equipment such as lighting posts, to enhance security and safety in UPS, ensuring protection against attempted criminal activity. Through detailed literary research, publications on security and safety concerning crime and lighting can be divided into two periods, the first one pre-1994, and the second one from 2004–2008. Since then, a significant reduction in the number of publications dealing with lighting and crime is observed, while at the same time, the urban nightscape has been reshaped with the immersion of light-emitting diode (LED) technologies. Especially in the last decade, where most municipalities in the EU28 (European Union of all the member states from the accession of Croatia in 2013 to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom in 2020) are refurbishing their road lighting with LED technology and the consideration of smart networks and surveillance is under development, the use of lighting to deter possible attempted felonies in UPS is not addressed. To capitalize on the potential of lighting as a deterrent, this paper proposes a framework that uses existing technology, namely, dimmable LED light sources, presence sensors, security cameras, as well as emerging techniques such as artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled image recognition algorithms and big data analytics and presents a possible system that could be developed as a stand-alone product to alert possible dangerous situations, deter criminal activity and promote the perception of safety thus linking lighting and ICT-based surveillance towards safety and security in UPS.
Highlights
Cities play a central role in strategic social sustainable development
Since the early 1990s, the sustainability of cities has been associated with their capacity to be hubs of innovation that deploy Information and Communication Technology (ICT) towards transforming contemporary social life, which transforms in many ways
The notion of smarter as opposed to smart, cities will further encounter and contribute to the resolution of social issues deploying the combination of networking and infrastructures that can even involve citizens’ bodies [2], but above all real-time data generation and the Internet of Things (IoT), using big data analytics as a critical enabler
Summary
Cities play a central role in strategic social sustainable development. The sense of safety and crime prevention constitute two, amongst a few, key elements for the sustainability and resilience of contemporary cities [1]. It involves stop-and-search activities by the police, the increase of police officer numbers, and the increase and the toughness of sentences, which we consider a way of treating the symptom, and not the cause approach The former is achieved by analyzing the phenomenon qualitatively by working with people (communities, offenders, victims, police officers, etc.) towards unearthing the more subjective dimensions of the problem, the latter—by inventing technologies that can invigilate people and places towards ensuring their safety. That is the creation of a framework to tackle the issues described in the previous sections This framework involves the use of ICT and big data to decide upon the dynamic change of lighting parameters, so as to deter criminals and prevent crimes. The paper concludes with future possibilities and stakeholders that can undertake and develop the framework as a working prototype
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