Creating Smart Cities Research Articles

Smart City: An Approach from the View of Smart Urban Governance

The world’s population is forecasted of having 68% to be urban residents by 2050 while urbanization in the world continues to grow. Along with that phenomenon, there is a global trend towards the creation of smart cities in many countries. Looking at the overview of studies and reports on smart cities, it can be seen that the concept of “smart city” is not clearly defined. Information and communication technology have often been being recognized by the vast majority of agencies, authorities and people when thinking about smart city but the meaning of smart city goes beyond that. Smart city concept should come with the emphasizing on the role of social resources and smart urban governance in the management of urban issues. Therefore, the "smart city" label should refer to the capacity of smart people and smart officials who create smart urban governance solutions for urban problems. The autonomy in smart cities allows its members (whether individuals or the community in general) of the city to participate in governance and management of the city and become active users and that is the picture of e-democracy. E-democracy makes it easier for stakeholders to become more involved in government work and fosters effective governance by using the IT platform of smart city. This approach will be discussed more in this paper.

Application of cooperative game theory in a spatial context: An example of the application of the community-led local development instrument for the decision support system of biogas plants construction

The aim of the article is to develop a methodology for the creating decision support system by the integration of spatial, demographic and economic data and their processing with the use of game theory and spatial information modeling methods. The article proposes a novelty method for applying the mathematical theory of cooperative games to analyze the use of different types of public policy and shows which one is most profitable locally for a modern smart city and its three main stakeholders: Authorities, Business, and Citizens. The developed method supports effective cooperation in the “ABC triangle” – with EU funds reasonably. The research conducted on the illustrative construction of a local biogas plant in the commune of Żuromin showed the economic and social potential of the proposed model. Without loss of generality of the solution, the model may be used to support decision-making systems in the context of EU Policy Objective 5the thematically and spatially diverse CLLD instruments (Community-led Local Development, in regional development as well as the creation of smart cities and communities). According to our newest information within the commune of Żuromin, they are going to build two biogas plants. This situation is compliant with our findings.

Will smart cities enhance the social capital of residents? The importance of smart neighborhood management

Social capital is a concept that indicates the strength of the relationship among people inside and outside a community. It is a factor that facilitates policy for community formation and regeneration and is also an indicator of the outcome of a policy for improving a community. This study examined the hypothesis that the regional efforts to create smart cities using advanced ICT technologies enhance the social capital of the city and identified the factors that enhance social capital. Urban policy in Japan is shifting from hardware-oriented development to software-oriented area management; the Minato Mirai 21 district in the city of Yokohama is a typical example of area management. The essence of smart transition is to enhance various management functions by using smart social technologies, such as advanced information communication. The attractiveness of smart cities with sophisticated area management provided by such technologies will likely be high. Thus, this study's results will provide useful implications for better area management in smart cities.

Cybersecurity for digital twins in the built environment: current research and future directions

Recent technological developments in the construction industry are seeking to create smart cities by using Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) to enhance information models such as BIM. Currently, BIM models are commonly adopted to work with IoT-based systems and embrace smart technologies that offer interoperability in the communication layer. In future, it is envisioned that digital twins will provide new possibilities for cyber-physical systems via monitoring and simulation. However, rarely in this rapidly developing field is security fully considered. This paper reviews the relevant literature regarding the use of the IoT in the built environment and analyses current practices. It also presents examples of cities that use the IoT to improve construction and the lived experience. Finally, it reviews how digital twins factor in multiple layers defined in CPSs, from physical objects to information models. Based on this review, recommendations are provided documenting how BIM specifications can be expanded to become IoT compliant, enhancing standards to support cybersecurity, and ensuring digital twin and city standards can be fully integrated in future secure smart cities.

Economic opportunities for creating smart cities in Poland. Does wealth matter?

The development of smart cities in practice requires significant investments and financial expenses, therefore, the authors of the article decided to identify and evaluate the economic conditions of this process, which is rarely analysed in the literature on the subject. For this purpose, they conducted representative surveys in 287 Polish cities, taking into account 5 groups of parameters related to the subsequent stages of the evolution of smart cities. According to the obtained results, the key barrier to the development of smart cities in Poland is the unsatisfactory level of prosperity of the residents and the difficult financial situation of cities, which means that the vast majority of the surveyed areas are not able to attempt to get closer to the Smart City 1.0 generation. In contacts with stakeholders, Polish cities prefer the triple helix model, focused on business cooperation and creating favourable conditions for commercial entrepreneurship. Relationships of higher order helices (with communities or ecological organisations) are not a priority for them, which may contribute to the aggravation of urban pathologies in the form of unsustainability and socio-economic exclusion. Conclusions and recommendations resulting from the research contribute to the economics of smart cities and can be used in the practical improvement of the process of their creation and development.

Marketing of Cities as Centres of Socio-Economic Development in the Process of Globalisation

Modern trends in the formation of urban development are based primarily on the extent to which the territory of a city can be attractive for investors, interested people in general and public administration systems. When regarding programs for the development of urban areas in the structure of sustainable development, it is necessary to highlight the methods of forming an attractive image of a city, which is considered a marketing tool. Understanding the possibilities for the development of an urban area requires the formation of tools for spatial marketing and opportunities for the establishment of measures for the development of individual tools of communication between city authorities and the external environment. The novelty of the research is determined by the structural feature of the formation of an integrated method of using marketing tools to promote the image of a city in the informational, social, and cultural aspects. The authors show the tools for implementing the marketing strategy of the urban area as elements of sustainable development. Stakeholders of sustainable development are shown not only local management structures but also global investment funds and transnational corporations. The practical significance of the study is determined by the possibility of forming based on an urban area, which is marked by the presence of sustainable development markers, innovative and science-intensive centres, and analytical corporations. The formation of development centres is also possible through the creation of smart cities.

Multiscalar Smart City Governance in India

Despite the proliferation of smart city initiatives in the Global South, their implementation and governance mechanisms remain understudied. Using the Indian case as focus, this paper analyses the governance structures, mechanisms, and processes utilised to create smart cities as part of the Smart Cities Mission, introduced by the Government of India in 2015. The paper offers extensive empirical analysis in the three cities of Bhubaneswar, Pune and Chennai that are among the first 20 smart cities prioritised for implementation. We first analyse how the governance framework provided by the Smart Cities Mission in India unfolds at three spatial scales – national, state and local – with the intersection of the scales differing in the three cities. Second, our analysis of the new form of governance involving public–private actors shows the conflict of responsibilities on a local scale. In conclusion, we highlight the absence of collaborative governance and reduced capacity in local governments – as significant challenges for smart city development in India.

Sociological modeling of smart city with the implementation of UN sustainable development goals

The COVID-19 pandemic before mass vaccination can be restrained only by the limitation of contacts between people, which makes the digital economy a key condition for survival. More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and many cities have already transformed into “smart” digital/virtual hubs. Digital services ensure city life safe without an economy lockout and unemployment. Urban society strives to be safe, sustainable, well-being, and healthy. We set the task to construct a hybrid sociological and technological concept of a smart city with matched solutions, complementary to each other. Our modeling with the elaborated digital architectures and with the bionic solution for ensuring sufficient data governance showed that a smart city in comparison with the traditional city is tightly interconnected inside like a social “organism”. Society has entered a decisive decade during which the world will change by moving closer towards SDGs targets 2030 as well as by the transformation of cities and their digital infrastructures. It is important to recognize the large vector of sociological transformation as smart cities are just a transition phase to human-centered personal space or smart home. The “atomization” of the world urban population raises the gap problem in achieving SDGs because of different approaches to constructing digital architectures for smart cities or smart homes in countries. The strategy of creating smart cities should bring each citizen closer to SDGs at the individual level, laying in the personal space the principles of sustainable development and wellness of personality.

The role of locality and place-specific development paths in creating smart cities: The example of middle-sized Hungarian cities

Smart cities have spawned a global discourse, which is, however, dominated by notions and theories originating from major metropolis regions in the Global North/West, as well as by quantitative approaches. Drawing on case studies from Hungary, this paper aims to reveal how place-specific factors influence smart-city development and to discover the characteristics of this development in the Hungarian context. For this purpose, qualitative research methods, namely a content analysis of policy documents and semi-structured expert interviews, were used. Based on the results, we distinguished four development paths: representative, stalled, organizational model, and focused smart city. Findings broaden the general understanding of smart-city development, providing policy recommendations for the future adaptation of the concept.

Smart City Technology: Ecological Sustainability

The Smart City concept includes a fairly wide range of characteristics of this new phenomenon for modern society. The main goal of creating smart cities is the comfortable living in them of people with a high level of well-being. The quality of living conditions for people in smart cities directly depends on how clean their natural environment is. The article examines the features of the development of the ecological vector of creating cities with maximum amenities for residents. Possible risks associated with negligence towards objects of animate and inanimate nature are listed, ways of high-quality environmental protection of cities of the future are outlined.

«ЗЕЛЕНЫЕ» ТРЕНДЫ УСТОЙЧИВОГО РАЗВИТИЯ ТЕРРИТОРИИ

The article analyzes the relationship of sustainable development with the introduction of “green” technologies and the formation of smart cities. The role of sustainability as a basic feature of smart cities, which are based on the integration and complexity of the formation of urban space, taking into account its digital transformation, including a wide coverage of information and communication technologies and electronic networks, is shown. The article describes the possible structure of a smart city, including infrastructure, economic, social, information and management components of the urban economy. Within the framework of the selected structural directions of smart city formation, the main possible “green” technologies as an attribute of the “green” economy and smart city are presented. Based on the generalization of the accumulated knowledge on the problems of the smart city, the basic principles of the concept of smart cities are systematized and concisely presented. When analyzing various structural components of a smart city, the content of the activity and the expected result are shown. The author highlighted both the main favorable and possible negative consequences, as well as the controversial issues of creating smart cities and introducing “green” technologies.

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES FOR COMMITTING SABOTAGE AND TERRORISM

The article discusses the problems that arise in connection with the crimes against state and public security committed by use of computer and network technologies. This topic is becoming relevant because some states have already experienced the effects of combat computer viruses, which can be regarded as waging war using cyber weapons. The most famous example is the attack by the Stuxnet computer virus on an Iranian uranium enrichment plant. The virus was created specifically to disable industrial control systems. The use of unmanned ground and air vehicles to carry out terrorist acts is of particular danger. The Russian military in Syria is constantly confronted with terrorist attacks: the Khmeimim aerospace forces base is regularly attacked with unmanned air vehicles - drones. Terrorist acts with the use of computer and network technologies are no less dangerous. The destructive potential of cyberterrorism is determined by the widespread computerization of state and public life, the implementation of projects to create smart cities, including smart transportation, as well as the intensive development of the Internet of things. The purpose of the article is to analyze new criminal threats to state and public security, as well as to study high-tech ways of committing crimes such as sabotage, terrorist acts, and other crimes of a terrorist nature. The cost of their consequences for society is very high, and criminals do not always need to attack social objects directly - it is enough to spread panic among the population using online media, social networks and websites of authorities of various levels, after obtaining illegal access to them. The article describes some of the techniques already used to commit crimes of sabotage and terrorism. The authors draw attention to the priority of cybersecurity both for engineers of devices with elements of artificial intelligence, and for lawmakers who should pay attention to methods of technical forecasting when developing legal norms aimed at prevention of new ways of committing such crimes. When writing the article, the authors used a wide range of Russian and foreign sources of legal, statistical, sociological and other information. The authors used such research methods as analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, formal legal method as well as comparative legal method.

THE FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SMART CITY APPLICATIONS: PREFACE

Abstract. This Conference Proceedings volume contains the written versions of the contributions presented during the 5th International Conference on Smart City Applications.At first, the event had been planned to organized in Safranbolu Campus of Karabuk University, Türkiye. Then, it has been converted to the online conference because of the Covid-19 situation. It took place with the motto of “Virtual Safranbolu” by inspiring historical UNESCO Heritage city Safranbolu, on October 07-08, 2020. The conference provided a setting for discussing recent developments in a wide variety of topics including Geo-Smart Information Systems, Smart Cities, 3D City Modeling and Visualization, Smart Building and Home Automation, Smart Environment and Smart Agriculture, Location Based Services, GeoInformation for Mobile, Wearable Technologies and Wireless Sensor Networks, Building Information Modeling, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Big Data and Urban Data Analytics, Smart Healthcare, Smart Economy and Digital Business, Smart Education and Intelligent Learning System, and etc.The event has been a good opportunity for the more than 300 participants coming from more than 30 countries of the world to present and discuss topics in their respective research areas. In addition, four keynote speakers presented latest achievements on their fields; Alias Abdul Rahman "Smart Cities and Geo-Spatial Technologies", Şule Erten Ela "Smart Cities and Energy", Bülent Bayram "Deep learning applications for shoreline extraction from Landsat and Sentinel satellite Imagery", Attaullah Shah "Review Use of Modern Technologies in Creating Smart Cities".The 63 papers that were selected as a result of double-blind review process and presented during the conference were accepted for the final publication in the ISPRS Archives.We would like to thank all participants, organizing and scientific committee members, and session chairs for their contributions to the conference program and these Proceedings.

Methodological approach to the digitalization of adoption decisions for the renovation of urban environment

The article substantiates the feasibility of applying BIM technologies and digitalization methods for planning complex multi-aspect renovation of urban infrastructure facilities, as one of the directions for creating smart cities. Moreover, as an effective approach, it is proposed to use the method of system analysis, including the development of a model of the urban environment, the establishment of indicators characterizing the state of the objects of urban areas, the methodology for choosing solutions for updating the objects under consideration, etc. Implementing a systematic approach to digitalization of planning the renovation of urban areas, an action plan has been developed in the form of separate strata - layers that sequentially regulate and ensure an effective order and content of decisions made.

Why are smart cities proving to be so hard to deliver?

Why are smart cities proving to be so hard to deliver?

Introduction to the special section: Smart citizens creating smart cities: Locating citizen participation in the smart city

Introduction to the special section: Smart citizens creating smart cities: Locating citizen participation in the smart city

IoT Technology Applications-Based Smart Cities: Research Analysis

The development of technologies enables the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) in urban environments, creating smart cities. Hence, the optimal management of data generated in the interconnection of electronic sensors in real time improves the quality of life. The objective of this study is to analyze global research on smart cities based on IoT technology applications. For this, bibliometric techniques were applied to 1232 documents on this topic, corresponding to the period 2011–2019, to obtain findings on scientific activity and the main thematic areas. Scientific production has increased annually, so that the last triennium has accumulated 83.23% of the publications. The most outstanding thematic areas were Computer Science and Engineering. Seven lines have been identified in the development of research on smart cities based on IoT applications. In addition, the study has detected seven new future research directions. The growing trend at the global level of scientific production shows the interest in developing aspects of smart cities based on IoT applications. This study contributes to the academic, scientific, and institutional discussion to improve decision making based on the available information.

Internet of things-based urban waste management system for smart cities using a Cuckoo Search Algorithm

Waste management is one of the crucial issues in the creation of smart cities. Because of population growth, keeping urban areas clean is a challenge. The Internet of things (IoT) has played a vital role in urban computing because it facilitates the collection, integration, and processing of various types of information. Thus, the aim of this research is to develop an Internet of Things-Based Urban Waste Management System. IoT devices hav been used to monitor human activity and to support waste management. Information about a city was collected and processed in a cuckoo search-optimized long short-term recurrent neural network. The network facilitated the analysis of the waste type, truck size, and waste source. This information alerted the waste management centers so that the appropriate actions could be taken. The efficiency of this IoT-based waste management process was evaluated through an experimental analysis. The system was found to ensure that the bins were processed on a priority basis with minimum error (0.16) and maximum accuracy (98.4%) in the minimum amount of time (15 min).

Just Smart or Just and Smart Cities? Assessing the Literature on Housing and Information and Communication Technology

ABSTRACT Housing issues, including affordability, instability, and the search for available units, present ongoing challenges for urban inhabitants. Supporters claim information and communication technology (ICT) can solve housing problems through increased efficiency, transparency, and the creation of smart cities. However, little is known about the actual use and application of ICT data on housing issues. This article reviews and assesses recent empirical research involving housing and ICT data. Using Web of Science to identify relevant articles, we find most studies focus on housing search and prices or home sharing, which partly reflects the availability of data in these domains. Few articles use ICT data to explore housing challenges for economically vulnerable, historically disadvantaged, or marginalized groups. We discuss concerns about representation in ICT data related to housing and argue for more attention to the needs of vulnerable groups to help build more inclusive smart cities.

Urban Digital Twins for Smart Cities and Citizens: The Case Study of Herrenberg, Germany

Cities are complex systems connected to economic, ecological, and demographic conditions and change. They are also characterized by diverging perceptions and interests of citizens and stakeholders. Thus, in the arena of urban planning, we are in need of approaches that are able to cope not only with urban complexity but also allow for participatory and collaborative processes to empower citizens. This to create democratic cities. Connected to the field of smart cities and citizens, we present in this paper, the prototype of an urban digital twin for the 30,000-people town of Herrenberg in Germany. Urban digital twins are sophisticated data models allowing for collaborative processes. The herein presented prototype comprises (1) a 3D model of the built environment, (2) a street network model using the theory and method of space syntax, (3) an urban mobility simulation, (4) a wind flow simulation, and (5) a number of empirical quantitative and qualitative data using volunteered geographic information (VGI). In addition, the urban digital twin was implemented in a visualization platform for virtual reality and was presented to the general public during diverse public participatory processes, as well as in the framework of the “Morgenstadt Werkstatt” (Tomorrow’s Cities Workshop). The results of a survey indicated that this method and technology could significantly aid in participatory and collaborative processes. Further understanding of how urban digital twins support urban planners, urban designers, and the general public as a collaboration and communication tool and for decision support allows us to be more intentional when creating smart cities and sustainable cities with the help of digital twins. We conclude the paper with a discussion of the presented results and further research directions.