European Smart Cities Research Articles

REMI: A framework of reusable elements for mining heterogeneous data with missing information

Applications targeting smart cities tackle common challenges, however solutions are seldom portable from one city to another due to the heterogeneity of smart city ecosystems. A major obstacle involves the differences in the levels of available information. In this work, we present REMI, which is a mining framework that handles varying degrees of information availability by providing a meta-solution to missing data. The framework core concept is the REMI layered stack architecture, offering two complementary approaches to dealing with missing information, namely data enrichment (DARE) and graceful degradation (GRADE). DARE aims at inference of missing information levels, while GRADE attempts to mine the patterns using only the existing data.We show that REMI provides multiple ways for re-usability, while being fault tolerant and enabling incremental development. One may apply the architecture to different problem instantiations within the same domain, or deploy it across various domains. Furthermore, we introduce the other three components of the REMI framework backing the layered stack. To support decision making in this framework, we show a mapping of REMI into an optimization problem (OTP) that balances the trade-off between three costs: inaccuracies in inference of missing data (DARE), errors when using less information (GRADE), and gathering of additional data. Further, we provide an experimental evaluation of REMI using real-world transportation data coming from two European smart cities, namely Dublin and Warsaw.

From the “smart city” to the “smart metropolis”? Building resilience in the urban periphery

The “smart city” has risen to global prominence over the past two decades as an urban planning and development strategy. As a broad but contested toolkit of technological services and policy interventions aimed at improving the efficacy and efficiency of urban systems, the “smart city” is subject to several pressing critiques. This paper acknowledges these concerns, but recognizes the potential of “urban intelligence” to enhance the resiliency of metropolitan areas. As such, we focus on an under-researched dimension of smart city urbanism: its application in peripheral urban areas. The paper introduces a threefold typology of: (a) geographic (spatial); (b) hard (material); and (c) soft (social) urban peripherality. Second, it reviews the concept of urban resilience and considers how its central characteristics can inform the objectives and implementation of “smart city” infrastructures and planning. Six European smart city plans are assessed via a qualitative content analysis, to identify the target of smart city actions; the characteristics of urban resilience mobilized; and the spatial focus of planned interventions. The comparative analysis reveals a variegated set of smart-city approaches. Notably, “smart” actions aimed at enhancing social innovation are the most common type of intervention, while overall there remains a strong tendency for smart urbanism to focus on the urban core. We conclude by calling for a research agenda addressing smartness in, of, and for, peripheral urban spaces and communities.

Defining and assessing the transformational nature of smart city governance: insights from four European cases

Smart cities are a new approach to urban development based on the extensive use of information and communication technologies and on the promotion of environmental sustainability, economic development and innovation. The article is aimed at discussing whether the adoption of a smart city approach entails the transformation of existing institutional structures and administrative practices. To this end, four cases of European smart cities are analysed: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Turin and Vienna. The article describes their models of governance, investigates the level of transformation that occurred in their governmental structures, outlines the main drawbacks and identifies possible connections with the emergent paradigm of the New Public Governance.

Governance in Smart Cities: A Comparison of Practitioners' Perceptions and Prior Research

Many of the challenges to be faced by smart cities surpass the capacities, capabilities, and reaches of their traditional institutions and their classical processes of governing, and therefore new and innovative forms of governance are needed to meet these challenges. According to the network governance literature, governance models in public administrations can be categorized through the identification and analysis of some main dimensions that govern in the way of managing the city by governments. Based on prior research and on the perception of city practitioners in European smart cities, this paper seeks to analyze the relevance of main dimensions of governance models in smart cities as well as to identify differences among prior research and perceptions of practitioners regarding these dimensions. Results could shed some light regarding new future research on efficient patterns of governance models within smart cities.

Functionality between the size and indicators of smart cities: A research challenge with policy implications

The paper focusses on the concept of a smart city and its specific components in relation to size of the city. Smart cities are a topic whose key importance is being increasingly recognised across both academic disciplines and urban planning. The idea of a smart city is a dream of urban planners all over the world, and a subject of many research and business initiatives as well as policy debates. As cities vary considerably in size, it is important to ask if the size influences the level of selected indicators of smart cities. Our main presumption is that the development level of indicators of smart cities varies in cities of different size. Our scientific objective is to find a simple understandable model linking the categorical variable “city size” to a group of smart city indicators. Our data set contains 26 smart city indicators for 158 European smart cities, divided into two sizes: medium-sized cities and larger cities. We draw from the methodology of “European Smart Cities” elaborated by the Vienna University of Technology (Project ID: 314704) that classify European smart cities and smart city indicators by considering their size.Analysing the statistics by using decision tree modelling, we identify the most significant indicators of smart cities that can divide smart cities into size categories with impressive 96.2% correct classification. Besides excellent classification result based on real empirical data, several research results overturn common assumptions about smart cities.Based on the research results the paper also highlights intriguing future challenges in smart city research and policy development. Several research results have policy implications and might be useful for urban planners, policy representatives and decision makers.

Creative citizenship: the new wave for collaborative environments in smart cities

PropósitoEste artículo se enmarca dentro del estudio de los modelos de gobernanza colaborativa en las ciudades inteligentes y analiza aquéllas que son miembros de la red EUROCITIES y, además, participan en un grupo de trabajo sobre "ciudadanía creativa", buscando analizar el uso de las nuevas tecnologías por parte de los gobiernos de estas ciudades inteligentes con el objetivo de mejorar la e-participación pública.Diseño/metodología/enfoqueEsta investigación se basa en dos métodos de recopilación de datos. En primer lugar, este documento realiza una encuesta electrónica enviada a las principales ciudades inteligentes europeas sobre: a) la relevancia de la gobernanza colaborativa en las estrategias de las ciudades; b) los principales fundamentos y resultados de la gobernanza inteligente; y c) el modelo de participación en el desarrollo de una ciudad inteligente. En segundo lugar, este trabajo realiza, a fecha de mayo de 2017, un análisis de las nuevas tecnologías utilizadas por 47 gobiernos locales de estas ciudades inteligentes (aquéllas incluidas en el grupo de trabajo de "ciudadanía creativa" en la red EUROCITIES) para facilitar la participación electrónica de la ciudadanía.HallazgosLas ciudades inteligentes de muestra creen que la gobernanza colaborativa debe ser implementada en la gestión de la ciudad inteligente, pero menos del 50% han creado plataformas de e-participación ciudadana para promover la involucración de la ciudadanía en los asuntos públicos, y sólo unas pocas de estas ciudades promueven el desarrollo de consultas, discusiones y peticiones online. Además, un análisis realizado por culturas administrativas destaca la existencia de diferencias entre las percepciones obtenidas de los gestores de las ciudades inteligentes de la muestra y las herramientas que estas ciudades utilizan para fomentar la e-participación pública.Originalidad/valourEste documento contribuye a llenar el vacío en la investigación sobre el análisis de la relevancia de los modelos de gobernanza colaborativa en ciudades inteligentes y el uso de web de transparencia, de datos abiertos o de plataformas de participación electrónica para promover la participación ciudadana en los asuntos públicos dentro de estas ciudades.

Co-Governing Smart Cities Through Living Labs. Top Evidences From EU

Our purpose is to identify the relevance of participative governance in urban areas characterized by smart cities projects, especially those implementing Living Labs initiatives as real-life settings to develop services innovation and enhance engagement of all urban stakeholders. A research on the three top smart cities in Europe – i.e. Amsterdam, Barcelona and Helsinki – is proposed through a content analysis with NVivo on the offi cial documents issued by the project partners (2012-2015) to investigate their Living Lab initiatives. The results show the increasing usefulness of Living Labs for the development of more inclusive smart cities projects in which public and private actors, and people, collaborate in innovation processes and governance for the co-creation of new services, underlining the importance of the open and ecosystem-oriented approach for smart cities.

Network Northamptonshire: total transport smart city procurement theoretical framework for sustainable economic and social change

Culture, governance and procurement remain under-researched in current academic literature within a smart city transportation context, with evidence suggesting that procurement is a much needed aspect of bringing about change at local government level. This paper showcases the research based upon the “Network Northamptonshire” total transport project, bringing together elements of peer-reviewed research that purport success in the delivery of the smart city concept, allied to identifying gaps in the literature relating to best-in-class business practice to develop a theoretical framework “total transport smart city procurement”. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates that there is a disconnect between the ideals of the smart city and actual development needs, with the authors supporting the need for further research in the area of smart cities’ connection to culture, governance and procurement through the proposed framework in order to convey the wider European smart city concept and continue the sharing of ...

Smart Cities and Sustainability: A Set of Vertical Solutions for Managing Resources

The Smart City vision can be viewed as a “system of systems”, where all systems within it are interconnected, in constant communication with each other in real time, exchanging information, and making smart decisions all in a sustainable and highly efficient model. Two decades ago, the Smart City concept was born to address emerging city sustainability issues and was mainly focused on energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. More recently the term was attached to the role of ICT infrastructure. This paper aims to clarify interrelations between the Smart City concept and fostering the sustainable development of cities. The paper is based on an analytical study of the main characteristics and systems of a Smart City, emphasizing the significant role of Future Internet in the development of Smart Cities. The first section is a short introduction to challenges and drivers for a Smart City. Sections two and three discuss the technological context of Future Internet and the expected impact of Internet-of-Things, sensors, tags, and cloud computing on Smart Cities. The next two sections analyze the main Smart City Systems and approaches for managing them. Moreover, sections six and seven analyze two of the top performing Smart Cities in Europe and also address the UAE 2021 Vision in order to assert the environmental impacts that occur as a result of transforming into a Smart City. This paper concludes with a common framework for transforming cities into smart ones, which depends on the nature, circumstances, and resources of each city.

SINFONIA Project Mass Appraisal: Beyond the Value of Energy Performance in Buildings

Energy retrofit of existing buildings stock is today a major urban challenge and opportunity. Although a market appreciation of green buildings is generally recognized, specificities related to different countries, contexts and sectors still need further investigation. Moreover, the energy retrofit carries with it multiple elements, ranging from monetary savings to personal fulfillment of living greener. The ongoing European smart city project SINFONIA offers the chance to analyze a double international case study, and to estimate expected positive effects on dwellings’ value, due to energy retrofit measures undertaken at the district level. This paper, starting from previous similar experiences, designs an operational approach based on spatial hedonic price method and analytic hierarchy process. Finally, it suggests how to develop a spatialized mass appraisal by linking results with a geographical information system. Such approach will contribute to assess the socio-economic impact of SINFONIA project and to evaluate the effectiveness of further smart city initiatives.

European plans for the smart city: from theories and rules to logistics test case

ABSTRACTCity evolution is connected to social, economic and technological evolutions. New technologies induce further changes, which are highly innovative, which again affect the urban and territorial systems. The city once again adjusts to new opportunities in relation to information and communications technologies, energy and mobility. In this paper, smart city, configured as a set of interacting systems with people, is focused as a possible model to follow for pursuing sustainability in real cities of the twenty-first century. Three processes are recalled: city development, city planning theories and city rules. Smart city seems to be the convergent point for all processes evolving in European urban areas. Theoretical definitions of smart city are recalled. At the same time, the European Commission is promoting smart city rules for implementation. Moreover, in the last years some local decision-makers implemented specific measures that today can be considered in the class of smart city measures. The objective of the paper is to analyse the European perspectives for smart city, trying to separate the three processes that are strongly integrated, but without formal links. To verify the European smart city approach, a study case concerning city logistics is considered.

Information reuse in smart cities' ecosystems

Smart cities are service providers as well as sources of public data. The reuse of cities’ data through the application of technology enables the creation of innovative services for citizens. Apps, developed by reusing information, are considered a key indicator for the creation of services. This paper explores the main characteristics of these apps and their relationship to services. The analysis performed in the main smart cities in Europe shows the importance of timely information release and the geo-location of published data. Transport and tourism seem to be the most popular areas of application. This article builds on the area of research in previous studies and includes additional information of apps’ characteristics to meet service needs.

Smart Cities in Europe and the ALMA Logistics Project

Smart Cities in Europe and the ALMA Logistics Project

Chasing Smart Communities standards: Lesson Learnt from Geothermal Communities Project in Montieri (Italy)

European Smart Cities and Communities initiative is asking cities to improve quality of urban life by developing actions aiming at better integrating infrastructures and rationalizing energy use. Lessons learnt from former European demonstration projects represent a valuable expertise on integrated actions aimed at developing innovative measures at urban level. The paper reports and discusses the first results of demonstration activities undertaken in the Italian site of Geothermal Communities project (European Commission, FP7 CONCERTO initiative) where best practices in geothermal energy use, integrated with other renewable energy sources and retrofitting measures, were implemented.

The Smart City and the Green Economy in Europe: A Critical Approach

It is shown in this article that the current European legislation makes the future progress of smart cities critically dependent on the advancement of the green economy and consequently on the further development of energy efficiency and of renewable energy sources. However, the lack of a clear legal framework capable of transforming the current pledges into binding rules at national level can jeopardize the establishment of a more direct and profitable link between the extensive European legislation on energy and environment, and the harmonious and efficient development of smart cities in Europe.

Smart cities in perspective – a comparative European study by means of self-organizing maps

Cities form the heart of a dynamic society. In an open space-economy cities have to mobilize all of their resources to remain attractive and competitive. Smart cities depend on creative and knowledge resources to maximize their innovation potential. This study offers a comparative analysis of nine European smart cities on the basis of an extensive database covering two time periods. After conducting a principal component analysis, a new approach, based on a self-organizing map analysis, is adopted to position the various cities under consideration according to their selected “smartness” performance indicators.

Smart Cities in Europe

Urban performance currently depends not only on a city's endowment of hard infrastructure (physical capital), but also, and increasingly so, on the availability and quality of knowledge communication and social infrastructure (human and social capital). The latter form of capital is decisive for urban competitiveness. Against this background, the concept of the “smart city” has recently been introduced as a strategic device to encompass modern urban production factors in a common framework and, in particular, to highlight the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the last 20 years for enhancing the competitive profile of a city. The present paper aims to shed light on the often elusive definition of the concept of the “smart city.” We provide a focused and operational definition of this construct and present consistent evidence on the geography of smart cities in the EU27. Our statistical and graphical analyses exploit in depth, for the first time to our knowledge, the most recent version of the Urban Audit data set in order to analyze the factors determining the performance of smart cities. We find that the presence of a creative class, the quality of and dedicated attention to the urban environment, the level of education, and the accessibility to and use of ICTs for public administration are all positively correlated with urban wealth. This result prompts the formulation of a new strategic agenda for European cities that will allow them to achieve sustainable urban development and a better urban landscape.