Smart City Technologies Research Articles

Smart City Technologies implemented in public transport in a post-COVID-19 pandemic scenario

With the global pandemic of COVID-19 completing one year, this paper intends to analyse the perceptions of public transport users about the implementation of smart city technologies. Two aspects were analysed, namely: the perception of safety regarding the use of surveillance technologies in the containment of the virus; and the perception of safety of the same technologies regarding data protection and privacy. After the identification and choice of initiatives in smart cities to be addressed, a questionnaire was prepared and made available online, in which 414 replies were considered for the final analysis, respecting the proportionality of the percentage of replies in each region to the respective population percentage. In general, technologies provide a great sense of security regarding the use of public transportation. However, they cause concern regarding data protection and privacy. From this result and with analyses in relation to the regulation of personal data, international experiences and the Brazilian reality were contrasted.

Underneath the Promise of Safety and Security in a ‘Smart City’

In this article, we explore the promises of security that are embedded in the smart city technologies and algorithms and their potential implications for creating social inequality and discrimination. Our ethnographic case study is the Living Lab Stratumseind, a popular nightlife street in Eindhoven where smart technologies and algorithms are being tested with the aim of increasing security in the street. First, we introduce the context in which the Living Lab Stratumseind was developed and trace this development and the multiple forms of governance that characterise it and highlight the main ‘smart technologies’ that can be found there. Second, we focus our attention on the ways in which smart technologies and algorithms promise to enhance public security by directly and uncritically translating technological rationales and discourses into social domains. Third, we argue that the smart city technologies and algorithms risk to create, reproduce and reinforce social inequalities and discrimination, and that it is unclear who is responsible for these unanticipated consequences.

Contributions of Smart City Solutions and Technologies to Resilience against the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Literature Review

Since its emergence in late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept through many cities around the world, claiming millions of lives and causing major socio-economic impacts. The pandemic occurred at an important historical juncture when smart solutions and technologies have become ubiquitous in many cities. Against this background, in this review, we examine how smart city solutions and technologies have contributed to resilience by enhancing planning, absorption, recovery, and adaptation abilities. For this purpose, we reviewed 147 studies that have discussed issues related to the use of smart solutions and technologies during the pandemic. The results were synthesized under four themes, namely, planning and preparation, absorption, recovery, and adaptation. This review shows that investment in smart city initiatives can enhance the planning and preparation ability. In addition, the adoption of smart solutions and technologies can, among other things, enhance the capacity of cities to predict pandemic patterns, facilitate an integrated and timely response, minimize or postpone transmission of the virus, provide support to overstretched sectors, minimize supply chain disruption, ensure continuity of basic services, and offer solutions for optimizing city operations. These are promising results that demonstrate the utility of smart solutions for enhancing resilience. However, it should be noted that realizing this potential hinges on careful attention to important issues and challenges related to privacy and security, access to open-source data, technological affordance, legal barriers, technological feasibility, and citizen engagement. Despite this, this review shows that further development of smart city initiatives can provide unprecedented opportunities for enhancing resilience to the pandemic and similar future events.

Implementing Smart City Technologies to Inspire Change in Consumer Energy Behaviour

One of the main challenges in smart city models is consumer behaviour, namely guiding the efforts to promote optimal use of energy in the dynamics of the developing cities, through lower energy consumption without impact on the comfort level. This relates to all energy vectors and can be done through different means. The uptake stage of smart metering and information and communication technologies (ICT) varies in different countries, creating the need for tailored innovative approaches in motivating behavioural change. This paper presents the work carried out within the joint research project ITCity (an ICT platform for sustainable energy ecosystem in smart cities) between the European Union and Latin American Countries. Cooperation of energy researchers and experts in ICT and application developers facilitates adoption of a multipurpose interdisciplinary approach. This work aims at providing the smart city and energy research and innovation community broader understanding of factors influencing adoption of energy efficiency technologies. Different ways of guiding optimal energy use are addressed elaborating on the building blocks for a smart city which consider load patterns based on high resolution, high reporting rate measurements, extensive consumer surveys, available communication solution analysis and end-user interaction with the ICT tool based on gamification principles.

Secure and Efficient Honey List-Based Authentication Protocol for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) and Internet of Vehicle (IoV) technologies are particularly attracting attention from industrial communities because of the intelligent transportation systems of smart city technologies. Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication of VANET can guarantee traffic system management and road safety. However, V2V communication cannot manage many vehicles as a whole, so it needs to be segmented and communicated by region. Therefore, considering locality, key agreement is made for V2V communication of the same or different regions. Moreover, traditional public key infrastructure (PKI) and Kerberos systems to be applied in a real environment incur computational overhead. Therefore, we proposed a lightweight protocol for dynamic properties of vehicles for regional segmentation management and overhead resolution. In addition, because vehicle information is transmitted through public channels, our protocol uses mutual authentication and honey_list technology to ensure security against a variety of attacks. It provides verification of safety through a detailed security analysis using the formal analysis using the widely-accepted Real-Or-Random (ROR) model, and verifies formal security using the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) software tool and non-mathematical (informal) security analysis. In addition, a detailed comparative study that the proposed scheme can be applied in the communication environment between actual vehicles as compared to other existing competing schemes.

The Seductive Smart City and the Benevolent Role of Transparency

Digital Twins and automated decision-making systems operate on real-time sensor data extracted from the built environment to seamlessly produce insights and decisions to predict and influence behaviour in the city. However, these processes are opaque to urban occupants and as such, power holders are not held accountable for decisions. This article applies a Deleuzian lens to consider how desiring-production and modulated forms of control seduce the urban occupant through an uncritical techno-entrepreneurial framing of the smart city. In turn, this techno-optimistic narrative of smart cities seduces us into new modulated representations of ourselves in a society of control. This article argues that transparency practices in digital twins and other smart city technologies are essential as they need to signal benevolence and support trust formation in the city. Transparency practices that communicate the context of data focused decision-making allow power holders, HCI and CSCW practitioners, other technology developers and city administrators to be held accountable for these decisions. At the same time, transparency in the architecture and processes of the digital twin and ADSs creates spaces within seamless dataveillance-to-decision output processes for selfhood development, to allow ‘the right to the city’ to emerge. This article also considers strategies in which practices of power through seduction in digital twins and other smart city technologies can be made to be more benevolent through transparency.

Understanding the linkages of smart-city technologies and applications: Key lessons from a text mining approach and a call for future research

There have been many attempts to transform cities into smart cities worldwide. However, it is difficult to understand and describe smart cities from different perspectives, given the widespread application of the concept of smart city in diverse disciplines, such as urban planning, electronic engineering, and computer sciences. This work conducted a comprehensive smart city literature review based on text mining of 3,315 papers on smart cities published in journals indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index databases. These include “all papers” classified as research articles published from 1999 to April 2020. Our findings show the state of the art of research on smart cities, including (i) smart city literature statistics from 1999 to 2019, (ii) 23 research topics related to smart cities, and (iii) geographical variations in smart-city research. Based on these findings, we offer theoretical and practical implications of (1) missing fields of studies, (2) future research directions, and (3) the applicability of text-mining techniques to literature reviews. We believe that this work, which aims to establish a common ground for understanding smart cities from multiple disciplinary perspectives, will encourage further research and development regarding smart cities.

Adoption of big data technologies in smart cities of the European Union: Analysis of the importance and performance of technological factors

Abstract The cities of the European Union are adopting big data technologies in their development towards a smart city. Given that big data technologies are complex and disruptive technologies, it is necessary to determine the importance of factors and their aspects for the adoption of big data technologies in cities. The aim of this paper is to identify the most important aspects of technological factors in the adoption of big data technologies in the cities of the European Union. In order to achieve the goal of the paper a survey was conducted on a sample of European Union cities, and on the collected data, an analysis of the map of importance and performance of factors for the adoption of big data technologies was conducted. The results of the research show that the aspects of absorption capacity and technological readiness of EU cities are of relatively high importance, but with low levels of performance in relation to organizational and environmental factors. The contribution of the paper consists of general guidelines for increasing the level of technological readiness and absorption capacity of cities in order to increase the success of the adoption of big data technologies in the cities of the European Union.

State of Art Survey for IoT Effects on Smart City Technology: Challenges, Opportunities, and Solutions

Automation frees workers from excessive human involvement to promote ease of use while still reducing their input of labor. There are about 2 billion people on Earth who live in cities, which means about half of the human population lives in an urban environment. This number is rising which places great problems for a greater number of people, increased traffic, increased noise, increased energy consumption, increased water use, and land pollution, and waste. Thus, the issue of security, coupled with sustainability, is expected to be addressed in cities that use their brain. One of the most often used methodologies for creating a smart city is the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT connectivity is understood to be the very heart of the city of what makes a smart city. such as sensor networks, wearables, mobile apps, and smart grids that have been developed to harness the city's most innovative connectivity technology to provide services and better control its citizens The focus of this research is to clarify and showcase ways in which IoT technology can be used in infrastructure projects for enhancing both productivity and responsiveness.

Nanogenerators for smart cities in the era of 5G and Internet of Things

<h2>Summary</h2> 5G has taken off at a brisk speed over the years, bringing significant benefits to the Internet of Things (IoT) devices and wireless sensor nodes. The launching of 5G technology provides an excellent opportunity for the faster development of smart cities. Nanogenerators (NGs) have been widely demonstrated as sustainable power sources and self-powered active sensors. The last 15 years of research on NGs have revealed that it can contribute to the digitalization of smart city services, such as localized renewable energy supplies, intelligent transportation, smart vehicles, and digital healthcare applications. The integration of novel NG technology in smart cities will solve problems pertinent to sustainable power sources for decentralized IoT devices and provide pathways for realizing self-powered active sensing systems. In this review, we will provide a comprehensive review of current research on NGs' applications in different sectors of a smart city. More importantly, we will show how NGs can be a game changer in the development of smart cities under 5G services and how the usage of NGs can boost the convenience of city dwellers. Our aim is to draw more attention to NG applications in the digitalization of smart cities and provide a guideline for applying smart concepts in future urban planning.

Guest Editorial: Special Issue on Internet of Things for Industrial Security for Smart Cities

More than half of the world’s current population resides in urban areas to compare to just 30% in the 1950s. The process of urbanization leads to exurban sprawl, the formation of slums, scattered workplaces, and aging infrastructure. These may cause huge inefficiencies in energy use, traffic, governance, waste management, and pollution, among others. To overcome these social, economic, and environmental challenges, public and private sectors invest heavily in smart city technologies. However, the risks of using smart technologies due to security breaches and cyberattacks in critical sectors should be well addressed.

Analysis of Core Technologies and Implementation Services for Smart City

Smart City Platform is a software that optimally allocates resources and provides services to citizens by utilizing ICT technologies such as artificial intelligence, IoT, virtual reality, augmented reality, and 5G mobile communication to solve various urban problems occurring in the city.In order to implement the Smart City environment, basic platform technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, network, Internet of Things(IoT) and Cloud computing are essential.In this paper, we used the big data analysis tool ‘BigKinds’ to lookup the topic 'Smart City Technology' and 'Smart City IoT' in news, editorials and quotations. After analyzing them, we then derived the core technologies needed in building a Smart City. Furthermore, we introduced the concept of the basic Smart City technologies and then deduced implications and drew a conclusion by analyzing both the local and foreign Smart City construction services. In addition, it compared and analyzed the core technologies for supporting services in various smart cities.The Smart City’s basic technologies and service analysis can be utilized by the local government to effectively establish policies and technology strategies in the Smart City industry.

Development of Solar-Powered of Sensors Based Smart Waste Monitoring System

Dustbins (or Garbage Bins, Trash Cans, whatever you name them) are small containers of plastic or metal used on a temporary basis to store trash (or waste). They are also used for the collection of waste in houses, workplaces, highways, parks, etc. Littering is a major crime in some countries, and public waste bins are also the only way to dispose of small waste. Usually, using different bins for handling wet or dry, recyclable or non-recyclable waste is a common practice. From an ETS perspective, smart waste collection can help municipalities and private waste management companies avoid the need for collection sites, waste disposal facilities and waste treatment plants. As communities increasingly rely on smart city technology to improve, among other things, the quality of life of their residents and the environment, city leaders recognize that smart waste management can also help them achieve sustainability goals such as zero waste and improve services to residents, while improving service to residents. As an example, Development of Some solar-powered bins and recycling bins are already equipped with sensors that analyze data on what is disposed of or recycled and notify collectors when the bin is too full and needs to be picked up. These developed Smart waste management solutions use sensors placed in waste bins to measure levels, notify municipal waste collection services, when the bins are ready to be emptied, and also notify municipal waste collection with a ton has been emptied. Therefore, the solar-powered of sensors based smart waste monitoring system is more and more useful to the current smart cities policies under the smart city project works.

The future of smart city: A review of the impending smart city technologies in the world

Smart city is one of the major trending topics of the 4th industrial revolution. It can be described as a city that operates with the help of information communication technology. The world’s population explosion has made the need for smart city ever significant considering the UN statistics. In other to develop new ideas for future technologies of smart cities, this study aimed at reviewing existing literature related to the technologies that will form an integral part of the future smart cities. This study adopted an efficient literature review method by sourcing published journal articles, books and conference articles from web of science and scopus database. The study revealed moveable smart city, automated pandemic detecting city, driverless cars, online central government treasury app, automated self-repairable smart city, 100% online education, financial technology and national e-voting system as key technologies of the future smart cities.

Mediterranean city: constructing a social attractor (the example of Barcelona)

The paper analyzes the experience of Barcelona in constructing a city as a social attractor, an area to which the global socio-economic system gravitates. The role of positive changes in the urban environment, the introduction of intelligent technologies of urban management, linking the city with global flows in ensuring the attractiveness of the Mediterranean city are consistently analyzed. The authors define the fundamental structure of the Mediterranean urban attractor, including openness and accessibility of the sea, internal and external transport accessibility, comfortable urban environment, introduction of smart city technologies and connectivity with the global economy.

Replicating European smart cities?

The paper unpacks the notion of “replication” within the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities from two perspectives: The first focuses on the rationale of replication as laid out in the mission statement and integral to its vision of a European smart city market and interrogates the term borrowed from laboratory science. The second turns to replication in practice and explores how replication work, rather than providing standardized technological solutions, has harmonized the vocabulary of replication narratives, creating repositories of modularized descriptions of solutions for knowledge exchange and inspiration. The conclusion draws attention to how the focus on describing technical details precludes a more fundamental or even public debate on measures, and how the apparent failure to create a mass market for smart city technologies results in an increased access to “soft policy options,” making the European smart city an increasingly governable entity.

Умный город: приход новой демократии или цифрового тоталитаризма?

The main purpose of the article is to study technologies of a smart city to identify the prospects for digital democracy and risks of digital totalitarianism. The basic methodological optics is the discourse analysis, which involves the identification and comparative analysis of various concepts on the selected issues. The supporting methodology was the Case Study principles and the big data analysis capabilities of the Google Trends platform. The article makes a theoretical contribution to the understanding of the algorithmic nature of modern political power, which is the basis of urban technopolitics, as well as the complex configuration of Policy and Politics. Algorithms, as the fundamental basis of digital applications and smart city technologies, are beginning to permeate the entire life of a citizen, closely intertwining with the mechanisms of digital control, rating, political decision-making, extraction, filtering and sorting of information data. It is particularly emphasized that the traditional social reality is transformed into a sociotechnical reality (the phygital world), in which it is no longer possible to rigidly separate the social from the technical. The conclusions indicate that digital democracy is possible only on the principles of open source, while digital totalitarianism, on the contrary, excludes such a model. Without the inclusion of smart citizens, the process of discussion and political decision-making, digital democracy is simply emasculated into a good, but still narrow service on the part of the authorities. In addition, without comprehensive programs in the field of political education, there will be no digital democracy, no smart citizens, only a smart elite will remain.

Multi-layer MoS2-Based Plasmonic Gold Nanowires at Near-Perfect Absorption for Energy Harvesting

One of the biggest challenges in relation to the modernistic vision of smart city technology is to provide confident autonomous energy, notably in terms of power storage. If you want to change an existing lifestyle, you cannot ignore the basic concepts collected from basic physics. The subject of Metamaterials stands for an important research area that can be explored and used to come up with unparalleled ideas about the properties and functions that are completely absent from natural materials. In contrast to other bold technologies, combining a simple layered surface with appropriate material selection makes it possible to pattern and manufacture new types of solar cells that work in a wide frequency range. In this article, we propose a simple method to boost the coupling interaction between metallic gold nanowires with multiple MoS2 layers. The innovation of this work is that the thickness layer changes have great stability in the influence of the absorption performance and electric field distribution in the visible light and near-infrared spectra. Therefore, this new design can be seen as very important in many fields from sensing to solar cell applications.

Challenges and emerging technologies for sustainable smart cities

Challenges and emerging technologies for sustainable smart cities

Pivotal Role of Different Technologies in Waste Management among Urban Communities in India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper emphasizes the status and management of waste generation and explores numerous technology needed for waste management in urban cities, which aim at smartly improving the city and the environment. This was achieved through the study of various technologies that have been used in the waste management sector in urban segments. Methodology – The paper uses secondary data gathered from comprehensive literature, case-studies, journal and internet review are used for this literature review. Findings – The analysis shows that technology has fully revolutionized the world and brought people together. Every area of the application of ICT has achieved the latest technological advancements. This would clarify and improve the public and the community's working using technologies. Different technologies need, however, to be respected in different industries, especially in urban areas, because population growth is high. Research limitations/implications – Waste is one of India's main issues, and the ferocious epidemic has removed the city's life. But the clean lines of the city have now been acutely deteriorated due to its quick urbanization and insufficient waste management. Originality/value – With the rise in population and urbanization, cities have to transform themselves into a Smart City and smart technology can be used to solve different problems impacting society. This study addresses to the problem of waste generated in urban communities and using the technologies to have a smoother flow in the line of waste sector.