City Stakeholders Research Articles

Citizens envisioning life in 2040: A qualitative corporate foresight study in London

AbstractUrban living is changing. Citizens explore new lifestyles in practice and envision alternative urban futures. Companies, as significant stakeholders in cities, are building urban infrastructure and serving citizens' needs. To succeed in the future, companies must be able to navigate the complexity and diversity of evolving cities. However, former corporate foresight research on cities is sparse. This participatory corporate foresight study examines city life in 2040 by engaging a group of London citizens with a lead user profile. A qualitative multimethod approach, consisting of online diaries, a futures imagining workshop, and in‐depth interviews, explores citizens' images of the future and lifestyle changes. The lifestyle adjustments experienced during the COVID‐19 pandemic period have acted as a catalyst for novel personal and communal futures. The broad range of visions included both continuity and discontinuity, with a moderately optimistic undertone, and featured communal, infrastructural, ecological, and technological aspects of life. These visions emphasized sustainability in multiple areas of life and demonstrated the dynamic relationship of the past, present, and future. The methodological contribution of this paper lies in its multimethod approach, which enabled an agile collection of textual and audio‐visual datasets in both online and face‐to‐face contexts. This agility is particularly relevant in a corporate foresight context, where companies must balance efficiency, depth, and applicability while operating under resource constraints. The article also extends the lead user approach's use from individual products and services to the city environment and urban lifestyle in general.

An Assessment of urban greening challenges and opportunities associated with urban densification in the EThekwini Municipality

ABSTRACT It is critical that urban densification is accepted as a planning strategy for enhanced, sustainable urban development, especially considering the compacting of urban areas, integrated land uses, reduced land take and the need to conserve urban green spaces. Nevertheless, its implementation has challenged the management of urban green spaces. Densification has created a dilemma in planning as planners battle to provide better green spaces, while simultaneously implementing urban densification projects. This study explores the persistent challenges and opportunities of urban densification in intermediate African cities, using a case study of Umhlanga in the eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study used a mixed method approach, using questionnaires, unstructured interviews and field observations. The results indicated that urban growth in intermediate towns is dominated by horizontal expansion, despite introducing urban densification policies, which has proved detrimental to ecological conservation. Furthermore, embarking on growth that integrates various land uses is increasingly enhancing those towns’ resilience and slowing down urban sprawl. This study shows that transformation in urban planning is essential in integrating ecological conservation in densification projects. Urban densification should not be treated in isolation but involve multiple city stakeholders in several city departments to achieve a broad range of goals.

Fundamental power of the city – A proposition of a new paradigm and index for city development

Managing a dynamic and complex urban system according to the single concept of city development is insufficient. The study's aim is to present the main concepts of cities development, formulate a new hybrid concept of city, and propose a related index to support strategy implementation and monitoring. The research methods include literature scoping, literature content analysis, and linear ordering as a multivariate method of analysis. The research conclusion identifies a new hybrid concept of a “resilient smart sustainable city” and explains a distinction between weak and strong perception of the concept. The practical part of the research develops synthetic measure “Fundamental Power of the City Index” which allows to select variables representing individual cities' priorities and apply them in every city analysis, development strategy building, and monitoring. The Index is tested for 18 voivodship cities in Poland for the period 2014–2020. The results of this study can support city stakeholders in their efforts in developing “resilient smart sustainable city”.

Solid waste management: The necessity of an epoch for the protection of community, public safety, health, and environmental quality

Solid waste management has been a burning topic that has garnered attention worldwide. Though several studies have been done across metro cities and Upcoming intelligent cities, a sustainable point of view of all the stakeholders in Nagpur city was never registered; hence the researcher intended to have a wholesome knowledge of the process and wanted to get deeper insights about the perception and understanding of solid waste disposal system management in Nagpur. Environment sustainability is the need of the hour. Being a vibrant city, Nagpur has borne the brunt of migration from nearby places but does not have the sustainable infrastructure to dispose of solid waste properly. While analyzing, the researcher discovered that no such research project had been carried out in Nagpur for the purpose described above and intended to do so. The researchers used a structured questionnaire to survey the intended targeted respondents. The questionnaire was distributed, and respondents were identified with a simple random sampling method to avoid bias and maintain the data's accuracy. To get an Expert opinion, the researcher used the scheduled interview method to understand the views and modern techniques available. The researcher gathered detailed information from the stakeholders, which is discussed in detail in the project report. The study offers a holistic view of the complex difficulties faced by garbage accumulation by incorporating aspects of community well-being, public safety, and public health. Furthermore, this research goes above and beyond conventional wisdom by proposing novel solutions. It establishes a structure that safeguards the environment and encourages community participation in garbage management. The originality of this research lies in its multifaceted examination of waste management, community health, public safety, and health.

Functional Conflicts in Tourist Coastal Resort Cities with Special Spa Status in Poland. The Stakeholder Approach

This study aims to identify and analyse the potential conflicts of tourism, resort and residents’ functions based on coastal resort cities of the highest importance in Poland (Sopot, Ustka, Kołobrzeg, Świnoujście). Coastal health resorts are specific urban units where tourist and resort functions provided under high environmental restrictions dominate the primary urban function typically focused on social and resident matters. Coastal resort cities attract tourists heavily. Hence, such cities must deal with varied stakeholder expectations. This may lead to conflicts in sustainable urban development.
 The analysis considers the stakeholder perspective regarding the occurrence of various conflicts. Different research methods have been used, including case studies and stakeholder analysis based on the salience model and classifying stakeholders into homogenous groups with the attributes assigned.
 The diverse and often divergent needs of stakeholders in coastal cities require a specific approach to developing such urban units, including stakeholder relationship management. A method used for the resort stakeholder analysis is based on classical stakeholder classification proposed by Mitchel, Agle and Wood (1997).
 The nature of functions performed in resort cities naturally lead to internal and developmental conflicts. However, based on an assessment of attributes assigned their evaluation across key stakeholder groups, the study results show that these conflicts occurred dormant in studied cities.
 The research methods used, an approach taken, and results achieved can be successfully used by decision-makers responsible for urban development to identify and manage potential conflicts deriving from diversified expectations of urban stakeholders or conflicting urban functions.
 The article is of an international character and might be used to various aspects of city management, as it combines stakeholder management approach with urban development and potential function conflicts.

Stakeholder Participation and Solid Waste Management in Lira City East Division

Purpose: this study examined the contribution of stakeholder participation to SWM in Lira City East division. Specifically, the study determined the effect of stakeholder participation on solid waste reduction, solid waste recycling and on waste reuse.
 Methodology: The study adopted a cross-sectional study design, which employed a mixed methods approach of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study population consisted of 195 respondents, which included political leaders and civil servants of Lira City East division and heads of household in Lira City East. Both the Simple random sampling technique and purposive sampling technique were used to select a sample of 132 participants. The researcher adopted Self-Administered Questionnaires to collect quantitative data and an interview guide to collect qualitative data. Both descriptive statistics (mean, and standard deviation), and inferential statistics (correlation and regression) were used to analyse numerical data. Content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data.
 Findings: The findings revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between stakeholder participation and SWM. Further, it was revealed that stakeholder participation yields a significant effect on waste reduction, waste recycling and waste reuse.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: It is concluded that stakeholder participation affects SWM in Lira City East division. This study contributes an original and empirical-evidence of the contribution of stakeholder participation on SWM in Lira City East division. It is recommended that, for better management of solid waste in Lira City division, the authorities of Lira City east division should sensitise the residents on the possible mechanisms of reducing the amount of waste generated at homestead, how the waste generated can be recycled to other useful forms and how the waste generated can be reused. This study contributes to the reawakening of the urban stakeholders in Lira city and Uganda, as a whole, on the magnitude of the solid waste challenge and how this calls for instantons effort to achieve healthy and cleaner cities/urban centers

Sequence to sequence hybrid Bi-LSTM model for traffic speed prediction

Congestion is a bane of urban life that affects a large share of the population on a daily basis. Thus, congestion gets tremendous attention from city stakeholders, residents, and researchers. The key challenge to preventing congestion is to accurately predict the traffic status (e.g., speed) of a particular road segment which is greatly affected by many factors, such as spatial, temporal, and road conditions. Although several research studies have focused on preventing congestion, most prediction-based literature came short of accurate predictions regarding precision and time efficiency regarding large-scale datasets. This paper proposes a new hybrid approach called Grizzly. This approach utilizes an improved Sequence to Sequence Bi-directional Long Short Term Memory Neural Network model that integrates data pre-processing techniques such as normalization and embeddings to improve traffic prediction accuracy. Carried out experiments on two large-scale real-world datasets, namely PEMS-BAY and METR-LA, pinpointing that the proposed approach outperformed the pioneering competitors from time-series-based and hybrid neural network-based baselines in terms of the agreed-on evaluation criteria (precision and computation time).

A methodology for the strategic design of city logistics networks and its application in Turkish automotive spare parts industry

City logistics approaches and modeling struggles have a significant role in urban areas in increasing the efficiency of logistics operations and reducing traffic jams and their environmental effects. By developing an effective distribution network for cities, it is possible to compete with the changing world and satisfy flexible customer requirements. In this study, as a real-world case, a city logistics model for Istanbul metropolitan area is designed using multi-objective linear programming that considers the different objectives of the stakeholders in cities by integrating the fuzzy Choquet integral technique in a multi-level distribution network for the automotive spare part industry. This paper makes decisions regarding the amount of product flowing among the echelons, the amount of stock to be kept in the warehouses, and the product delays allowed. While minimizing the transportation cost, holding cost and emission levels during these decisions, the study also aims to maximize the service quality in the warehouses. The model is applied to a logistics network of fifty demand points and thirty time periods which can be considered a middle or large-scale problem. In the model, it is also decided to transport the products with electric or fuel vehicles. In the transport sector, electric vehicles are the key to meet future needs for social, health and other human services. The results are discussed under different scenarios. This research allows the use of such a model in making strategic decisions for the distribution network design in big cities.

Identifying Smart City Leaders and Followers with Machine Learning

Smart cities have been a popular topic for the city stakeholders. A smart city is the next urban lifestyle that citizens expect. Due to the hypercompetitive and globalized economy, many cities have already started or are about to start their smart city projects. There is no uniform benchmark to evaluate the smart cities’ performance. Several organizations use their own indicators to evaluate smart cities worldwide or nationwide. This research paper leverages fuzzy logic to label smart city leaders and followers based on various organization’s evaluation meta results and then uses machine learning techniques to identify the key characteristics of leaders and followers. Based on the training data performance, the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to predict who will be the next smart city leader or follower. According to the proposed prediction framework, we have successfully predicted 30 smart city leaders and 20 followers.

The economic and social impacts of smart cities: multi-stakeholder pre-study results

Smart cities are getting increasingly popular and being seen as one answer to several challenges. The smart city framework is seen as a popular answer to numerous challenges. There is no common definition of a smart city and the theoretical understanding is framed in multiple ways in practice. To better understand the phenomenon of smart cities it is important to see how it is viewed in practice by different stakeholders. Objectives This paper contributes to collecting and analyzing the stakeholders' visions to develop the definition of smart cities and classify their social and economic effects as a basis for further advanced study in this direction. Prior work The previous findings have determined the double-sided effects of smart cities in social and economic domains that could be balanced through different tools. In terms of the fundamental importance of ensuring citizen-oriented and sustainable utilization of smart city as a tool purporting to improve quality of life, it is needed to critically assess how stakeholders perceive these impacts and what tools could be applied to prevent negative outcomes. Methodology The paper applies a literature review, in-depth interviews with the smart city experts and survey answers analysis involving the city stakeholders including local and regional authorities and the real citizens to determine the personalized visions of smart city definition and impacts as well as open source analysis. Results Based on the data collected, the classification of the social and economic impacts of smart cities is proposed as well as study-based definition of smart city is provided. It is argued that considering social and economic impacts of smart cities needs further attention in terms of the multi-stakeholder perspective and continuation of the work started in this paper. In doing so, the paper does not only contribute to the theoretical comprehension of smart city but provides the basis for further strategy development to maximize social and economic positives of its application while minimizing the negatives.

Implementing Mission-oriented Experiments: Recommendations on Epistemic Inclusion for City Stakeholders Working in Climate Change Initiatives

Policy institutions have been increasingly investing in demonstrators, pilots, living labs, testbeds, and so forth, that focus on novel experimental approaches to dealing with climate change. In particular, cities have been advocated as ideal innovation sites for such experiments. However, we argue that insufficient attention has been given to accommodating the different forms of knowledge included and produced through the design, implementation, and evaluation of these city experiments (i.e., epistemic inclusion). This article presents 10 recommendations for city policy officers and other stakeholders involved in delivering mission-oriented programmes of work to achieve epistemic inclusion in their attempts to drive innovation in cities. In illustrating our arguments, we engage with the EU Horizon Europe Mission of Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities as one example of such a programme. 100 European Cities have been selected as front-runners in this Mission. The Mission will support these 100 cities in becoming “experimentation and innovation hubs” ( European Commission, 2021b , p. 13) on route to all 100 cities becoming climate-neutral by 2030. These cities are only now starting their journeys and would greatly benefit from strategically considering epistemic inclusion issues. Establishing dialogues that are more open to controversies and paradoxes, failures, and a diversity of knowledge frameworks increases the chances for these cities to successfully address the complex and ramified challenges they face.

Data-Driven Multi-Scale Study of Historic Urban Environments by Accessing Earth Observation and Non-Destructive Testing Information via an HBIM-Supported Platform

ABSTRACT Digital analytical tools combined with 3D documentation are used incrementally in building rehabilitation in the conservation state analysis process. In the last decade, due to the current advancements in the Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) industry, the application of BIM methods in heritage building conservation started becoming more attractive for specialists and practitioners. In light of the latest concepts in data management at city level, as a result of the discussion about smart city representations, the use of a shared digital environment that caters to technical studies related to conservation analysis, building provenance, structural changes, and urban context transformations can lead to reduced time, improved quality, and lowered cost of city management for all domain experts and city stakeholders. This paper explores the benefits of multi-scale and discipline digitization for the restoration of heritage buildings, highlighting the potential impact of innovative data integration, methods, and workflows on architectural renovation and energy upgrades. Specifically, it focuses on the integration of conservation information for heritage buildings and large-scale environmental analysis data for historic clusters in modern cities.

Multi-dimensional interest game between reservoir and city stakeholders in the Yellow River Basin: a case study of the lower reaches

Reservoirs in sediment-laden rivers can bring multiple benefits, and the calculation and redistribution of these considerable benefits are the premises to ensure the efficient operation of reservoirs. Firstly, the benefits of social economy, ecological environment, flood discharge, and sediment transport under the joint operation of reservoirs are uniformly measured based on the emergy theory. Secondly, the stakeholders are divided into reservoir and city groups. A two-tier gains allocation model is established based on the Nash bargaining model and multi-attribute decision making theory. Finally, taking the lower reaches of the Yellow River, Sanmenxia Reservoir, and Xiaolangdi Reservoir as cases, the multi-dimensional benefits of reservoirs under the two operation modes in the face of typical floods are calculated, and the gains are distributed among stakeholders. The results show that: (1) Although the overall benefit of the system is optimal under one scheduling mode, 7/17 of the stakeholders prefer another mode. (2) Comparing the two operation modes of the reservoir group, it is found that XLD and SMX can improve the overall benefit of 4.12E + 09yuan at the cost of their sediment discharge benefits of 3.08E + 09yuan and 2.82E + 06yuan. (3) After gains distribution, the profit of all stakeholders can be optimized to varying degrees. This study broadens the dimension of benefit accounting under the joint operation of cascade reservoirs and the category of stakeholders in the gain allocation, which is conducive to promoting the ecological protection and sustainable development of sediment-laden rivers.

Research and practice in harmonising nature and culture in Jaipur City, Rajasthan, India

PurposePlanning for Jaipur City in Rajasthan, north-western India, which was added to the World Heritage List in 2019, considers the surrounding hills and water systems. Rapid urbanisation is currently placing strain on the area, and natural resources and city green spaces are deteriorating. A multidisciplinary team of academicians, researchers and practitioners was assembled under the Heritage Place Lab (HPL) initiative with the aim of developing a research agenda to complement the city's Special Area Heritage Plan (SAHP) that is currently in development.Design/methodology/approachGiven the complicated urban structure of Jaipur, an interdisciplinary approach involving experts from various fields and engagement from all levels of the city's stakeholders was necessary. The partnership proceeded following the parameters provided under the HPL to jointly build a research agenda focussing on the management challenges of the World Heritage Site.FindingsThe co-produced research programme narrowed its initial emphasis on documenting of the natural heritage of the city to reflect the functions it served in a social setting. It was also revealed that the conflicting nature of activities within the World Heritage Site is caused by overlapping jurisdictions of several administrative and legislative components.Originality/valueJaipur, examined here by an interdisciplinary Research-Practice Team, provides a valuable and unique case study for heritage management, particularly given that most historic cities in India are facing comparable concerns surrounding urbanisation with rising pressures on natural resources.

A framework for exploring futures of complex urban energy systems

In order to address the climate crisis and provide citizens with clean, secure and affordable energy, urban energy systems need to transition. This is significant as urban energy systems are increasingly seen as complex systems for their close interactions with local urban society, while being interdependent with higher levels of governance. Decisions taken today will continue to influence the inhabitants of our cities for well over 50 years, locking in energy consumption patterns of the future. How, then, do we make decisions on the interventions needed to bring about a desirable future, and prepare for the probable and possible futures? In this paper, we consider the key characteristics of urban energy systems from a complexity science perspective in order to explore what methodologies in futures and foresight scholarship could be beneficial in supporting urban energy decision-making. To do this we have undertaken an integrative review—a method that allows review, synthesis, critique, and analysis of new and emerging topics across multiple disciplines and multiple literature types—and consider the findings in light of their usefulness in understanding complex systems, which are inherently uncertain. We consider how futures and foresight theories and methods can be applied in urban and energy studies, highlighting examples of where around the world these have been applied by organizations seeking to shape transitions. The many methods and approaches that exist under the futures' umbrella have not been applied to anywhere near their full potential in urban energy studies, despite the limitations of many of the planning and modeling exercises currently used. We use key learnings from existing futures and foresight scholarship, along with our understanding of urban energy systems as complex adaptive systems, to propose a theoretical and practical framework for exploring their futures. The framework encompasses concepts of futures, contextualization, mapping uncertainty, participatory processes, and futures governance. Although there is much further research work needed to test and operationalize this framework in an applied way with city stakeholders, we hope this charts a way forward in addressing the critical challenges faced by urban energy planners and their partners.

Implementing Mission-oriented Experiments: Recommendations on Epistemic Inclusion for City Stakeholders Working in Climate Change Initiatives

Policy institutions have been increasingly investing in demonstrators, pilots, living labs, testbeds, and so forth, that focus on novel experimental approaches to dealing with climate change. In particular, cities have been advocated as ideal innovation sites for such experiments. However, we argue that insufficient attention has been given to accommodating the different forms of knowledge included and produced through the design, implementation, and evaluation of these city experiments (i.e., epistemic inclusion). This article presents 10 recommendations for city policy officers and other stakeholders involved in delivering mission-oriented programmes of work to achieve epistemic inclusion in their attempts to drive innovation in cities. In illustrating our arguments, we engage with the EU Horizon Europe Mission of Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities as one example of such a programme. 100 European Cities have been selected as front-runners in this Mission. The Mission will support these 100 cities in becoming “experimentation and innovation hubs” ( European Commission, 2021b , p. 13) on route to all 100 cities becoming climate-neutral by 2030. These cities are only now starting their journeys and would greatly benefit from strategically considering epistemic inclusion issues. Establishing dialogues that are more open to controversies and paradoxes, failures, and a diversity of knowledge frameworks increases the chances for these cities to successfully address the complex and ramified challenges they face.

Respecting values and perspectives in biobanking and genetic research governance: Outcomes of a qualitative study in Bengaluru, India.

Background: The promise of biobanking and genetic research (BGR) in the context of translational research towards improving public health and personalised medicine has been recognised in India. Worldwide experience has shown that incorporating stakeholders' expectations and values into the governance of BGR is essential to address ethical aspects of BGR. This paper draws on engagement with various stakeholders in the South Indian city of Bengaluru to understand how incorporating people's values and beliefs can inform policy making decisions and strengthen BGR governance within India. Methods: We adopted a qualitative research approach and conducted six focus group discussions with civil society members and seven in-depth interviews with key informants in BGR, identified through a targeted web search and snowballing methods, until data saturation was reached. Data were thematically analysed to identify emergent patterns. Results: Specific themes relating to the ethics and governance of BGR emerged. Fears and uncertainty about future sample and data use, possibilities of discrimination and exploitation in the use of findings and the lack of comprehensive data protection policies in India along with expectations of enhanced contributor agency, control in future use of samples and data, benefit sharing, enhanced utility of samples, sustained BGR and public good, reflected tensions between different stakeholders' values and beliefs. Fair governance processes through an independent governance committee for biobanks and a system of ongoing engagement with stakeholders emerged as best practice towards building trust and respecting diversity of views and values. Conclusions: Ensuring public trust in BGR requires listening to stakeholders' voices, being open to counter narratives, and a commitment to long term engagement embedded in principles of participatory democracy. This is central to a 'people-centred governance framework' involving a negotiated middle ground and an equilibrium of governance which promotes social justice by being inclusive, transparent, equitable, and trustworthy.

Driving mechanisms of urbanization: Evidence from geographical, climatic, social-economic and nighttime light data

Urbanization induced changes have attracted widespread attention. Key challenges arise from the inherent uncertainties in attribution models diagnosing the driving mechanisms and the interrelationships of the attributes given by the complexity of interactions within a city. Here, we investigate urbanization dynamics from nighttime light signals before analyzing their driving mechanisms from 2014 to 2020 on both provincial and regional scale and a flat versus mountainous urbanization comparison. Model uncertainties are discussed comparing the contribution results from Geodetector and the Gini importance from Random Forest analyses. The method is applied to Shaanxi Province, where flat urban land is located mainly in its center and mountainous urban land is situated in the North and South. The following results are noted: i) Employing the Geodetector based maximum contribution method for urban region extraction of night time light reveals a notable accuracy improvement in flat urban land compared with the closest area method. ii) Geographical factors attain high contribution for mountainous urban land of Shannan, while for flat urbanization land dynamics, economic factors and community factors prevail. iii) The most obvious driving mechanisms are economic factors which, associated with local urban development strategies, show highest contribution values in 2014 (2018) over the flat (mountainous) urban land of Guanzhong Plain (Northern Shaanxi Plateau or Shanbei region) linked with an early (late) development. iv) Population factors achieve high contribution values in the initially low populated urban land of the northern mountainous land initiating huge migration. v) The contributions resulting from Geodetector are in agreement with the Gini importance from Random Forest in agriculture, geographical and population factors (R2 > 0.5) but not in economy, community and climatic factors (R2 < 0.5). The dynamics of driving mechanisms for urbanization provides insights in connecting urban geographical expansion with multi-factors and thus to assist municipal governments and city stakeholders to design a city with geographical, climatic and social-economic changes and interactions in mind.

Digital Twin opportunities and benefits in last-mile logistics for Madrid value case

The growth of the city's population and the COVID-19 crisis has increased the need to improve last-mile logistics in transportation. Many stakeholders such as policymakers, logistics operators and shippers have to collaborate to improve environmental, economic, and social performance indicators. This paper investigates the opportunities in last-mile logistics and the benefits that can be achieved by balancing all the city stakeholders' needs using Digital Twins technology. To that end, we focused on the Madrid Living Lab that sets up an Urban Consolidation Centre (UCC) located in underground public parking in the city centre, surrounded by the Madrid Low Emissions Zone (LEZ). Madrid defines cases and scenarios to understand business policies and improve decisions, such as shifting the UCC's location and defining new Low Emission Zones.

Exploring the concept of " mobility hubs " and assessing their impacts in two European cities

Mobility hubs bring together, connect and provide users with several modes of transport. Cities adopt them to help reach several objectives, like the reduction of pollution, congestion and car ownership. As part of the Interreg Mobi-Mix, we have taken a close look at mobility hubs (Interreg 2 Seas, 2020). Based on bibliographic research, discussions with experts and city stakeholders, we established a state of the art that will help to better understand the concept. Cities will benefit from recommendations for a better implementation of mobility hubs. A method of estimating the impact on CO2 emissions at each project step has been developed for two partner cities, Norfolk and Valenciennes. It is mainly based on usage surveys and results from other cities as well as multiplicative factors. The first results point a reduction in CO2 emissions that is greater than the targeted objectives.