Search

This paper is focused on sustainability assessment for some of the most prominent global megacities: London, New York, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo. The alternative city rankings are compared and linkages between different sustainability and smart city dimensions are explored. The paper applied ELECTRE III multi-criteria decision aid tool to a panel of twenty indicators. The proposed approach allowed considering performance under four different policy priorities: environmental, economic, social and smart, changing the focus of the sustainability assessment. The results have shown that Singapore dominates the sustainability rankings under environmental policy priorities. Tokyo leads under economic and social priorities, and London and Tokyo – under smart city priorities. The worst performing cities were Shanghai, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro. The paper examines the innovative sustainability strategy and new governance structures that led Singapore to become the most sustainable city under environmental priorities and offers recommendations for the lower-ranking cities of Shanghai, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro. The assessment could be a valuable tool for policy makers and investors, and could help identify linkages between different sustainability dimensions, highlighting best practices as well as strategic opportunities in cities with sustainability potential. • The article reviews analytical methods for urban sustainability assessment; • The interdisciplinary linkages among various sustainability dimensions are traced among 140+ cities with a special emphasis on megacities; • The multicriteria sustainability assessment is conducted for 14 global megacities under environmental, economic, social and smart priorities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgent decline of global progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the post-COVID-19 era necessitates immediate action in the field of smart cities. This paper proposes a new framework to assess the performance of global smart cities, emphasizing the vitality and potential of sustainability-oriented smartness for global smart cities, as well as the role of benchmarking cities on a global scale. The framework centered around the principles of "humanity-technology-sustainability" tackles critical challenges related to feasibility, interoperability, and flexibility in smart city assessments. By integrating academic perceptions with quantitative performance results, the proposed framework aims to facilitate the advancement of sustainable smart city through urban comparisons and the expansion of global visions within the smart city ecosystem in a post-pandemic future. In each of the past three years, twenty globally renowned cities for smart city development are assessed under this framework and published on UNPAN (United Nations Public Administration Network) website. These assessments aim to draw the attention of more cities to the factors that contribute to advancing smart cities under the new world development goals, to identify benchmark cities across different dimensions, and to assist decision-makers in prioritizing future smart city development initiatives. • SDGs call for urgent responses in the field of smart cities in the Post-pandemic era • The multivocal in sustainability makes the goal of sustainable smart city ambiguous • Bridge the gap between sustainability vision and sustainability goal in smart city • The new smart city assessment framework based on "humanity-technology-sustainability" • 20 global metropolia as smart city benchmarks are assessed under the framework [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of how modern Open Data Ecosystems (ODEs) work is critical in the context of current trends towards sustainability and smartness, while is seen to be an asset to support urban governance and development, in coordinating actions, and fostering civic engagement. This paper aims to establish such understanding by analyzing the contextual patterns, platforms, and components shaping sustainable ODEs by employing platform theory. This study explores and compares characteristics, similarities, differences, and best approaches in 19 cities across 8 countries. In this study we (1) identify 50 patterns that influence and shape sustainable ODEs and their platforms, i.e., Open Data Platform Ecosystems (ODPEs); (2) explore the relationships between platforms and other ODPEs components by developing a respective model, and identifying internal platforms and other components; (3) empirically validate the conceptual findings of five types of ODPEs presented in the literature, redefining them from the conceptual to real-life implementation of the respective components in sample cities; (4) considering the experience gained during the study with respect to the ODPEs and external pressures and environments that shape or influence them, we define 12 recommendations for policy planning and urban governance of more sustainable ODEs. • Identifies 50 patterns that influence and shape sustainable ODEs in smart cities • Defines the Open Data Platform Ecosystem (ODPE) and its components and relationships • Empirically validates the conceptual findings of five types of smart city ODPEs • Defines 12 recommendations for urban development of more sustainable ODEs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Cities are increasingly turning towards specialized technologies to address issues related to society, ecology, morphology and many others. The emerging concept of Smart Cities highly encourages this prospect by promoting the incorporation of sensors and Big Data through the Internet of Things (IoT). This surge of data brings new possibilities in the design and management of cities just as much as economic prospects. While Big Data processing through Artificial Intelligence (AI) can greatly contribute to the urban fabric, sustainability and liveability dimensions however must not be overlooked in favour of technological ones. This paper reviews the urban potential of AI and proposes a new framework binding AI technology and cities while ensuring the integration of key dimensions of Culture, Metabolism and Governance; which are known to be primordial in the successful integration of Smart Cities for the compliance to the Sustainable Development Goal 11 and the New Urban Agenda. This paper is aimed towards Policy Makers, Data Scientists and Engineers who are looking at enhancing the integration of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in Smart Cities with an aim to increase the liveability of the urban fabric while boosting economic growth and opportunities. Highlights • Smart Cities are gaining popularity and the Internet of Things (IoT) is leading to the generation of massive amounts of Data. • Big Data can be better managed through Artificial Intelligence processes and render faster and more intelligent systems • Technology must however not be the sole focus of Smart Cities as we may lose in human dimensions • Technology must support liveability dimensions to ensure Resilience, Safety and Sustainability as prescribed by the SDG 11. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geoinformation and Communication Technology (GeoICT) is being increasingly adopted to foster urban sustainability and smart cities. Despite the burgeoning utilization of GeoICT, the development of frameworks of components and guidelines is still at the infancy. This is due to the fact that GeoICT implementations are guided by contextual factors and there is no one size fits all approach. This paper focuses on the topic of leveraging GeoICT for smart sustainable cities by examining the Saudi Arabian experience using information from the literature, government websites, official documents, newspaper articles and personal interviews. This study reviews the definitions, typologies, and frameworks of implementing GeoICT and smart cities. It highlights case studies of smart city development in Saudi Arabia. A comparison of the Saudi case studies with frameworks and practices found in the literature is presented. This paper concludes with policy implications for Saudi Arabia and lessons for GeoICT and smart city development. It is concluded that local context has an influence on the implementation of smart cities, ICT infrastructure is necessary but not sufficient for developing smart cities and blending top-down with bottom-up approaches is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to clarify the relationship between sustainability-oriented innovations (SOI) and smart city development based on the systematic review of existing literature in the field. As an outcome of the review process, 159 articles were carefully selected for the in-depth analysis of the inter-linked concepts of smart city and sustainability-oriented innovations. The results show a growing trend of research papers in this field, especially in the last five years. The findings show the significance of a systemic multi-dimensional view of innovations for the smart sustainable development of cities. We have identified four main perspectives through which the scholars discourse the SOI dimensions in the smart city context: technology perspective, organizational perspective, social innovation perspective with citizen engagement, as well as system-level changes with innovation ecosystems. Second, we have recognized various focused themes under each main perspective. The various types of innovations also have impacts on different components of smart cities. Although the technological innovation perspectives dominate, and governance aspects are also paid attention to in recent studies, the increasing amount of research outputs also report on the developments of other components and perspectives, such as new human-centric approaches like citizen engagement. • Growing trend in papers connecting sustainability innovations and smart cities • Four main perspectives of innovation dimensions in smart cities recognized • Technological and governance perspectives dominate in earlier research. • Recent increase in research of human-centric approaches and citizen engagement [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the potential impact of smart urban technologies used in smart city projects on three dimensions of urban sustainability (economic, environmental and social). Although the literature notes that smart urban technologies and their capabilities are potential saviours when it comes to urban and sustainability challenges in cities, there is a lack of studies exploring the impact of smart urban technologies on urban sustainability. Thus, we address this literature gap by conducting structural topic modelling on smart city projects retrieved from the Smart Territory call for projects. In these projects, city managers' report extensively on how smart urban technologies can support urban sustainability. Our results show nine groups of smart urban technologies that will support at least two urban sustainability dimensions. Smart mobility systems can support all three dimensions of urban sustainability. Technology benefits will be realised by smart urban technology capabilities and through the involvement of the city's community in the use of technology. • City managers may adopt smart urban technologies to achieve urban sustainability goals. • The results link different urban sustainability impacts to different smart urban technologies. • This paper provides a list of smart urban technologies that will support at least two urban sustainability dimensions. • Results provide a basis to measure smart urban technologies' impacts through different sustainability indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of technology on tourist cities and destinations has led to the emergence of renewed management approaches that seek to adapt the planning processes to new challenges and opportunities derived from the smart scenario. The smart city and smart tourist destination approaches are aimed at improving efficiency in management, the quality of life of the residents and the tourist experiences. However, little is known about how these ideas are being translated into real policies and whether they are having a real impact. The objective of this paper is to understand how the smart approach is being deployed in the planning processes of Spanish tourist cities and destinations, and its implications in terms of the governance, sustainability and data-driven public management. The planning instruments that guide the smart strategies of different Spanish cities are identified and analysed. This is complemented with a questionnaire administered among managers of the smart city and smart destination initiatives. The findings reveal the diversity of smart initiatives, their benefits and limitations. The results contribute to generating a necessary debate on the implications of the smart discourse for urban and tourism planning and enrich the international debate around this approach. • Contrasts the theoretical and international smart discourse with practical application in Spanish cities • Critically analyses smart city and smart destination plans, identifying categories • Surveys smart city and destination managers to unveil their perception of impacts • Contributes to overcome the insufficient consideration of tourism within the analysis and development of smart cities • Identifies implications for global urban and tourism planning of the uneven development of the smart approach [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart cities are expected to address global challenges and increase the quality of life. However, due to the overemphasis on physical and technological aspects, social rights and democratic values have often been neglected in smart city projects. In this paper, we introduce the concept of 'societal smart city' and discuss how and why it should be prioritized in the post-pandemic era. We argue that a societal smart city is a city that integrates social rights and democratic values with technological innovations. Six major dimensions of a societal smart city are: social sustainability, citizen-centeredness, e-democracy, social justice, participatory governance, and cultural resilience. We encourage urban planners and policymakers to pay attention to these dimensions and caution against physical and technological determinism. • This study aims to introduce the concept of the societal smart city. • Social rights and democratic values have often been neglected in smart cities. • A societal smart city is a city that integrates social rights and democratic values with technological innovations. • We argue that societal smart city should be prioritized in the post-pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]