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A prerequisite to the development of rural areas is the establishment of a stable ecological, economic and social environment that provides employment for the local population and investments aimed at environmental protection. In modern times, the natural and living environment of rural areas is greatly endangered by the process of urbanization and its attendant effects, which is reflected in particular by changes in the socio-economic status of villages. The paper presents possible ways to revive villages and rural economies in Serbia in line with the concept of sustainable development. Relevant indicators are used to classify urban and rural areas, providing a data base for planners and decision makers when creating future development strategies and other documents, ranging from local communities to entire national territories. Attention is focused on applying the mechanisms of small development nucleuses as potential bases to keep the population in rural areas, with the production of health food, energy from alternative sources, ecologically acceptable waste treatment technology, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to identify new opportunities for the development of rural areas. A contribution to this should be the combination of modern tools and technologies that affect the improvement of the quality of life and the possibility of creating new jobs in rural areas. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs the desk research method in the form of an analysis. The analysis of the available literature on the subject on smart villages and the examples of smart villages described in the paper rendered it possible to establish the facts, verify the data and present the results. Findings: The considerations presented in the article indicate that a key element in smart villages is smart human resources that respond to challenges and changes occurring in rural areas. In order to make a real change in a given area, collective action is required rather than individual, and, depending on incentives and local circumstances, these initiatives may prioritise economic, social or environmental issues – or a combination thereof. Practical implications: A common space for development and shared commitment of the rural population enables building social ties as an integral functioning of Smart Villages. Social implications: The needs of the rural community should always come first and the implemented solutions should be adjusted according to these needs, bearing in mind what resources that a given community has. Originality/value: The article is an original approach to the search for intelligent solutions that are meant to improve the development of rural areas and make life easier for rural residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper points out the benefits for the local community from the construction of biogas power plants (BgP) - which are no from using other renewable energy sources. Benefits from BgP for local community are: additional income to local farmers, higher level of agro technologies in the village, strengthening social cohesion, ecological disposal of rural waste, electricity and heat production, organic fertilizer, hiring local labor and better quality of life for all inhabitants. In paper presented and important elements for planning the construction of biogas power plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Digitalization is the key to sustainable village development, posing a new challenge for village planning, construction, and governance in all countries. The construction of digital villages is currently in the stage of experimentation and exploration; China is the largest developing country and a pioneer in the digitization of villages. (2) Methods: Based on a combination of the Boston Consulting Group Matrix and GeoDetector, we conducted an empirical study on 70 counties in Guangxi, aiming to analyze the construction level, evolution model, and driving mechanism of digital villages and to provide a basis for decisions on government investment and social participation. (3) Results: First, Conspicuous disequilibrium in rural digitalization has manifested in Guangxi, and counties at different levels (leader, follower, and straggler) show significant clustering and correlation effects in their geographical distribution. Second, digital village construction in Guangxi has evolves in diversified modes (divided into four types: star, gazelle, cow, and dog), with hot and cold areas forming a center–periphery structure. Third, rural digitalization has a very complex driving mechanism, with high heterogeneity in the direct influencing factors, significant synergistic enhancement of factors, and nonlinear enhancement dominating the interaction’s relationship. (4) Conclusions: According to the results of analysis, we suggest highlighting the government-driven mechanism and regional linkage in the construction of digital villages, formulating differentiated management policies and development plans based on the combination of top-level design and grassroots innovation, establishing joint meetings or development associations and service alliances, and stimulating the enthusiasm of the whole of society, especially farmers and enterprises, in order to achieve rapid and sustainable rural digitalization.

(1) Background: Along with the maturity of smart cities, digital villages and smart villages are receiving more attention than ever before as the key to promote sustainable rural development. The Chinese government has made great efforts in promoting the digital development of villages in recent years, as evidenced by policies intensively introduced by the central and local governments, making China a typical representative country in the world. (2) Methods: This paper evaluates the performance and geographic pattern of rural digital development by the Geographic Information System (GIS) in Gansu, a less developed province in western China, and analyzes the driving mechanism of rural digital development using GeoDetector, providing a basis for spatial zoning and differentiated policy design for the construction, planning and management of digital villages based on the GE matrix. (3) Results: First, the development of digital villages shows a prominent geographical imbalance, with 79 counties divided into leader, follower and straggler levels. Second, digital villages show unsynchronized development in different dimensions, with the village facilities digitalization index in the lead and the village economy digitalization index lagging behind. Thirdly, the development of digital villages is characterized by significant spatial correlation and spillover effects, with cold and hot counties distributed in clusters, forming a “center-periphery” structure. Fourth, the factors show significant influence differentiation. They are classified into all-purpose, multifunctional and single-functional factors by their scope of action, and into key, important and auxiliary factors by their intensity of action. Fifth, the interaction and driving mechanism between different factors is quite complex, dominated by nonlinear enhancement and bifactor enhancement, and the synergistic effect of factor pairs helps increase the influence by 1–4 times. (4) Conclusions: It is suggested that the government develop differentiated policies for zoning planning and management based on the level of digital development of villages in combination with the factor influence and its driving mechanism and promote regional linkage and common development and governance through top-level design.

The aim of the article is to present transport accessibility in rural areas in Poland, with a particular emphasis on the problem of transport exclusion. The following research methods were used in the study: literature review, statistical data analysis and GIS analysis. The article presents a transportation picture of rural areas and identifies the main problem issues related to the insufficient accessibility of public transport. The conducted analyses show a significant alienation of the study area which results from underdeveloped public transport and road infrastructure, including pedestrian and bicycle routes. Measures taken by local authorities in this regard show awareness of the problems of the local community, but those authorities do not take sufficient action. The transport exclusion of inhabitants of the analyzed area can be reduced by developing pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure connecting villages with the existing railway network, characterized by a high frequency of trains.

Smart village dihadirkan sebagai jawaban untuk peningkatan layanan aparatur desa terhadap masyarakat berbasis teknologi. Pengabdian kepada masyarakat ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kualitas perangkat teknologi dan informasi. Sasaran pengabdian adalah infrastruktur teknologi informasi dan komputer pada kantor desa, dilanjutkan seluruh Kepala Dusun, RW, dan RT. Permasalahan diselesaikan dalam tiga tahapan kegiatan yaitu persiapan, pelaksanaan, dan evaluasi. Persiapan dilakukan dengan melaksanakan pertemuan dengan mitra mengenai rencana peningkatan kualitas teknologi infrastruktur. Pelaksanaan dilakukan dengan pembenahan teknologi perangkat keras dan lunak disertai dengan pelatihan, dilanjutkan dengan diskusi, dan latihan dalam bentuk kegiatan simulasi untuk seluruh pelayanan yang disediakan oleh Kantor Desa. Evaluasi kegiatan dilakukan untuk masing-masing tahap dengan mengumpulkan dan menyimpulkan data dari masing-masing tahapan kegiatan. Setelah evaluasi, dilanjutkan implementasi pelaksanaan sistem langsung berinteraksi dengan masyarakat. Hasil kegiatan peningkatan teknologi informasi dan komputer menunjukkan keberhasilan dengan indikasi adanya peningkatan kepuasaan dari internal maupun masyarakat.

The existence of the Nagari Government as the foremost government is expected to improve the welfare of the community. In 2016 the poverty rate in Solok Regency reached 10% of the total population of 363,684 people, where this poverty was caused by food poverty. Even though in 2017 the poverty rate decreased, poverty remains high. For this purpose, this community service activity aims to introduce innovative concepts in managing the nagari government so as to produce a module that can become a blueprint for a governance concept in the concept of smart villages. These two adjacent Nagari can support each other and become a pioneer for other nagari, especially the advanced nagari to rise at the Village level or Nagari with an independent village index. This activity cover several things, namely 1) Introduction of the concept of smart rural. 2) Identification of smart rural dimensions that have developed and need to be developed. The result of this activity was that in Nagari Selayo and Nagari Koto Baru, Kubung District is preparing to go to the smart village. There are still many steps that need to be done, especially related to the readiness of human resources and also Nagari Government institutions and also community participation. Because the key to the success of the realization of smart villages is the active involvement of all elements involved, with the support of qualified information technology (ICT).

Traditional and emerging interest networks supported by the advancement of digital and telecommunication technologies, the growing use of bioenergy and the ability to take advantage of knowledge beneficial for local populations and business development promote strategic breakthroughs of rural communities. The paper focuses on the problem of the smart village development with respect to a sustainable rural regional development. The aim of the research is to identify the preconditions for rural area progress and smart rural villages driving forces in Lithuania. The research object concerns the principles and driving forces of the development of smart villages. The research methods inter alia included analysis, systematization, and comparison of scientific literature, documents, and good practice examples. Analysis of the experiences of villages and local/international organizations and research into the best practices helped to identify the drivers and the key principles of the smart village development. The case study revealed that three out of five selected pilot rural areas of Lithuania have an innovative potential with some of the smart village principles adopted. The main constraints identified by the study were related to the lack of technological, digital or energy efficiency innovation and human resources in rural areas.

The basis for SMART VILLAGE development is a high-quality infrastructure for civilian equipment and services, including the coverage of rural villages by high-speed Internet. The aim of the article is to evaluate the support and impacts of these activities through the Czech Rural Development Program in the period 2007–2013 and, according to the ex-post evaluation, to further identify policy-implications. The results of the analysis show a clear positive impact of the support of the service infrastructure on the development of supported municipalities, on the contrary, the results of supporting the connection of the rural population to the Internet are patchy.

The paper is aimed at an attempt to define a smart village in the Czech conditions. It argues that the principles of smart villages are very similar to the concept of sustainability. The analysis deals with preventing rural exclusion, promoting digital technologies for the management of the rural infrastructure, teleworking in rural areas and using ICT for participation and governance. This approach is documented in the case of the South-Moravian Region. It was concluded that it was not so much coverage or accessibility of digital technology that was the main barrier of more intensive use of the smart village concept but rather the lower qualification level and conservatism of rural population is. It is suggested that more attention should be paid to increasing the digital literacy of rural people.

Food loss and unproductive farming are the main problems in agricultural activities in Turkey. During farming, harvesting and postharvest processes substantial losses take place. The existence of human beings depends on the supply of adequate food. Agricultural activities require detailed care and irrigation, hoeing, fertilization, harvesting etc. are vital problems for farmers. They spend all their time and energy for farming but they get very little. Also The reaction time of production is longer, depending on the variety and breadth of Turkey's climatic characteristics of agricultural land. This results in low efficiency and productivity in agriculture. In order to mitigate these negativity, institutions are trying to put forth new methods most of which are technology related. Digitilization and Internet of Things can be the the most rational methods to solve this problem. Agriculture 4.0, digital farming, smart farming are some of the concepts derived from Industry 4.0 logic and some institutions in Turkey try to help family farmers practice these innovations in their agricultural activities for higher efficiency. “Vodafone Smart Village” which was founded by TABIT (Agricultural Information and Communication Technologies) in Aydın province in Turkey is the first and only comprehensive sample for this purpose. The technologies used in the village provided a great advantage in agriculture and animal breeding. With the support of advanced technology and internet of things, innovations and developments are recorded and it aims to be a new generation professional gate of farming in the future. This is a new generation of rural life model, combining traditional farming methods with the possibilities of advanced technology, increasing production efficiency through information and communication technologies, and making the manufacturer's social life standards elevated with qualified knowledge. Economical objectives of the Smart Farm are at least 20% savings in plant production costs, save at least 22% on livestock costs, 30% revenue growth in livestock, 10% increase in total output, and within the scope of this information, annual revenue increase of 40.000 TL per household is 2 years. This study aims to put forth the productivity effects of various tecnologies and methods used in family farming in a small village. For this purpose, a questionnaire was applied to randomly selected male and female farmers living in the Smart Village. Findings are evaluated in terms of demographic status, education level, developping farming skills, access to information, use of technology, improvement of quality and quantity of products, and effect on productivity.

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As the research on smart cities matures and thrives, research focusing on smart rural development has also emerged into the spotlight in recent years. An increasing number of scholars have called for extending the discussion of smart development in the rural context. In response, this paper aims to conduct a comprehensive scientometric review of the current academic literature in the discussion of smart development in rural areas, centering on the concept of the smart village, which is the most recognized concept in the existing literature and practices. The contributions of this study are threefold. First, an overview of the current implementation and understanding of smart village initiatives and conceptual frameworks provides practical and theoretical insights as prerequisites for comprehending the concept. Second, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first complete scientometric study in the smart village field and will establish baseline data for future analysis and comparison. It describes the status of the scientific landscape based on quantitative analysis and an intuitive visualization, identifying patterns, hotspots, trends, and gaps. Finally, we find that the current trend puts a relatively narrow focus on the technology-driven approaches, while the dimensions of society, services, and culture have been largely neglected. Therefore, a dynamic conceptual model is proposed to call for more human-driven perspectives. We believe that a knowledge-based, community-led, and human-centric rural society is the core of a smart village ecosystem.

Currently, the industrial revolution 4.0 is fundamentally changing the world's production. It has comprehensively affected all production sectors, including agricultural production; profound impact on all classes and strata in society, including farmers. The 4.0 revolution is also having a strong impact on rural areas in terms of socio-economic infrastructure, production models, rural living environment and residents' lives. Under the impact of the industrial revolution 4.0, in addition to the emergence of smart agriculture and agriculture 4.0, in the world, many smart village models have appeared and clearly demonstrated their superiority and efficiency. its results (smart village model in EU, India, Korea, China...). In the context of industrial revolution 4.0, Vietnam has studied and learned from typical smart village models in the world. Vietnam is also making efforts to implement "smart villages, connected communes" projects with Vietnamese identity, in order to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas, and improve the lives of rural residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at expanding the scope of the dominantly pragmatic, local scale-oriented smart village scholarship towards a perspective that recognizes that smart village development is a multiscalar political process. To show the necessity of this move, the shaping of smart village policies and practices in Hungary is examined through a qualitative lens. As the authors argue, path-dependent structural obstacles and interscalar relations undermine the prospects of smart village building in the sense of bottom-up integrated rural development, and there is a risk of a bias towards technological innovation. This exploratory article, using Hungary as a case study, argues that smart village scholarship should draw on the results of critical smart city scholarship to acquire in-depth understanding of current debates regarding potential smart village developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to identify the prospects and challenges for implementing smart villages using a case study of Genteng Village in West Java, Indonesia, according to the sustainable development perspective and the enabler factors of socio-economic factors, village’s technology, and environmental aspects. This research uses a qualitative approach to assess the potencies and challenges from social, economic, environmental, and infrastructure perspectives. This research conducts a field survey with in-depth interviews and observation in Genteng Village, Sukasari Sub-district, Sumedang Regency, West Java Province to tap the information needed. Interviews with stakeholders were conducted with informants representing the rural stakeholders consisted of village official government, village local champion/leader, and farmer group representatives. Researcher involvement in nearly two years in regular visits and observations before this research has enriched and validated the information obtained. This research found prospective local social capital components and economic potencies to develop using the smart village framework. Environment and infrastructure are relatively still the challenges to be overcome towards the smart village. This research concludes that Genteng Village is on the right track, though early-stage to develop as a smart village. External factors, mainly information and communication technology, will be one of the main driving factors for optimism in implementing a smart village in Genteng Village.

Electronic government and trust in government are both values that almost basically asked, whether introducing modest information technology on government services will lead people to trust in government more. Some research worked on this focus; hence many gaps are available to be revealed. The paper tried to observe the linkage between e-government in the remote regencies in Indonesia with citizens' trust. Research conducted in 2019 and 233 primary data from e-government users analyzed by partial least square tools. The study used the integrated model Information System Success and Theory Acceptance Model. The finding indicates that those variables have a positive impact on trust. The pivotal issue of the research showed that e-government implementation in rural developing countries does not only meet with the information system quality, but it should fit with local community conditions. Only a coherent application system and have a local-familiar application will lead to citizens' trust.

Subject and purpose of work: The subject of the analysis is the concept of rural development in the European Union countries and its connection with the evolution of the common agricultural policy and the transformation of the cohesion policy. The aim of the study is to discover and assess the scale and method of supporting the rural development in the European Union countries through common agricultural policy and to present the underlying theoretical-cognitive and political-practical premises for shaping rural development strategies.

Copyright of Annals of the Polish Association of Agricultural & Agribusiness Economists is the property of Polish Association of Agricultural & Agribusiness Economists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Rural areas are becoming an increasingly important alternative of living and working choice over cities. Limiting factors for the development of rural areas are depopulation and deagrarization. The industrialization that followed World War II conditioned migratory movements from rural to urban areas. The paper analyses the application of the concept of "smart villages" in rural areas of Montenegro, with special emphasis on demographic revitalization. Based on the analysis of demographic trends in Montenegro, in addition to participation of urban and rural population in the 1955-2020 period, it implies that previous models and strategies did not contribute to a significant demographic revitalization of rural areas. Application of the "smart village" concept in the region and beyond shows that traditional models of rural community development must be complemented by digital technologies and innovations. The modern development of Montenegrin rural areas indicates modern communication in preforming the business, along with the use of internet marketing, which, in addition to easier access to information, will contribute to the improvement of the quality of life in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At EU level, there are a number of concerns among specialists to promote and create some specific information to support sustainable revitalization of rural areas as a place of work and work. We note that it is necessary to start a new regional policy, to increase rural prosperity and the viability of rural areas, given that there can be a balanced territory to ensure socio-economic and environmental sustainability. For agriculture and rural growth, the new regional policy aims to better mobilize all local and regional actors for investigations in the distribution and transport network. In our study, we aim to follow the way of achieving the objectives of the new policy, to target the intelligent villages for 2020, to take care as a starting point of definition and to apply "intelligent tools" based on the reality of the area under consideration, Chiscani Commune, Braila County. In order to be able to use functional, efficient and sustainable tools, it is not desirable to realize or analyze the reality of Chiscani Commune, Braila County, if the role of local and regional authorities can be applied in the application of a policy framework, knowing the concept of "intelligent villages" such as and the notion of "smart rural area" and include initiatives in the local rural agenda so that synergies can be encouraged and created and spread in small communes, in smart rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, while cities are often subject to research in terms of their development, especially smart development, studies on rural areas are rare. However, the development of the latter is very important. It is important that rural areas develop economically and socially. Smart villages are a challenge for the modern energy sector. The authors of the article try to answer the question: What are the challenges for the modern energy sector in the context of rural development? The aim of this article is to identify challenges for the modern power industry in the concept of smart countryside development. The article begins with the presentation of the essence of smart villages and the essence of energy policy. The research facilitated the identification of basic challenges that prevent or slow down the development of the smart villages in terms of modern energy solutions, as perceived by experts and residents, and farmers and entrepreneurs operating in rural areas. The article identifies a number of energy challenges in the context of a smart village. They include, among others, a lack of awareness regarding the impact of energy on the environment, a low level of public knowledge about new energy solutions, and a lack of social trust in modern energy solutions in rural areas. The research was conducted in rural areas in the north-western part of Poland. At the end, the article presents a model of rural development in the context of the modern energy sector. The research also allowed the creation of a smart village development model that focuses on smart economy, intelligent environment, intelligent people, and intelligent governance. Since these are universal solutions, they can be used as a proposition for other countries.

This article attempts to break down the dualism of the village-urban development phenomenon in the modernization era. In the post-2020 development transformation era such as the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2030, the development of SC (smart city-SC) and smart village (SV) is very important and needs to be discussed. Issues and questions of the SC and SV discussions are the extent to which these two development models can break the tradition of dual-city development dualism phenomena as happened in the modernization era. Through the completeness of information and communication technology (ICT) and the comprehensive development strategy of SC and SV, the phenomenon of development dualism can be solved through the concept of Rurban. The concept of Rurban greatly opens up opportunities for mutual advancement between SC and SV based on hyperlinked networks, whether in terms of socio-political, socio-economic and/or socio-cultural development. This means the Rurban concept can be realized through network links from all aspects of SC and SV progression with perfect aspirations for wellbeing, equality, quality of life, empowerment, competitiveness, resilience and independence. This discussion attempts to see the breakdown of the dual-village urban dualism tradition through Rurban SC and SV concepts by using quantitative approaches and case studies in Malaysia. The findings show that there are elements of this dualism solving tradition with the existence of the SC and SV as network links from the point of use of ICT and other communication facilities between the rural and urban sectors.

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For many off-grid rural communities, renewable energy resources may be the only viable option for household and village energy supply and electrification. This is especially true for many rural regions in Southern Africa, where the population spread is characterised by small villages. These rural villages rely heavily on firewood and biomass to meet thermal energy needs (hot water and cooking), while candles, kerosene and paraffin are mostly used for lighting. Hybrid concentrated solar micro-CHP (combined heat and power) technology systems have been proposed as viable energy solutions. This paper conducts a scoping exercise to determine realistic hourly reference profile shapes for thermal and power energy consumption in isolated rural African villages. The results offer realistic energy consumption load profiles for a typical rural African village in time-series format. These reference load profiles enable experimental comparison between computer modelled solar micro-CHP systems and control automation solutions in isolated rural village micro-grid simulations.

Peripheral regions exist in most European countries, and in the countries of the European Union they have been supported for many years by the Community’s Cohesion Policy, which aims at reducing development disparities between the Member States and regions within individual countries. In Poland, five out of sixteen voivodeships in the country are considered to be peripheral regions. They are located on Poland’s eastern border, which is also the eastern border of the European Union. Support programmes for these regions have attained the status of separate operational programmes, focusing on generating convergence effects, which can be achieved by increasing the level of innovation and implementing intelligent ways of operating the economy. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the essence of peripherality and the innovative-development potential of peripheral regions in Poland, as well as the potential of smart rural development. The paper is based on an analysis of research results drawn from the literature on the subject, as well as from official information and statistics. Own research on the smart village concept in three regions of Eastern Poland was also used. This research showed a reduction in disproportions in the development of regions in Poland, and a link between the level of innovation and the economic growth of the regions, which occurred with a certain lag in relation to the transfer of innovation.

Research background. An intelligent rural community in our vision wants to be a balance between people and the environment, through a transformation of long-term economic, social and environmental characteristics. This paper aims to investigate the need to change this environment in the South-East Region, Romania, a rural plain. Purpose of the article. Villages with a certain risk of poverty are most at risk of depopulation due to the presence of low-income people, disadvantaged groups, with a population of "third age" and "fourth age". In other mountain areas, for example, there are rich villages where aging does not characterize low-income people and retired migrants. Methods. The objectives of the research are to describe the Chiscani, Brăila area, the need to transform the villages in its composition, but also to identify activities with potential for sustainable development at its level. Awareness of the community by promoting those economic activities that support the smart plain area is the basis of the whole concept. Findings & Value added. The aim of this study is to evaluate the perceptions about smart village (SV) to attract entrepreneurs, tourists and business development in the South East Region, Chiscani.

Attention has shifted to the development of villages in Europe and other parts of the world with the goal of combating rural–urban migration, and moving toward self-sufficiency in rural areas. This situation has birthed the smart village idea. Smart village initiatives such as those of the European Union is motivating global efforts aimed at improving the live and livelihood of rural dwellers. These initiatives are focused on improving agricultural productivity, among other things, since most of the food we eat are grown in rural areas around the world. Nevertheless, a major challenge faced by proponents of the smart village concept is how to provide a framework for the development of the term, so that this development is tailored towards sustainability. The current work examines the level of progress of climate smart agriculture, and tries to borrow from its ideals, to develop a framework for smart village development. Given the advances in technology, agricultural development that encompasses reduction of farming losses, optimization of agricultural processes for increased yield, as well as prevention, monitoring, and early detection of plant and animal diseases, has now embraced varieties of smart sensor technologies. The implication is that the studies and results generated around the concept of climate smart agriculture can be adopted in planning of villages, and transforming them into smart villages. Hence, we argue that for effective development of the smart village framework, smart agricultural techniques must be prioritized, viz-a-viz other developmental practicalities.

In the face of the dynamic ageing of local communities, smart cities and smart villages programs should seek to ensure meeting the needs of the elderly and promoting solutions tailored to their computer literacy, digital skills, and perception capabilities. In this context we propose to approach local smart and age-friendly communities initiatives in a way that would provide responses to two contemporary megatrends: digitalization and demographic transition. We assumed that the deployment of such initiatives in local planning and governance depends on at least two conditions: demand for smart everyday products and services represented by older adults and the perspective of the local decision-makers. The paper aims to examine whether the smart city/smart village idea focused on meeting the needs of the elderly and seeking to shape age-friendly local communities and the environment could be implemented in the municipalities in Poland. The analysis of the elderly Poles’ capabilities to absorb the ICT solutions demonstrated that the smart and age-friendly community approach may face implementation difficulties, especially in the oldest groups of the Polish rural population. Results of the quantitative study conducted in 1236 municipalities revealed that local authorities perceive local policy goals, such as pursuing smart and age-friendly development as low priority ones. A citizen-centered approach of village heads and mayors to the local policy is critical for integrating these two priorities of being smart and age-friendly.

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The electrification of current networks is developing to modernize and have a complete smart structure. Rural network electrification as a special part of the power grid will play a vital role in the future smart grid. However, energy management and balancing the supply and demand in rural area have created challenges for the distribution companies. In response to the mentioned challenges, the transactive energy (TE) as a new market based technology is applied to integrate the nine villages and manage the energy exchanging among them optimally. In order to evaluate the effects of TE technology on the rural network integration, three models are considered for analysis of the energy cost of each village and energy not supplied (ENS) in the presence of the renewable energy resources. First model assumed that none of the villages is equipped with renewable energy resources and all their electricity demand is fully provided by the power grid. While the renewable and non-renewable energy resources are considered for two other models. In the second model (individual mode), the villages cannot exchange energy with each other (local transaction market) and they can only connect to the power grid, but in the third model (integrated mode) the villages have an interconnected situation and may exchange energy with each other and grid under the TE management. Simulation results for the nine villages located in India are presented and evaluated. The results investigation indicated that the cost of energy and ENS are improved in the third model in comparison to other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Wieś & Rolnictwo is the property of Instytut Rozwoju Wsi & Rolnictwa, Polska Akademia Nauk and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)