Citizen Participation in Smart Sustainable Cities

2022 ◽  
pp. 967-987
Author(s):  
Ezgi Seçkiner Bingöl

Citizen participation and sustainability are two main concepts used in the definitions in the smart city literature. Citizen participation is often used within the context of improving good governance in smart cities. Its relationship with sustainability is seldomly discussed. This study analyses the relationship between the concepts of smart city, smart sustainable city, and citizen participation, and discusses how citizen participation is shaped in smart sustainable cities. In light of this analysis, seven types of citizen participation mechanisms are studied. The findings of the study reveal that sustainability in smart cities is only considered within the framework of environmental matters, while citizen participation is only considered as a mechanism aimed at supporting good governance. The study recommends using these participation mechanisms to highlight other aspects of sustainability such as securing comprehensiveness, alleviating poverty, promoting gender equality and to focus on other aspects of citizen participation such as real participation and democratic effectiveness.

Author(s):  
Ezgi Seçkiner Bingöl

Citizen participation and sustainability are two main concepts used in the definitions in the smart city literature. Citizen participation is often used within the context of improving good governance in smart cities. Its relationship with sustainability is seldomly discussed. This study analyses the relationship between the concepts of smart city, smart sustainable city, and citizen participation, and discusses how citizen participation is shaped in smart sustainable cities. In light of this analysis, seven types of citizen participation mechanisms are studied. The findings of the study reveal that sustainability in smart cities is only considered within the framework of environmental matters, while citizen participation is only considered as a mechanism aimed at supporting good governance. The study recommends using these participation mechanisms to highlight other aspects of sustainability such as securing comprehensiveness, alleviating poverty, promoting gender equality and to focus on other aspects of citizen participation such as real participation and democratic effectiveness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 769
Author(s):  
Mona Treude

Cities are becoming digital and are aiming to be sustainable. How they are combining the two is not always apparent from the outside. What we need is a look from inside. In recent years, cities have increasingly called themselves Smart City. This can mean different things, but generally includes a look towards new digital technologies and claim that a Smart City has various advantages for its citizens, roughly in line with the demands of sustainable development. A city can be seen as smart in a narrow sense, technology wise, sustainable or smart and sustainable. Current city rankings, which often evaluate and classify cities in terms of the target dimensions “smart” and “sustainable”, certify that some cities are both. In its most established academic definitions, the Smart City also serves both to improve the quality of life of its citizens and to promote sustainable development. Some cities have obviously managed to combine the two. The question that arises is as follows: What are the underlying processes towards a sustainable Smart City and are cities really using smart tools to make themselves sustainable in the sense of the 2015 United Nations Sustainability Goal 11? This question is to be answered by a method that has not yet been applied in research on cities and smart cities: the innovation biography. Based on evolutionary economics, the innovation biography approaches the process towards a Smart City as an innovation process. It will highlight which actors are involved, how knowledge is shared among them, what form citizen participation processes take and whether the use of digital and smart services within a Smart City leads to a more sustainable city. Such a process-oriented method should show, among other things, to what extent and when sustainability-relevant motives play a role and which actors and citizens are involved in the process at all.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Savis Gohari ◽  
Daniela Baer ◽  
Brita Fladvad Nielsen ◽  
Elena Gilcher ◽  
Welfry Zwestin Situmorang

Citizen participation has become an important aspect in the design of smart cities. This paper investigates the frame and modality of citizen participation in a European Horizon2020 smart city project, +CityxChange, in Trondheim. +CityxChange aims at enabling citizen participation and co-creation in the transition to a positive energy city. The question is “what are the prevailing approaches and practices in relation to citizen participation amongst the key actors involved in +CityxChange? Which structures and processes have inhibited or fostered the participation mechanisms (e.g., for, by, and of people) and practices in Trondheim?” Through participatory observations and interviews with key local actors and citizens, we found that the focus of +CityxChange on efficiency and creating innovative solutions “for” people in partnership with the private sector has disturbed the “by” and “of” people mechanisms of participation. Citizens’ power and roles are not delegated to challenge or replace the project’s predetermined issue or plan. The anchorage of the project outside of the formal administrative structure has caused other functional barriers that inhibit citizen participation, rather than facilitate it. This paper discusses the causal relationships between these interconnected barriers and suggests how authorities can possibly overcome them.


i-com ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-193
Author(s):  
Daniel Wessel ◽  
Julien Holtz ◽  
Florian König

Abstract Smart cities have a huge potential to increase the everyday efficiency of cities, but also to increase preparation and resilience in case of natural disasters. Especially for disasters which are somewhat predicable like floods, sensor data can be used to provide citizens with up-to-date, personalized and location-specific information (street or even house level resolution). This information allows citizens to better prepare to avert water damage to their property, reduce the needed government support, and — by connecting citizens locally — improve mutual support among neighbors. But how can a smart city application be designed that is both usable and able to function during disaster conditions? Which smart city information can be used? How can the likelihood of mutual, local support be increased? In this practice report, we present the human-centered development process of an app to use Smart City data to better prepare citizens for floods and improve their mutual support during disasters as a case study to answer these questions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Helen Dian Fridayani ◽  
Rifaid Rifaid

Sustainable city is a city that designed by considering the impact on the environment, inhabited by population with a number and behavior that requires minimal support for energy, water and food from the outside, and produces less CO2, gas, air and water pollution. Moreover the national government envisions Indonesia2030which shallimplement the smart city towards sustainable development.Especially in Sleman Regency, the government is committed to make Sleman Regency as a Smart Regency in 2021. It could be shown in the vision of Sleman Regency which is The realization of a more prosperous Sleman community, Independent, Cultured and Integratede-governmentsystem to the Smart Regency in 2021”. This paper would like to analyze how the Sleman Regency implement the Smart city concept, and does the smart city concept can achive the sustainability city. The research uses the qualitative approach with in-deepth interview in examining the data, also the literature review. The result in this study reveals the following: firstly, from 2016-2019 Sleman regency has several applications to support the smart city implementation such as One Data of UMKM, Home Creative Sleman, Lapor Sleman app, Sleman Smart app, online tax app, e-patient, sleman emergency service, and Sleman smart room. Second, there are many elements in smart cities that are very important for smart government, smart life, smart economy, smart society, and smart environment. However, in supporting to support the realization of smart cities, not all aspects must be implemented properly to achieve a managed city, components related to smart environment cannot be implemented properly in Sleman Regency. There are still many problems regarding environmental problems such as the development of the construction of hotels and apartments that do not heed the environment, incrasing the populations, the limitations of green open space.


2020 ◽  
pp. 13-24
Author(s):  
Anna Pozdniakova ◽  
Iryna Velska

The paper analyzes the key steps taken by different cities worldwide and gathered into a clear step-by-step roadmap that can be useful for emerging smart cities. The Roadmap covers three main stages as we see them during the process of development: preparation, formation and spreading stages. We reveal how this is incorporated in the Ukrainian context. Our analysis of smart city solutions from all over the world (based on the BeeSmartCity database) showed that the tech component on its own is not enough to overcome urban challenges within different domains (environment, economy, government etc.), as we see each of the solutions has a human component involved in a form of knowledge generation and sharing, different forms of co-creation and partnership etc. Thus, ICTs are a required but not a sufficient element of building successful citizen-friendly and resilient cities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Nada Alasbali ◽  
Saaidal Razalli Bin Azzuhri ◽  
Rosli Salleh

This study intends to assess the development of IoT-based smart cities industry and the possibilities of blockchain integration from the perspective of industry stakeholders as the vision for a modern, integrated smart city future is predicated upon intelligence and the relationship between data-rich connections and human activities. Although this ideal of an interconnected urban landscape is currently being tested and actively used by consumers spanning a range of connected nodes and service solutions, the scalability, interoperability, and security of this emergent cyber-physical ideal has yet to be adequately resolved. This study used an exploratory study design following a mixed method design approach. A structured questionnaire survey (quantitative) and interviews (qualitative) were conducted for collecting data. IBM SPSS was used for the analysis of the data, which computed descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, Pearson correlation, and ANOVA for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative data. Through an empirical assessment of the perceptions and expertise of 122 stakeholders from within the worldwide IoT smart city industry, conceptual support for blockchain integration into the IoT solution was acquired, highlighting the solution-oriented, system-centered advantages of a decentralised, autonomous data management backbone that could be applied to future IoT-based smart city solutions. To meet the broad and diversified needs of the smart city and its future evolution, this study has confirmed that a commitment to decentralisation and blockchain intermediary data management is critical to scalable, secure, and autonomous negotiations of the IoT-enabled smart city networks.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1407-1427
Author(s):  
Carlo Francesco Capra

Smart cities are associated almost exclusively with modern technology and infrastructure. However, smart cities have the possibility to enhance the involvement and contribution of citizens to urban development. This work explores the role of governance as one of the factors influencing the participation of citizens in smart cities projects. Governance characteristics play a major role in explaining different typologies of citizen participation. Through a focus on Amsterdam Smart City program as a specific case study, this research examines the characteristics of governance that are present in the overall program and within a selected sample of projects, and how they relate to different typologies of citizen participation. The analysis and comprehension of governance characteristics plays a crucial role both for a better understanding and management of citizen participation, especially in complex settings where multiple actors are interacting.


2022 ◽  
pp. 290-296
Author(s):  
Panagiota Konstantinou ◽  
Georgios Stathakis ◽  
Maria Georgia Nomikou ◽  
Athina Mountzouri ◽  
Maria Stamataki

Cities are increasingly dependent on networks, sensors, and microcontrollers. Artificial intelligence has managed to mimic human behavior, and in a few years, many jobs may be replaced by computers or machines. Today, smart cities are evolving in all countries from the poorest to the most economically viable, and there are many smart city applications that rely on observation and participation of the citizens. Active citizens are interested in the benefits of their city, and they are involved in improving and promoting urban living. All levels of smart citizen participation are associated with liberal citizenship and personal autonomy and the choice of individuals to perform specific roles and take responsibility for their actions. The states in turn provide liberal forms of government. Smart cities need “smart people” who can take an active part in both governance and city reform. This kind of citizen participation is more than just a ritual participation in government.


2022 ◽  
pp. 126-143
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Tomor

While the role of citizens in smart cities is hotly debated, there is a dearth of empirical research on the subject. This in-depth study of a European city, selected for its typical smart city ambitions, explores the roles that citizens actually play in smart city projects. The study examines twelve initiatives in the City of Utrecht (NL) using a framework that differentiates between types of citizen participation. The findings show that technology-enabled citizen participation in Utrecht is highly diverse and embraces all types of participation rather than simply taking the form of either “citizen empowerment” (as the advocates argue) or “citizen subjugation' (as the critics stress). The diversity found in the study highlights the need to conceptualize the role of the smart citizen at the micro (project) level rather than at the level of the city as a whole. The study shows that citizen participation in the smart city should not be understood as a technological utopia or dystopia but as an evolving, technologically mediated practice that is shaped by a variety of factors.


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