Smart Cities and Smart Societies

Author(s):  
Roberto Pagani ◽  
Gian Vincenzo Fracastoro

The post-shock scenario is outlined: an uncertain future with a “new normality.” The embryos of the new paradigm are alongside the powerful discontinuity generated by COVID-19. With examples and anecdotes from Shanghai and China, a transformation already underway is portrayed. No more perfect shock could be thought to reconsider the role of humans on this planet, on our cities. There is a crucial need for resilience of local systems, for short chains, for autonomous energy and food self-sufficiency, for decentralizing essential products. Security and contingency plans are needed and must operate on a global scale, but at the same time at the country and the city level. The future must be reinvented, acting in depth, for shifting from “exploitation” to “cooperation” with natural systems. Topics are education, work, services, transport, food safety.

Author(s):  
Hung Viet NGO ◽  
◽  
Quan LE ◽  

The world’s population is forecasted of having 68% to be urban residents by 2050 while urbanization in the world continues to grow. Along with that phenomenon, there is a global trend towards the creation of smart cities in many countries. Looking at the overview of studies and reports on smart cities, it can be seen that the concept of “smart city” is not clearly defined. Information and communication technology have often been being recognized by the vast majority of agencies, authorities and people when thinking about smart city but the meaning of smart city goes beyond that. Smart city concept should come with the emphasizing on the role of social resources and smart urban governance in the management of urban issues. Therefore, the "smart city" label should refer to the capacity of smart people and smart officials who create smart urban governance solutions for urban problems. The autonomy in smart cities allows its members (whether individuals or the community in general) of the city to participate in governance and management of the city and become active users and that is the picture of e-democracy. E-democracy makes it easier for stakeholders to become more involved in government work and fosters effective governance by using the IT platform of smart city. This approach will be discussed more in this paper.


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.


Author(s):  
V. Mantatov ◽  
I. Lambaeva

The formation of a new scientific picture of the world is connected with the necessity of subjectivity. This subjectivity posits no limits for the scientific aspects of cognitive processes, but embraces a comprehensive world of spiritual activity. To choose the most effective model of social behavior, it is important to have an adequate knowledge of reality (i.e., the objective regularities of the surrounding world). Modern science reflects the vagueness of reality and, in consequence, the impossibility of using classical approaches. Increasingly, the negative phenomena of the surrounding world reflects the complexity of natural and socio-natural systems, especially on the global scale. Restrictions of the classical approaches to this complexity can be overcome within the synergistic theories or hierarchical systems theory that are becoming more and more popular. The necessity of appeal to modern theories, initiated as the result of ecological crises, stimulates the processes of new paradigm formation in science, acting often in spite of the needs and motives of society.


Author(s):  
Yasmin Mohd Adnan ◽  
Hasniyati Hamzah ◽  
Melasutra Md. Dali ◽  
Md Nasir Daud ◽  
Anuar Alias

Smart Cities have grown in prominence due to advancement in ICT and the new paradigm of sustainable city management and development. Whilst many authors have proposed guidelines and framework for Smart City implementation, less attention has been given to the assessment of Smart City performance. The mainstream Smart City assessment framework generally entails the quantitative assessment of factors, elements and initiatives categorised under the Smart City dimensions. However, this approach is problematic and impractical because it requires a large amount of different baseline data that is often at times unavailable due to various reasons. This paper describes an alternative framework for smart city assessment, one that is based on the modification of Giffmger’s to make it amenable to leaner data. The proposed assessment framework was adopted to assess the smart city performances of Seoul, Singapore, and Iskandar Malaysia which were then compared. With the use of the framework for the performance assessment, the city that has performed better than the others is able to be identified.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Coletta ◽  
Liam Heaphy ◽  
Rob Kitchin

While there is a relatively extensive literature concerning the nature of smart cities in general, the roles of corporate actors in their production, and the development and deployment of specific smart city technologies, to date there have been relatively few studies that have examined the situated practices as to how the smart city as a whole unfolds in specific places. In this paper, we chart the smart city ecosystem in Dublin, Ireland, and examine how the four city authorities have actively collaborated to progressively frame and mobilise an articulated vision of Dublin as a smart city. In particular, we focus on the work of ‘Smart Dublin’, a shared unit established to coordinate, manage and promote Dublin’s smart city initiatives. We argue that Smart Dublin has on the one hand sought to corral smart city initiatives within a common framework, and on the other has acted to boost the city-region’s smart city activities, especially with respect to economic development. Our analysis highlights the value of undertaking a holistic mapping of a smart city in formation, and the role of political and administrative geographies and specialist smart city units in shaping that formation.


Author(s):  
Elsa Negre ◽  
Camille Rosenthal-Sabroux

Smart City is a fuzzy concept that has not been clearly defined either in theoretical studies or in empirical projects. Smart Cities are based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), people (with their knowledge, habits, experiences, culture and behaviour) remain at the heart of concerns. In this chapter we are interested in the centrality of citizens (i.e. in the heart of the city) and of ICT in their environment. This leads us to take into account the tacit knowledge brought by citizens and the knowledge that may be divulged through ICT. We then present the concept of the Information and Knowledge System (IKS), and then we explain how it differs from that of the Digital Information System (DIS). We also point to the role of ICT in the DIS, and to their impact on improving the smartness of cities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-322
Author(s):  
Ольга Максимчук ◽  
Olga Maksimchuk ◽  
Татьяна Першина ◽  
Tatyana Pershina

In modern conditions of each region of Russia solves the problem of increasing con competitiveness and self-sufficiency. However, the solution to this problem without the Centre the instrumentation the primary function of the region - the creation of environments and human reproduction - socially and economically unjustified. Environment, this should be comfortable, high quality, and for all regions historically given conditions should be developed on the basis of relatively competitive interaction and cooperation, which is not performed. This explains the relevance of the research, in which the authors were based on the scientific work of Russian and foreign scientists: Ayvazyan S.A., Bezyazichny V.F., Gerasimov B.I., Gundarova I.A., Drobysheva V. V., Egorshina A.P., Kozlova M.I., Malikova K.S., Navrotskiy B.A., Neretina E.A., Salimova T.A., Albrecht G.L., Boyce C.J., Catalano T., Devlieger P., Hajiran H., Kendall E., Ortega F., Peri G., Wood A.M. Research subject - the factors that determine stay of comfort population in the region in various aspects, and object - the region (and the city as a structural unit of the region). Methodologically the research is based on the complex and systematic approach using comparative methods, retrospective, statistical, mathematical, logical analysis, modeling and forecasting. The purpose of copyright is to find theoretical and methodical substantiation of competitiveness of the region with the comfort of assessment items residing in it with scientists-including historical, socio-cultural, economic and environmental aspects. To achieve this goal the authors solved the problem: 1) revealed a problem of competitiveness of regions from the point of evaluating stay of comfort population in the region grounded and the trend in the functional role of temporal cities to ensure the region´s competitiveness; 2) defines competitiveness of the region from the standpoint of evaluating stay of comfort population in the region in it and a comparative analysis of the theoretical and methodological approaches to the identification and assessment of the level and quality of life, and stay of comfort population in the region; 3) developed and tested an original theoretical approach to the definition comfort of living in the region as an indicator of competitiveness, and the expediency of its use in the development of socio-economic development programs.


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.


Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (15) ◽  
pp. 3025-3043 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agustin Cocola-Gant ◽  
Antonio Lopez-Gay

In a context of global-scale inequalities and increased middle-class transnational mobility, this paper explores how the arrival of Western European and North American migrants in Barcelona drives a process of gentrification that coexists and overlaps with the development of tourism in the city. Research has focused increasingly on the role of visitors and Airbnb in driving gentrification. However, our aim is to add another layer to the complexity of neighbourhood change in tourist cities by considering the role of migrants from advanced economies as gentrifiers in these neighbourhoods. We combined socio-demographic analysis with in-depth interviews and, from this, we found that: (1) lifestyle opportunities, rather than work, explain why transnational migrants are attracted to Barcelona, resulting in privileged consumers of housing that then displace long-term residents; (2) migrants have become spatially concentrated in tourist enclaves and interact predominantly with other transnational mobile populations; (3) the result is that centrally located neighbourhoods are appropriated by foreigners – both visitors and migrants – who are better positioned in the unequal division of labour, causing locals to feel increasingly excluded from the place. We illustrate that tourism and transnational gentrification spatially coexist and, accordingly, we provide an analysis that integrates both processes to understand how neighbourhood change occurs in areas impacted by tourism. By doing so, the paper offers a fresh reading of how gentrification takes place in a Southern European destination and, furthermore, it provides new insights into the conceptualisation of tourism and lifestyle migration as drivers of gentrification.


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