Smart Cities — Open Access Journal

Today, the uncontrolled urban expansion and ever-increasing rise of construction have caused the need for food, urban greenery, and a healthy environment to be felt more than any other time. On the other hand, population growth and the reduced production of agricultural products and food have jeopardized food security in urban areas, which will endanger the sustainable development of cities. However, the main problem, in which many societies are involved, is how to respond to these needs in a sustainable way. One of the ways of responding to these dilemmas in large cities is the purposeful implementation of urban agriculture. Urban agriculture development, as an important issue, requires the adoption of fundamental and logical policies. In this regard, this research was conducted to evaluate the extent of adherence to urban agriculture in Iran’s eight densely populated cities using a new combined approach of the best–worst method (BWM) and weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS). The results indicated that urban agriculture still has a long way to go and should be considered more seriously. Moreover, vertical farming has been suggested as one of the ways of promoting urban agriculture in the country and smoothing the way to sustainable development. Full article

Damage detection and structural health monitoring have always been of great importance to civil engineers and researchers. Vibration-based damage detection has several advantages compared to traditional methods of non-destructive evaluation, such as ground penetrating radar (GPR) or ultrasonic testing, since they give a global response and are feasible for large structures. Damage detection requires a comparison between two systems states, the baseline or “healthy state”, i.e., the initial modal parameters, and the damaged state. In this study, system identification (SI) was carried out on a pedestrian bridge by measuring the dynamic response using six low-cost triaxial accelerometers. These low-cost accelerometers use a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS), which is cheaper compared to a piezoelectric sensor. The frequency domain decomposition algorithm, which is an output-only method of modal analysis, was used to obtain the modal properties, i.e., natural frequencies and mode shapes. Three mode shapes and frequencies were found out using system identification and were compared with the finite element model (FEM) of the bridge, developed using the commercial finite element software, Abaqus. A good comparison was found between the FEM and SI results. The frequency difference was nearly 10%, and the modal assurance criterion (MAC) of experimental and analytical mode shapes was greater than 0.80, which proved to be a good comparison despite the small number of accelerometers available and the simplifications and idealizations in FEM. Full article

‘Smart cities’ is a concept that embraces many technologies and solutions in sensing and carrying a city’s data through a network for further processing and analysis. Smart cities’ main priority is citizens and environmental sustainability. In practice, wireless sensors networks over mesh networks are the approach employed most of the time. In terms of wireless communications technologies, Bluetooth low energy offers a robust, low cost, and low power consumption option. The recently published Bluetooth mesh profile specification addresses the most relevant challenges on that paradigm, adding secure multicast communications capabilities. A framework to create Smart Cities services was proposed and a traffic light service was used to demonstrate specification applicability for smart cities’ services. The proposed service showed that data may be collected and shared between devices in a mesh network through and over a metropolitan area. The specification’s strengths were demonstrated and some topics for further development were identified. Full article

A power grid is a network that carries electrical energy from power plants to customer premises. One existing power grid is going through a massive and revolutionary transformation process. It is envisioned to achieve the true meaning of technology as “technology for all.” Smart grid technology is an inventive and futuristic approach for improvement in existing power grids. Amalgamation of existing electrical infrastructure with information and communication network is an inevitable requirement of smart grid deployment and operation. The key characteristics of smart grid technology are full duplex communication, advanced metering infrastructure, integration of renewable and alternative energy resources, distribution automation and absolute monitoring, and control of the entire power grid. Smart grid communication infrastructure consists of heterogeneous and hierarchical communication networks. Various layers of smart grid deployment involve diverse sets of wired and wireless communication standards. Application of smart grids can be realized in the facets of energy utilization. Smart grid communication architecture can be used to explore intelligent agriculture applications for the proficient nurturing of various crops. The utilization, monitoring, and control of various renewable energy resources are the most prominent features of smart grid infrastructure for agriculture applications. This paper describes an implementation of an IoT-based wireless energy management system and the monitoring of weather parameters using a smart grid communication infrastructure. A graphical user interface and dedicated website was developed for real-time execution of the developed prototype. The prototype described in this paper covers a pervasive communication infrastructure for field area networks. The design was validated by testing the developed prototype. For practical implementation of the monitoring of the field area network, multiple sensors units were placed for data collection for better accuracy and the avoidance of estimation error. The developed design uses one sensor and tested it for IoT applications. The prototype was validated for local and wide area networks. Most of the present literature depicts a design of various systems using protocols such as IEEE 802.15.1 and IEEE 802.15.4, which either provide restricted access in terms of area or have lower data rates. The protocols used in developed system such as IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.3 provide ubiquitous coverage as well as high data rates. These are well-established and proven protocols for Internet applications and data communication but less explored for smart grid applications. The work depicted in this paper provides a solution for all three smart grid hierarchical networks such as home/field area networks, neighborhood area networks, and wide area networks using prototype development and testing. It lays a foundation for actual network design and implementation. The designed system can be extended for multiple sensor nodes for practical implementation in field area networks for better accuracy and in the case of node failure. Full article

Smart and sustainable buildings have been designed, built and utilized in order to consume less energy, facilitate efficient building operation, and improve the comfort, health and productivity of users. Hence, they become a critical component of smart cities. Nonetheless, perceived importance rankings of different features of smart and sustainable buildings have yet to be identified and prioritized from the users’ perspective. Based on responses from 494 building users in Hong Kong, it was found that building users tended to focus more on intelligent security systems, followed by intelligent and responsive fresh air supply and lifts and escalators. On the other hand, building users generally considered the systems that monitor people’s movement and harvest rain water to be the least important features. Exploratory factor analyses were used to identify key factors of perceived smartness and sustainability of a building. The results of factor analyses showed that different user groups would characterize a building’s smartness differently. Full article

Community engagement is essential for building smart cities. While leaders who participate in community leadership development programs create engaged communities, there is a gap in literature on the role leadership programs play in the formation of engaged communities. This conceptual paper examines the relationship between collaborative leadership and leadership development programs in order and their role in fostering engaged communities. Recommendations for future research on building effective leadership programs are proposed. Full article

Digitalization has enabled infrastructure and cities to be “smarter”; the use of physical space and energy, the transmission of information, the management of users, assets and processes, the operation of businesses and companies have been progressively digitalized. The main challenges of a Smart City is its definition, scope and interconnections; there are different approaches to Smart City implementations that vary from collaborative multidisciplinary environments, the addition of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) within its physical fabric to the use of Big Data for higher abstraction decisions. This paper presents the concept of Digital as a Service (DaaS), where any complete digitalization can be implemented independently of its associated physical infrastructure in a Cloud environment; DasS would enable an interoperable Virtual Digital Infrastructure (VDI). In addition, this paper reviews the current Digital Systems, Transmission Networks, Servers and Management Systems. The next Industrial Revolution will be founded on Artificial Intelligence that will entirely replace humans by taking production and management decisions based on the Internet of Things (IoT), the Cloud, BlockChain, Big Data, Virtual Reality and the combination of digital and real infrastructure or city. Digital as a Service would be its enabler by providing the entire interconnection, integration and virtualization of its Space, Services and Structure (3S). Full article

The Smart City Scheme, as part of the Smart Mauritius initiative, adopted by the Government of Mauritius in 2014, heavily incentivised the emergence of new smart cities in greenfields. The resulting migration of business and residents from existing cities to new cities affected the liveability standard of existing cities and encouraged property speculation. This shift reduced home pricing affordability further from the grasp of young professionals. With the Mauritian Landlord and Tenant Actof 1999 discouraging investment in Mauritian city centres, property developers were additionally encouraged to invest in housing projects in these emerging Smart Cities. As part of the Smart Urban Regeneration strategy of Port Louis that sought to reduce competition between new and existing cities, the provision of housing was seen as paramount to enabling the Smart Cities concept as promoted by the Government. The findings of this paper, which explores the urban footprint of Port Louis through field survey, provides insights, as to the components of the city, that can assist policy-makers and developers to better shape projects that are more responsive to the Smart Urban Regeneration plan. Full article

The aim of the law is to maintain social order, peace, and justice in society, whereas the aim of ethics is to provide codes of ethics and conduct that help people to decide what is wrong, and how to act and behave. Laws provide a minimum set of standards for obtaining good human behavior. Ethics often provides standards that exceed the legal minimum. Therefore, for the best behavior, both law and ethics should be respected. The Internet of Things (IoT) involves a large number of objects and humans that are connected via the Internet ‘anytime’ and ‘anyplace’ to provide homogeneous communication and contextual services. Thus, it creates a new social, economic, political, and ethical landscape that needs new enhanced legal and ethical measures for privacy protection, data security, ownership protection, trust improvement, and the development of proper standards. This survey and opinion article is concerned with the ethics and legislation of the IoT and provides an overview of the following: definition and history of the IoT; general ethical principles and theories that are available for application in the IoT; the role of governments in the IoT; regulations in the European Union (EU) and United States for the IoT’ IoT characteristics that have the potential to create ethical problems; IoT ethical questions and principles; IoT security, privacy, and trust aspects; and the ethical culture of IoT-related companies. Full article

Projects and project management (PM) are becoming a way of working, and many changes in society have evolved because of projects. However, will the societal agenda also influence the project management discipline? Societal issues generated by urban population growth and rapid urbanization arise in cities. Making a city “smart” and sustainable is emerging as a strategy to mitigate these issues. How does this development impact project management? In order to answer this question, we performed meaningful learning by mapping the concepts for Smart Sustainable Cities (SSC) and project management and developing prior and post concept maps. We identified four major findings describing the implication of societal issues on project management: quality of life acts as a societal objective for PM; PM governs autonomous projects with new business models; and PM success criteria are related to stakeholders and long-term effects, as well as extensive connection to the digital world with consideration of the privacy and ethics. From this, we were able to redefine the definition of project management as “a collaborative endeavor of all affected stakeholders equivalently participating in exploring and exploiting, via an autonomous temporary organization, fit-for-purpose deliverables with connections to the digital platform, thereby aiming to prepare the entities of the affected stakeholders for the future”. Our study is novel and relevant for PM and SSC practice: societal issues are on the strategy agenda of many governments and companies, and these will drive the projects that are performed in this environment. The project management community should align with this development, since these challenges are part of their environment. As a start, a comprehensive understanding of the impact of societal issues is relevant to build new definitions, competences, and supporting processes. Full article

Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius, has been the preferred city for hosting the judicial, political and business activities of the country for the past two centuries. However, new policies have created nine new smart cities in greenfield locations within 10 km from Port Louis, so the capital city is facing economic decline as it is losing businesses, as well as administrative functions. This loss equates to an erosion in municipal revenue along with a reduced interest in contributing to the development of the city; all of which takes a toll on its urban economic landscape, as well as on the broader Mauritian economy. This paper builds from the findings of a focus group study to propose a smart urban regeneration model for the City of Port Louis, which could enable the old city to be restored and regenerated rather than redeveloped in modernist architecture, as has happened in the new smart cities model. A smart urban regeneration model is proposed backed by the pillars of smart infrastructure, culture, metabolism and governance. The proposed model is applied to the context of Port Louis to generate an urban regeneration scheme. The potential benefits in terms of financial outcomes, investment attraction and job creation are explored through a combined application of econometric forecasting models. The results support positive figures of both investment and job creation, and the findings of this study aim at informing and providing the governing bodies of Port Louis with a tangible solution for revamping the centuries-old capital city, as well as demonstrating to the world that smart cities can mean sensitive urban regeneration. Full article

The present study, after a literature review of the smart city definitions and ranking tools in Europe and in China, presents a cross-reading approach to the Chinese smart cities concept and implementation. It is indeed nowadays mandatory to re-convert cities in sustainable and smart ecosystems and this can be done with different approaches. In this frame, the role of ICT—the glue of the smart city concept—is central and pervasive. The Smart city model could be a way to reverse the actual trend of cities, re-defining an integrated approach between tangible and intangible infrastructures of cities. Future cities are influenced by two main different visions with different connotations that come along with the planning capacity and with the ability of countries to follow a coherent and sustainable development project. European approach for planning is quite consolidated and based on a long term holistic vision, while Chinese vision is catching up with the dramatic speed of urbanization, deploying critical infrastructures in most cases without a long-term view. On the other hand, Chinese projects are in some cases exemplary for Europe where many constraints and regulatory issues put a strong limitation on the many possible implementations. Full article

The Smart City concept is still evolving and can be viewed as a branding exercise by big corporations, which is why the concept is not being used by the United Nations (U.N.). Smart Cities tend to represent the information, communication, and technological (ICT) industry alone without considering the values and cultural and historical profiles that some cities hold as legacies. However, the technology inherent in Smart Cities promises efficiencies and options that could allow cities to be more “inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable” as required by the U.N. agenda including cultural heritage. There is a notable lack of Smart City application to cultural and historical urban fabrics. Instead, the modernist new town approach has emerged under this new rubric leading to many problems such as urban decay and unsustainable car dependence. This study therefore presents a review of the literature on the nature, challenges, and opportunities of Smart Cities. A new Smart Cities framework is proposed based on the dimensions of culture, metabolism, and governance. These findings seek to inform policy makers of an alternative viewpoint on the Smart City paradigm, which focuses on urban outcomes rather than technology in isolation. Full article