Social Sustainability of Smart Cities–Current Debates and Future Challenges
A special issue of Smart Cities (ISSN 2624-6511).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 700
Special Issue Editors
Interests: smart cities and smart tourism destinations; urban tourism; management and competitiveness of places, including town centres, high streets, and tourism destinations; place and tourism destination marketing and branding; management of sustainability in businesses and places; enterprise support
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Smart Cities have evolved in scope over time beyond their initial techno-centric focus to encompass a diverse array of topics, including urban sustainability and the visitor economy, among others. However, while environmental and green issues have traditionally dominated discussions on sustainability, significant challenges remain with regard to the social and cultural sustainability of smart cities, especially as rising global trends in social inequality have largely mirrored demographic growth in urban areas. The social and cultural heterogeneity of cities is one of their key attractions, whilst also a challenge in terms of achieving sustainable development goals. In this context, smart cities face significant ethical dilemmas, including the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
In spite of this, our understanding of the complex challenges faced by smart cities in this context from the perspective of social and cultural sustainability remains in its infancy. Amidst today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, it is necessary to redefine social sustainability in order to future-proof smart cities beyond considerations of environmental resilience.
This Special Issue invites contributions of an interdisciplinary nature focusing on the social and cultural sustainability of smart cities. Submissions related to urban planning, social and cultural challenges, the visitor economy, local communities, and the role of entrepreneurship and social innovation in smart cities will be considered. Articles selected for publication are expected to offer valuable insights and provide significant contributions to the establishment of a framework for urban social sustainability that can be used by researchers, practitioners, and key decision-makers alike.
Prof. Dr. J. Andres Coca-Stefaniak
Dr. Ye (Sandy) Shen
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Smart Cities is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- social equality
- quality of life
- cultural engagement and regeneration
- technology in city planning and managing
- safety
- accessibly
- diversity
- inclusivity
- digitalisation and AI in cities
- ethics in smart cities
- artefacts
- community
- wellbeing
- resilience
- digital transitions
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