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Smart City Construction and Urban Resilience

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 19197

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Management Science and Real Estate, Chongqing Univ, Chongqing 400044, China
Interests: urban modeling; smart city; urban governance

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Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
Interests: smart city; smart infrastructure; infrastructure resilience

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last several decades, global cities have experienced tremendous economic losses and casualties arising from frequent natural disasters (e.g., floods) and man-made threats (e.g., terrorist attacks) due to ever-changing climate, rapid urbanization, and recurrent interregional conflicts. A top priority for modern cities is to build up their resilience by developing evidence-based scientific solutions for improving the capacities to prepare for, absorb, recover from, and adapt to disastrous events. This requires the city to be smart, with better perception, monitoring, analysis, and predictive abilities.

The rapid advances in ICT-enabled smart cities provide manifold new possibilities to offer decision-makers promptly updated information, to facilitate the real-time monitoring of risks, to inform different stakeholders on how to enhance their preparation and predictive abilities, and to develop methods that enable emergency responses to hazards. Despite these benefits, the extensive applications of cutting-edge technologies during smart city construction may strengthen interdependencies across urban infrastructures, increase the number of potential risk sources, bring issues concerning data security and information leakage, and even counterproductively make the city more vulnerable to hazards.

Overall, there is no consensus on the utility of smart city solutions for urban resilience. The underlying principles of smart city construction are not well explored, and there is limited knowledge on the resilience of smart cities. By filling these gaps, this Special Issue will support urban researchers, planners, and decision-makers in their efforts toward the development of smart and resilient cities.

This Special Issue aims to gather scientific advances on smart city construction and urban resilience. We invite global scholars to submit novel theoretical, methodological, and empirical research papers regarding the conceptualization, interpretation, comparison, modeling, assessment, or analysis of the smartness and resilience of cities. The scope of the Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Resilience-driven smart cities;
  • Smart city resilience;
  • Relationship between the smartness and resilience of cities;
  • Principles of smart city construction;
  • Challenges and opportunities of smart city construction;
  • Influencing factors of smart city construction;
  • Citizen sense of gain from smart city construction;
  • Influencing factors of urban resilience;
  • Assessment of city smartness;
  • Assessment of urban resilience;
  • Urban resilience against various hazards (i.e., COVID-19 pandemic, flood, terrorist attack, etc.);
  • Resilience of infrastructures (i.e., power, water, gas, transportation, etc.);
  • Smart building;
  • ICT for smart city construction and urban resilience enhancement;
  • Emerging technologies in smart cities;
  • Innovative data sources;
  • Best practices for smart/resilient cities;
  • Policies of smart/resilient cities;
  • Stakeholder engagement;
  • Public attitude;
  • Other topics related to smart or resilient cities.

Prof. Dr. Dezhi Li
Prof. Dr. Chao Mao
Dr. Shenghua Zhou
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. Sustainability 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 2400 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

  • smart city
  • resilient city
  • digitalization
  • digital twin
  • smart infrastructure
  • resilient infrastructure
  • urban resilience
  • disaster risk
  • emergency management
  • hazard management
  • sense of gain
  • information and communications technology

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 1877 KiB  
Article
Calculating and Analyzing Carbon Emission Factors of Prefabricated Components
by Lei Yu, Yang Wang and Dezhi Li
Sustainability 2023, 15(11), 8706; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118706 - 28 May 2023
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2646
Abstract
The construction industry’s carbon emissions have a considerable impact on the environment, and all countries have pledged to reduce them to achieve low-carbon transformation. The use of prefabricated components is widely recognized as a crucial measure for mitigating carbon emissions. However, there is [...] Read more.
The construction industry’s carbon emissions have a considerable impact on the environment, and all countries have pledged to reduce them to achieve low-carbon transformation. The use of prefabricated components is widely recognized as a crucial measure for mitigating carbon emissions. However, there is a scarcity of existing data on the carbon emission factors of prefabricated components (CEFoPC), and few studies have focused on calculating and reducing their carbon emissions. This study presents a novel approach to calculating CEFoPC, which involves analyzing the production process, defining the carbon emission range, identifying the sources of carbon emissions, and establishing measurement equations for the carbon emissions of prefabricated components. The proposed approach is demonstrated using six typical prefabricated components in Nanjing, China, namely, prefabricated exterior and interior wall panels, stairs, laminated panels, balconies, and air conditioning panels. After decomposing the carbon emission factors and exploring carbon emission reduction strategies, the findings suggest that the production and transportation of raw materials are the primary contributors to carbon emissions associated with prefabricated components. Additionally, the most effective carbon emission reduction strategy involves the use of green and recycled raw materials. Furthermore, the framework for calculating CEFoPC proposed in this study is considered a significant contribution, as it can facilitate future research and the enrichment of carbon emission factor databases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart City Construction and Urban Resilience)
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19 pages, 1085 KiB  
Article
Conceptual Model of Key Aspects of Security and Privacy Protection in a Smart City in Slovakia
by Michaela Kollarova, Tomas Granak, Stanislava Strelcova and Jozef Ristvej
Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6926; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086926 - 20 Apr 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2563
Abstract
The output of this work is a comprehensive overview of a wide range of key aspects of security and privacy relevant for the development of smart cities in Slovakia. The work incorporates heterogeneous and complex findings into a corpus of simplified evidence. By [...] Read more.
The output of this work is a comprehensive overview of a wide range of key aspects of security and privacy relevant for the development of smart cities in Slovakia. The work incorporates heterogeneous and complex findings into a corpus of simplified evidence. By employing a systematic review method, this study first outlines key characteristics of a smart city, and then proceeds to summarise opportunities and challenges for conceptualising a model of a smart city in Slovakia. The development of a classification with respect to the different smart city domains, systems and potential threats aims to highlight universally applicable aspects. In order to provide an overview, the paper also presents specific requirements, options, problems, and factors taking into account Slovak policies. This work is based on the proposition that a sustainable and prosperous conceptual model of a smart city is not only linked with technological artefacts and communication infrastructure that enable intelligent management of various governance resources, but is especially tied to the norms, policies, and standards that ensure security and privacy for smart city residents, as their presence and trust in the whole ecosystem is essential for the generation, collection, processing, storage, dissemination, and use of data by respectful technologies. A secure smart city is a cross-disciplinary dilemma, a universal technological challenge built upon context-based policies, standards and procedures. The output of this work is an identification of smart city domains that can become subject to attacks and a stipulation of security requirements that are needed to assure domain functionality. Maintaining meaningful human control as a requirement to mitigate influence activities as well as protect and ensure residential engagement in a smart city was identified and added to the results of the review. Simple communication was highlighted as an effective countermeasure. Applicability of the smart city concept in Slovakia is particularly vulnerable due to the slow pace of implementation and fragmentation of relevant legislation, short development cycle of new techniques of attack, and the lack of expertise and low level of user awareness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart City Construction and Urban Resilience)
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22 pages, 15114 KiB  
Article
Resilience Assessment and Influencing Factors of Chinese Megacities
by Tingting Wang, Cuiyou Yao and Qing Wei
Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6770; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086770 - 17 Apr 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2637
Abstract
Urban resilience is one of the crucial components of sustainable urban development, yet challenges to sustainable urban development are created by the dangers of uncertainty in the context of global urbanization. Based on the perspective of the economic, social, ecological, infrastructural, and institutional [...] Read more.
Urban resilience is one of the crucial components of sustainable urban development, yet challenges to sustainable urban development are created by the dangers of uncertainty in the context of global urbanization. Based on the perspective of the economic, social, ecological, infrastructural, and institutional components, this research constructs an indicator system to assess urban resilience. Using seven megacities in China as the research area, the evolution of the resilience level of China’s megacities is investigated, and its influencing factors are examined. The findings demonstrate an upward trend from 2010 to 2021 in the resilience of China’s seven megacities. Furthermore, the rising trend in the contribution of urban institutional resilience to overall resilience is most evident during the 2010–2021 period. Urban ecological resilience’s contribution to overall resilience declines most noticeably between 2010 and 2021. The contribution of each megacity subsystem resilience to overall resilience varies in different cities. Industry structure, market capacity, and urban maintenance positively affect the overall resilience of cities. Additionally, this work offers a strong, practical theoretical foundation for sustainable urban development. The research contents and findings of this study can support the decision-making procedures in the development of megacities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart City Construction and Urban Resilience)
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21 pages, 2856 KiB  
Article
EWM-FCE-ODM-Based Evaluation of Smart Community Construction: From the Perspective of Residents’ Sense of Gain
by Fang Dong, Jiyao Yin, Jirubin Xiang, Zhangyu Chang, Tiantian Gu and Feihu Han
Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6587; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086587 - 13 Apr 2023
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2492
Abstract
As a crucial paradigm for addressing urbanization-related problems, smart community construction is in full swing, and its goal is to enhance residents’ sense of gain. Prior studies have not been able to account for all aspects of smart community construction, especially the evaluation [...] Read more.
As a crucial paradigm for addressing urbanization-related problems, smart community construction is in full swing, and its goal is to enhance residents’ sense of gain. Prior studies have not been able to account for all aspects of smart community construction, especially the evaluation tools from the perspective of residents’ sense of gain. Therefore, this paper seeks to establish a comprehensive evaluation framework for residents’ sense of gain in the smart community through the integrated method, which includes the entropy weight method (EWM), the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE), and the obstacle degree model (ODM). For the purpose of verifying the feasibility of the evaluation framework, 31 smart communities in 6 Chinese cities (Shenzhen City, Putian City, Huizhou City, Dongguan City, Zhengzhou City, and Luoyang City) were selected. The results indicated that the weight of “Cultural activities for the elderly” indicator is the highest while the “Overall design” indicator is the lowest. In addition, Putian City had the best performance, but Shenzhen City ranked last among the six cities. Moreover, among the 31 communities, the Fengshan community in Putian City performed the best while the Xinglong community in Luoyang City performed the worst. Several suggestions are proposed to improve residents’ sense of gain in smart communities, such as enhancing the quality of healthcare services, meeting the needs of the elderly through multiple channels, and enriching business services. This study not only innovates the evaluation method of smart community construction from the perspective of residents’ sense of gain but also provides suggestions for promoting the sustainable development of the smart community and enabling residents to feel more satisfied. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart City Construction and Urban Resilience)
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18 pages, 1954 KiB  
Article
CRITIC-TOPSIS Based Evaluation of Smart Community Governance: A Case Study in China
by Jiyao Yin, Jueqi Wang, Chenyang Wang, Linxiu Wang and Zhangyu Chang
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 1923; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15031923 - 19 Jan 2023
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3964
Abstract
As the basic unit of a smart city, the smart community has received considerable attention and problems in community governance have appeared simultaneously. Previous studies of smart community governance have failed to encompass all aspects, especially the evaluation tools for ensuring its outcomes. [...] Read more.
As the basic unit of a smart city, the smart community has received considerable attention and problems in community governance have appeared simultaneously. Previous studies of smart community governance have failed to encompass all aspects, especially the evaluation tools for ensuring its outcomes. Therefore, this paper developed a comprehensive evaluation framework based on the CRITIC-TOPSIS method combined with the identified evaluation indicators. Seven smart communities from four cities in China were selected as cases to show how this evaluation framework could be applied to decision-making. The results indicated that the evaluation indicator ”Mediation of Conflict” had the highest weight while ”The participation of social enterprises in governance” had the lowest weight. Furthermore, the Yucun community presented the highest governance performance among these seven smart communities. Several strategies are proposed for improving the level of smart community governance, such as devoting significant resources to develop infrastructure in smart communities, facilitating communication among multiple participants, and increasing funding for the implementation of smart communities. This research contributes both to the innovation of community governance evaluation and to the improvement of smart communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart City Construction and Urban Resilience)
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Review

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29 pages, 4796 KiB  
Review
Text Mining Applications in the Construction Industry: Current Status, Research Gaps, and Prospects
by Na Xu, Xueqing Zhou, Chaoran Guo, Bai Xiao, Fei Wei and Yuting Hu
Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16846; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416846 - 15 Dec 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3665
Abstract
With the advent of the Industry 4.0 era, information technology has been widely developed and applied in the construction engineering field. Text mining techniques can extract interesting and important data hidden in plain text, potentially allowing problems in the construction field to be [...] Read more.
With the advent of the Industry 4.0 era, information technology has been widely developed and applied in the construction engineering field. Text mining techniques can extract interesting and important data hidden in plain text, potentially allowing problems in the construction field to be addressed. Although text mining techniques have been used in the construction field for many years, there is a lack of recent reviews focused on their development and application from a literature analysis perspective; therefore, we conducted a review with the aim of filling this gap. We use a combination of bibliometric and manual literature analyses to systematically review the text mining-based literature related to the construction field from 1997 to 2022. Specifically, publication analysis, collaboration analysis, co-citation analysis, and keyword analysis were conducted on 185 articles collected from the SCOPUS database. Based on a read-through of the 185 papers, the current research topics in text mining were manually determined and sorted, including tasks and methods, application areas, and core methods and algorithms. The presented results provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of TM techniques, thereby contributing to the further development of TM techniques in the construction industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart City Construction and Urban Resilience)
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