Internet of Things (IoT) Applications for Sustainable Farming and Smart Cities

Dear Colleagues,

The past decade has shown just how far a handful of well-placed sensors and a steady flow of data can carry us, whether we are nurturing a vineyard on a hillside or keeping traffic moving in a crowded downtown. This Special Issue seeks capture that momentum by gathering studies that put the Internet of Things (IoT) to work for both sustainable farming and the next generation of sustainable smart cities.

We are seeking contributions ranging from proof-of-concept gadgets to solutions that are able to tackle real-world challenges. On the agricultural side, this might mean networks of soil-moisture probes that dial irrigation up or down in minutes, solar-powered camera traps that spare pollinators from pesticides, or edge systems that turn drone imagery into reliable yield forecasts. In the city, we are focussing on how technologies can trim peak-hour emissions, give planners a live read on air quality street by street, or best manage knit rooftop gardens and vertical farms.

Work that bridges the rural–urban divide is especially encouraged, from traceability platforms that follow a tomato from greenhouse to grocery shelf, to low-temperature logistics that keep harvests fresh with minimal waste, or to digital twin dashboards that let decision-makers see the ripple effects of policy choices in both the countryside and city center.

Authors should ground their findings in clear sustainability metrics—water saved, carbon avoided, livelihoods improved—and reflect on privacy, security, and governance. By pooling these insights, this Special Issue aims to sketch a practical roadmap for data-empowered, resilient, and sustainable food and city systems.

This Special Issue seeks to explore how the Internet of Things can tackle two of today’s most pressing sustainability arenas: food production and urban living. We are interested in practical, data-driven solutions: wireless sensor networks that fine-tune irrigation in the field, edge AI platforms that balance a city’s energy demand in real-time, or digital twins that trace produce from the greenhouse to the grocery shelf. In short, we are seeking contributions that turn raw sensor streams into environmental, social, or economic gains.

We welcome original research, case studies, and critical reviews covering the following topics:

• Sustainable farming: Precision-agriculture systems, autonomous field-monitoring, low-power and energy-harvesting sensor nodes, multispectral drone or satellite analytics, and IoT-enabled supply chain traceability.
• Smart cities: Urban air-quality or noise-mapping networks, adaptive traffic and logistics control, smart-grid integration of rooftops and vertical farms, citizen-centric IoT services that drive circular economy behavior, and security or governance frameworks for large-scale deployments.
• Rural–urban bridges: Technologies and policies that connect producers and consumers, such as cold-chain IoT, blockchain food passports, or digital twin dashboards, that show cross-domain impacts.

Our goal is to provide a single venue where agri-tech researchers, urban-systems engineers, and sustainability scientists can compare notes, identify common criticalities, and sketch a shared roadmap for resilient, sustainable, IoT-powered food and city systems. We aim uncover replicable best practices, transferable design principles, and policy levers that accelerate deployment at scale.

By fostering interdisciplinary research and showcasing emerging technologies, this Special Issue will advance a holistic understanding of how IoT can create truly sustainable urban–rural ecosystems, enriching our existing knowledge on this theme.

Dr. Riccardo Zambon
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Internet of Things
• precision agriculture
• smart cities
• edge AI
• digital twin
• sustainable supply chain
• low-power sensor network
• environmental monitoring