Smart Cities and E-Government: Leveraging Big Data for Urban Development
A special issue of Urban Science (ISSN 2413-8851).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 25
Special Issue Editors
Interests: applied artificial intelligence; e-government; smart cities; information society; IT&C
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: IT&C; e-government; smart cities; sustainability; social change
Interests: technological innovation management; context-driven innovation; commercialization and governance of AI and digital technologies
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The Special Issue, entitled “Smart Cities and E-Government: Leveraging Big Data for Urban Development”, focuses on examining longitudinal trends and evaluating the sustained impacts of AI and digital reforms in urban governance, both at local and global scales.
The scope of this Special Issue includes comprehensive analyses and original studies that address the pivotal dimensions of smart city development. Contributions are encouraged in fields such as e-government, e-democracy, social innovation, context-driven innovation, urban planning, and sustainable urban and rural development. Specifically, this Issue aims to highlight context-driven innovation and progress across core smart city contexts, focusing on governance, environment, technology, economy, human capital, mobility, quality of life, and education. Additionally, it encourages explorations into emerging trends and the role of young leaders and technologies such as AI and LLMs shaping smarter states.
We seek to document advancements, critically analyze policy impacts, and offer insights into successful practices and future pathways toward achieving sustainable, inclusive, and technologically empowered urban environments.
Overall, this Issue intends to enrich the current body of literature by providing robust longitudinal studies, case studies, and other empirical studies with mixed methods, which are often lacking in existing research on digital reforms and smart city implementations. It will critically complement prevailing academic and policy discourses by offering comparative insights, innovative approaches, and empirical evidence from diverse contexts. By engaging both academic scholars and practitioners from local governments, we aim to bridge theoretical frameworks with practical applications, thus contributing significantly to the scholarly understanding and practical governance of smart cities.
Contributions should focus on, but are not limited to, the following topics of interest:
- Longitudinal impact assessments of AI, Big Data, and LLMs in e-government and e-democracy.
- Context-driven social innovation and citizen co-creation in smart city governance.
- Comparative policy analysis of digital reforms between EU cities and emerging economies.
- Smart governance models that integrate environmental sustainability, mobility, and quality-of-life metrics.
- Data ethics, privacy, and trust frameworks in AI-enabled urban services.
- Role of young leaders, start-ups, and open-data ecosystems in scaling smart city solutions.
- Mixed-method case studies on smart urban planning, rural–urban digital divides, and inclusive development.
- Digital platforms for participatory budgeting, predictive urban analytics, and real-time policy feedback loops.
Dr. Catalin Vrabie
Dr. Luminita Movanu
Dr. Ximing Yin
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. Urban Science is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 1600 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
- context-driven innovation
- smart cities
- digital reforms
- e-government
- e-democracy
- urban innovation
- smart governance
- sustainable urban development
- smart technology
- urban planning
- social innovation
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
