Sensors Solutions for the Development of Climate Neutral and Smart Cities

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of accelerating climate change and rapid urbanization, cities are at the forefront of the transition toward sustainability and carbon neutrality. The achievement of these goals requires the integration of advanced sensor technologies, intelligent energy and carbon measurement infrastructure, and data-driven decision-making. The European Union’s Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities calls for transformative action, supporting selected cities to reach climate neutrality by 2030 and inspiring all others to follow by 2050. In support of this vision, the Romanian initiative NetZeRoCities established and made operational a national competence center to guide and support local efforts.

This Special Issue of Sensors seeks to highlight innovative sensor-based solutions that contribute to climate-neutral and smart urban development, with a particular focus on outcomes and methodologies developed under the NetZeRoCities project.

The goal of this Issue is to disseminate scientific results and technological innovations that can guide cities in their sustainable transformation, and to foster the popularization and scaling of solutions developed through the NetZeRoCities initiative.

Additionally, the purpose of this Special Issue is to advance the state of the art in the development of climate-neutral and smart cities, equipment, technologies, solutions. We are thus inviting the consortium members and collaborators of the NetZeRoCities project, researchers, developers, and practitioners to submit original research articles, innovative developments, experimental studies, and new technological solutions that contribute to this transformative field. Survey papers providing comprehensive overviews of emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities are also welcome.

Expected topics include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• Sensor-driven approaches to climate-neutral urban governance;
• Environmental and energy monitoring systems for sustainable cities;
• Smart buildings with integrated sensing and automation technologies;
• IoT-enabled mobility, transport, and infrastructure systems;
• Digital twins and smart campus platforms for urban management;
• Real-time data analytics for urban planning and decision-making;
• Multi-sensor systems for air quality, noise, and occupancy monitoring;
• Interoperability and integration of urban sensor networks;
• Citizen engagement and participatory sensing for sustainability;
• Tools and platforms for monitoring progress toward climate neutrality;
• Sensor-supported decision-making and governance frameworks;
• Data-driven climate policy and urban monitoring tools;
• Participatory sensing for public engagement and climate accountability;
• IoT-enabled energy monitoring and control;
• Sensing technologies for environmental quality and resilience;
• Urban-scale integration of renewable energy systems;
• Sensor systems for building energy management and automation;
• Indoor environmental quality monitoring;
• Digital retrofitting and building diagnostics;
• Intelligent transport systems and mobility-as-a-service (MaaS);
• Infrastructure-to-Vehicle (I2V), Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications;
• Hybrid vehicular communications;
• Advanced driver assistance systems;
• In-vehicle communications systems and applications;
• Traffic flow sensing, EV infrastructure monitoring;
• Real-time public transit optimization and emissions tracking;
• Sensor integration for campus-scale sustainability monitoring;
• Urban digital twin models using real-time sensor data;
• Simulation and forecasting tools for smart city planning.

Dr. Alin-Mihai Cailean
Dr. Andrei Ceclan
Dr. Radu Ioan Ciobanu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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