Energy Management and Optimization in Smart Cities and Smart Factories

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Topic examines convergent intelligent systems for city–factory energy management, with an emphasis on digital twins that fuse real-time telemetry from distributed energy resources, storage, electric mobility, and industrial loads with physics-based and data-driven simulations to support operational decision-making. Advances in big data analytics, cloud computing, smart grids and microgrids, cyber–physical systems, the Internet of Things, edge AI, and interoperable standards enable cities and factories to be treated as interconnected socio-technical energy infrastructures rather than isolated domains. Integration is realized across supply, demand, and flexibility services: grid carbon-intensity signals coordinate with factory microgrids, on-site photovoltaics, battery energy storage, combined heat and power, and flexible process loads to minimize cost, peaks, and emissions; urban traffic intelligence and EV fleet status inform charging and scheduling for logistics hubs and on-site autonomous mobile robots and automated guided vehicles; energy, water, and air-quality sensing align with thermal and electrical co-optimization, process-water reuse, and emissions monitoring; municipal emergency response interfaces with predictive maintenance of energy assets to increase resilience and reduce downtime; and city-level training resources reinforce human-in-the-loop supervisory control, skill-aware scheduling, energy policy, and energy literacy on the shop floor.

Within this framework, digital twins support multi-time-scale optimization and control, including day-ahead and intraday scheduling, model predictive control for microgrids, and learning-based coordination of flexibility while preserving safety and power quality constraints. Interoperability across urban and industrial systems is achieved through semantic and syntactic bridges that link utility, building, and plant information models, while cybersecurity protects end-to-end energy data and actuation. In addition, education ecosystems spanning vocational programs, higher education, and continuous reskilling are essential to sustain performance, accelerate technology adoption, and realize measurable gains in efficiency, resilience, and sustainability across city and factory energy systems.

Prof. Dr. Pedro Ponce-Cruz
Dr. Brian Anthony
Dr. Erick Guadalupe Ramirez-Cedillo
Prof. Dr. Edgar Omar Lopez-Caudana
Dr. Juana Isabel Méndez
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
AI ai	5.0	6.9	2020	19.2 Days	CHF 1800	Submit
Energies energies	3.2	7.3	2008	16.8 Days	CHF 2600	Submit
Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing jmmp	3.3	5.2	2017	15.9 Days	CHF 1800	Submit
Processes processes	2.8	5.5	2013	14.9 Days	CHF 2400	Submit
Smart Cities smartcities	5.5	14.7	2018	25.2 Days	CHF 2000	Submit
Urban Science urbansci	2.9	3.7	2017	21.6 Days	CHF 1800	Submit

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All Energies Processes Urban Science JMMP Smart Cities AI

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Open AccessArticle

Fostering Green Transportation Associated with Improving Green Literacy and Environmental Culture in a Transitional Country

by Van Quy Khuc, Minh Anh Hoang, Thi Thu Na Nguyen, Thi Nguyet Nuong Nguyen, Bich Ha Nguyen and Ngoc Duc Doan

Urban Sci. 2026, 10(5), 282; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci10050282 - 15 May 2026

Viewed by 224

Abstract

This study investigates the transition toward green transportation in Hanoi through a culture-centered perspective by integrating the Culture Tower (KAUC) framework with PLS-SEM analysis. Using survey data from 172 urban residents, the research examines how factors of knowledge, action, perceived utility, contribution, infrastructure, [...] Read more.

This study investigates the transition toward green transportation in Hanoi through a culture-centered perspective by integrating the Culture Tower (KAUC) framework with PLS-SEM analysis. Using survey data from 172 urban residents, the research examines how factors of knowledge, action, perceived utility, contribution, infrastructure, and social norms interact to shape green transport policy acceptance. The findings reveal that sustainable mobility functions as a layered cultural process rather than a simple behavioral sequence. Environmental awareness emerges as the central driver, exerting significant direct and indirect effects on contribution and policy acceptance, while green transportation infrastructure influences acceptance primarily through normative and cognitive pathways. The absence of strong experiential reinforcement between action, utility, and contribution suggests that behavioral engagement has not yet consolidated into stabilized cultural practice. By conceptualizing policy acceptance as the outcome of accumulated cultural layers rather than short-term cost–benefit evaluation, the study advances a systemic and culturally grounded approach to green transport governance. The results underscore the importance of reinforcing environmental knowledge, stabilizing social norms, ensuring reliable infrastructure, and fostering participatory contribution to achieve durable, green mobility transitions in rapidly urbanizing contexts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Energy Management and Optimization in Smart Cities and Smart Factories)

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