Can cities become smart without being sustainable? A systematic review of the literature

https://cris.vtt.fi/ws/files/22871603/SSC_What_indicators_to_use_and_when_OA_published_2019.pdf

Comparative analysis of standardized indicators for Smart sustainable cities: What indicators and standards to use and when?

Purpose




This paper investigates the potential contribution of smart city approaches and tools to sustainable urban development in the environment domain. Recent research has highlighted the need to explore the relation of smart and sustainable cities more systematically, focusing on practical applications that could enable a deeper understanding of the included domains, typologies and design concepts, and this paper aims to address this research gap. At the same time, it tries to identify whether these applications could contribute to the “zero vision” strategy, an extremely ambitious challenge within the field of smart cities.




Design/methodology/approach




This objective is pursued through an in-depth investigation of available open source and proprietary smart city applications related to environmental sustainability in urban environments. A total of 32 applications were detected through the Intelligent/Smart Cities Open Source (ICOS) community, a meta-repository for smart cities solutions. The applications are analyzed comparatively regarding (i) the environmental issue addressed, (ii) the associated mitigation strategies, (iii) the included innovation mechanism, (iv) the role of information and communication technologies and (v) the overall outcome.




Findings




The findings suggest that the smart and sustainable city landscape is extremely fragmented both on the policy and the technical levels. There is a host of unexplored opportunities toward smart sustainable development, many of which are still unknown. Similar findings are reached for all categories of environmental challenges in cities. Research limitations pertain to the analysis of a relatively small number of applications. The results can be used to inform policy making toward becoming more proactive and impactful both locally and globally. Given that smart city application market niches are also identified, they are also of special interest to developers, user communities and digital entrepreneurs.




Originality/value




The value added by this paper is two-fold. At the theoretical level, it offers a neat conceptual bridge between smart and sustainable cities debate. At the practical level, it identifies under-researched and under-exploited fields of smart city applications that could be opportunities to attain the “zero vision” objective.

Enhancing sustainable urban development through smart city applications

The analysis of urban sustainability is key to urban planning, and its usefulness extends to smart cities. Analyses of urban quality typically focus on applying methodologies that evaluate quality objectives at environmental, urban, and building levels. Research has shown that a system of indicators can be useful for developing qualitative and quantitative descriptors of urban environments. The first step in this study was to formulate a methodology to measure the quality of urban life based on investigative checklists and objective and subjective indicators, aggregated to develop an index to evaluate a city’s level of smart urban quality. The second step was to apply this methodology to evaluate the city of Cagliari (Italy) at the neighbourhood scale, which is considered by literature the most suitable as a self-sufficient spatial unit for showing redevelopment results. In addition to sharing its research findings, this study aims to verify whether the methodology can be applied to similar urban contexts. The main outcomes of this research pertain to opportunities to numerically measure both objective and subjective aspects that affect urban quality. In this way, the most critical areas to be requalified have been highlighted in order to prepare policies congruent with the local context.

Evaluating Urban Quality: Indicators and Assessment Tools for Smart Sustainable Cities

Smart sustainable cities roadmap: Readiness for transformation towards urban sustainability

Rapid urbanization and globalization make the move toward Smart Sustainable Cities (SSC) a must. Achieving successful transformation towards SSCs constitutes a significant challenge for policy makers. One area that is not well covered in the literature is the application of SSCs in specific regions, such as the Arab region. This paper draws upon examples of SSCs initiatives and existing SSC transformation frameworks to more fully articulate the challenges of achieving successful SSC projects across the Arab region. One of the interesting emergent themes is the emergence of two main approaches to SSCs transformation, Brownfield and Greenfield approaches.

/pdf/paving-the-way-to-smart-sustainable-cities-transformation-230sb7wp5q.pdf

Paving the way to smart sustainable cities: transformation models and challenges

Non-interoperability between government agencies, electronic service delivery mechanisms, and the lack of formulated modeling and implementation framework are the main methodological problems in achieving seamless electronic government (e-government) integration. The integration of e-government and interoperability of systems servicing the implementation of e-government through the adoption of adequate Enterprise Architecture (EA) frameworks is of utmost importance. This paper explores the concepts of e-government, EA, and the link that exists between them. It focuses on the top four EA frameworks namely: Zachman framework; the Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF); the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA); and the Gartner Methodology. These can serve as the basis for the implementation of e-government. The paper proposes an EA benchmarking model based on a dual mapping approach that is on Zachman framework and the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). The mapping onto Zachman framework is done horizontally and vertically. The mapping on SDLC considers all the phases constituting the lifecycle. The proposed mapping aims at providing guidelines for the selection of an EA framework and identifying the framework that is best aligned with stakeholders' needs.

An enterprise architecture mapping approach for realizing e-government

The unprecedented rapid urbanization will affect the sustainability of cities around the globe. City leaders are currently seeking to transform their cities into Smart Sustainable Cities to face this global urbanization trend and its related challenges. To ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of a transformation process, current city needs, future trends, readiness of a city for the change, quality of life of citizens, and the set of smart and sustainable initiatives and solutions should be considered. The latter could be achieved through a comprehensive roadmap and framework to guide the transformation process. Developing such a roadmap and framework require a deep understanding of the concepts of transformation, roadmap, and framework in the context of Smart Sustainable Cities. Definitions that currently exist in the literature do not take into consideration the different objectives of a Smart Sustainable City. This constitutes a gap in knowledge. This research paper bridges this gap by highlighting the weaknesses and deficiencies in existing definitions and introduce new definitions for the three concepts, taking into account the specificity of a Smart Sustainable City as a solution for the rapid urbanization while maintaining the sustainability of a city and ensuring a high quality of life for its citizens. The proposed comprehensive definitions of these three concepts namely transformation, roadmap, and framework aim at guiding city planners, policy makers, and key stakeholders in developing and designing Smart Sustainable City initiatives and programs. Keywords-Smart Sustainable Cities; Transformation; Roadmap; Framework; Innovative Solutions.

Smart Sustainable Cities: A New Perspective on Transformation, Roadmap and Framework Concepts

Transforming a city into a Smart Sustainable City (SSC) is a complex, multidimensional process that leads to various changes at all city levels. Different transformation models exist in the literature; each tackles a transformation process from its point of view without a clear justification of the proposed stages and components to be achieved throughout the transformation journey. A solid theoretical foundation is needed as basis for selecting and identifying the elements of the SSC transformation without which the possibility of neglecting essential stages becomes high. This may lead to an incomplete transformation process, or worst, lead the whole transformation process to fail. This research paper aims at introducing a novel theoretical foundation for the transformation towards SSCs. It proposes a novel linkage between the theory of change and SSCs and uses this link to introduce an unprecedented theoretical logic model for the transformation towards SSCs. The results of this paper guides city planners, decision makers, and key stakeholders in understanding the essential stages and components to be considered during the SSC transformation journey, thereby helping them in developing a holistic SSC transformation model that provides the essential smart and sustainable solutions for their cities.

Maysoun Ibrahim

Papers

Smart sustainable cities roadmap: Readiness for transformation towards urban sustainability

Paving the way to smart sustainable cities: transformation models and challenges

An enterprise architecture mapping approach for realizing e-government

Smart Sustainable Cities: A New Perspective on Transformation, Roadmap and Framework Concepts

Theory of change for the transformation towards smart sustainable cities