Search

The main aim of this paper is to present an innovative approach to addressing the challenges of smart mobility exploiting digital twins within the METACITIES initiative. We have worked on this issue due to the increasing complexity of urban transportation systems, coupled with the urgent need to improve efficiency, safety, and sustainability in cities. The work presented in this paper is part of the project METACITIES, an Excellence Hub that spans a large geographical area, that of Southeastern Europe. The approach of the Greek innovation ecosystem of METACITIES involves leveraging digital twin technology to create intelligent replicas of urban mobility environments, enabling real-time monitoring, analysis, and decision making. Through use cases such as "Smart Parking", "Environmental Behavior Analysis on Traffic Incidents", and "Emergency Management", we demonstrate how digital twins can optimize traffic flow, mitigate environmental impact, and enhance emergency response; these use cases will be tested on a small scale, before deciding on implementation at a larger and more expensive scale. The final outcome is the METACITIES Architecture for smart mobility, which will be part of an Open Digital Twin Framework capable of evolving a smart city into a metacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of our rapidly evolving word, where pressing issues like anthropogenic climate change and accelerating urbanization demand innovative solutions, a critical evaluation of the potential and impact of digital technologies is necessary. Climate-neutral governance entails the implementation of governmental instruments and tools designed and used to harmonize short-term policy actions with a long-term vision of achieving a climate-neutral state. This fact aims to facilitate evidence-based decision-making, foster inter-sectoral coordination, enhance transparency, and cultivate public legitimacy for climate mitigation and adaptation measures. This paper presents a focused analysis of SmartCities projects and their implementation across diverse urban centers and nations. Our objective is to provide a comprehensive overview, highlighting recent advancements in the realm of smart and climate-neutral city governance. Furthermore, we conduct a comprehensive inquiry into Romania's legislative framework, encompassing the regulations and strategies pertaining to energy, climate change, and urban development. This analysis is complemented by an exploration of the evolving perspectives and legislative proposals that are likely to shape the future course of action in these domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart cities continue to be discussed throughout Europe as a result of the continent's rising urbanization and the need for sustainable development. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to significantly promote this shift by assisting cities in becoming more effective, sustainable, and receptive to the requirements of their residents. The goal of this study is to examine the potential and difficulties of AI in urban development and present a framework for incorporating AI into city planning and management in European cities. This is done by analyzing case study examples from European cities and examining primary and secondary data sources, with the aim of providing a comprehensive framework for the sustainable integration of AI systems. This study presents a set of ethical and inclusive AI criteria, such as transparency, inclusion, and accountability, to enable responsible AI research and implementation. It continues by emphasizing the need for efficient AI integration in smart cities and pushing for a holistic AI-enabled transition to inclusive and sustainable smart cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 (Coronoavirus Disease 2019) pandemic has had many disastrous effects on welfare globally, particularly in European countries. In recent research, a new debate has arisen as a result of the shift of day‐to‐day activities to virtual platforms, which has augmented concerns related to smart (data) access and smart (data) protection. This study examines the economic, social, and psychological indicators of welfare gain within the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic and examines their impact on smart access and smart protection using the data of Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and real‐time Google Trends from June to August 2020. The findings indicate a negative relationship between smart access and economic crisis caused by COVID‐19, while households with sufficient resources support smart protection. Psychological effects including nervousness and anxiety are highly related to smart access. Likewise, being helpful in a time of uncertainty, societal contact, and social measures (hygiene and face mask) significantly and positively impact smart protection. The findings suggest that countries should combine their welfare agencies with health and economic institutes, and initiate projects related to cybersecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent era of smart city ecosystems and the Internet of Things (IoT), innovative, intelligent parking systems must make cities more sustainable. Every year, the increasing number of city vehicles requires more time to search for parking slots. In large cities, 10% of the traffic congestion occurs because of cruising; drivers spend almost 20 minutes searching for free space to park their vehicles. The passing time of waiting for parking in the traffic leads the issues such as energy, pollution, and stress. There needs to be more than the developed solutions. Therefore, the necessary to create a parking slot availability detection system that informs the drivers in advance about the free parking slot based on location. This paper introduces an enhanced ensemble Deep Learning (DL) model designed to forecast parking slot availability through the integration of IoT, cloud technology, and sensor networks. The devised model, known as Ensemble CNN-Boosted Graph LSTM (ECNN-BGLSTM), is optimized using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) framework. The model's performance is rigorously evaluated using a dataset from Europe, and various metrics, including Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Square Error (MSE), and Mean Absolute Error (MAE), are employed for assessment. The experimental findings demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed model compared to existing state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review investigates the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in advancing clean energy technologies within Europe, based on a literature survey from 2006 to 2023. The assessment reveals that AI, particularly through deep learning and neural networks, enhances the efficiency, optimization, and management of clean energy systems. Noteworthy is AI's capacity to improve short-term energy forecasts, essential for smart cities and IoT applications. Our findings indicate that AI drives innovation in renewable energy, contributing to the development of smart grids and enabling collaborative energy-sharing models. While the research underscores AI's substantial influence in Europe's energy sector, it also identifies gaps, such as varied AI algorithm applications in different renewable energy sectors. The study emphasizes the need for integrating AI with emerging clean energy innovations, advocating for interdisciplinary research to navigate the socio-economic, environmental, and policy dimensions. This approach is crucial for guiding a sustainable and balanced advancement in the clean energy landscape, signifying AI's pivotal role in Europe's energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To minimize market fragmentation, optimize efficiencies through compatible digital architectures, and encourage collaboration, high-level smart city harmonization efforts have been advocated across Europe. This paper critically analyzes attempts by the European Innovation Partnership for Smart Cities and Communities Six Nations Forum (EIP-SCC 6N) to constitute a common smart city management framework through application of a generic Blueprint. Analysis highlights how these efforts are brought to bear through four techniques: simplification, interoperability, integration, and authorization. Examining the adoption (and rejection) of these techniques underscores the importance of attending to distinctive urban contexts and alternative ways of knowing and acting in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The absence of a comprehensive smart city governance model has prompted research into the characteristics of the relationships among cities, services, and stakeholders. This study aims to identify, from the perspectives of governance and sociotechnical systems, the characteristics of conceptually related smart city service implementations based on stakeholder partnerships. Social network analysis was utilized based on existing research datasets. Stakeholders, services, and representative European sustainable smart cities were included in the dataset in relation to this study's operational definition. The first finding is that the initial conceptually related smart city services are reflected in the accumulated and current characteristics of the smart city services. These depend on stakeholder partnerships, while the network foundation differs between the initial and latter services. The second finding clarifies how different development services depend on stakeholder partnerships and how multiple stakeholders, including local entities, are vital to deal with current challenges in massive urbanizations. The third finding demonstrates the emerging roles of private sectors and some intermediate services in the global network of cities. This study contributes to the management of smart cities by identifying how service development occurs based on stakeholder partnerships and contributes to their theoretical basis by empirically demonstrating the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships to address current urbanization challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart mobility supports smart city ideas and concepts. A consequences of smart mobility activities are more wide and common using electromobility. There is no doubt that electromobility is a global trend that unequivocally supports the principles of sustainable development, while being one of the basic elements of the smart mobility. The following discussion critically addresses the indicated topic, especially in the context of the barriers that currently exist and that stand in the way of implementing the expected expansion of electric cars into urban markets. Considering the following assumptions, the threat of urban pollution associated with the increasing number of vehicles (passenger and freight) should be mitigated using smart mobility solutions. In addition, solutions should include that electromobility promotes zero-emissions. Furthermore, the inadequate development of charging infrastructure and the projected energy crisis may result in plans to develop the electromobility market in cities that are under threat and impossible to meet. We highlight the current state and development level of the electric vehicle market, in particular the market for light commercial vehicles (LCVs). In this market, electric cars account for less than 1% of total cars. In truth, as shown in articles in recent years, the growth of new electric cars is significant; however, as shown by forecasts, the growth is insufficient to achieve the planned goals so the market share of LCVs will only increase to about 25% in 2030 and there will only be about 600,000 electric LCVs on the market. In this article, the authors focus on answering the question of if the upcoming energy crisis can significantly affect the further dynamic development of electromobility as an element of the smart city and undermine the plans to create zero-emission economies, with a particular focus on cities. Not only do we point to electromobility as a positive trend, but we stress that optimistic assumptions in its development in the current economic situation, especially in Europe, may be difficult to realize. The theoretical assumptions are reflected in the statistical analyses and forecasts of market development and their interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Positive Energy District (PED) is a portion of urban area with defined boundaries that can produce energy in excess of its own consumption. The aim of this study is to analyse design variations among the six projects (12 case studies) of PED belonging to the European Smart Cities and Communities programme. Thus, it will be possible to identify the reasons behind the energy choices related to generation, storage and distribution that appear in the different geographical areas. To achieve this, different data were collected by consulting official documents and creating questionnaires that were communicated with the project representatives. Thus, the result of this study is a catalogue of the energy system solutions adopted in the studied PEDs with a critical analysis of the different motivations behind them in order to outline general trends in the geographical areas with similar characteristics. In conclusion, this study defined which technological choices are the most common in territories with similar profiles and how divergent those with different profiles are. Furthermore, applied to a large catalogue of PED, the methodology identified would make it possible to create different operating models for different territorial types and urban settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the discourses surrounding the interrelation between digitalization and sustainability in Europe on Twitter between 2010 and 2021. We identify 34,802 tweets related to the interrelation between digitalization and sustainability among 634,017 tweets discussing sustainability issues with explicit mentions of Europe. Based on a qualitative analysis of tweets, we identify the main domains discussed (and not discussed). We then sketch the development of the identified domains, as well as their relationship to each other over time, based on a quantitative analysis of their (co-)occurrences. We find that smart city and mobility were two of the most dominant and interrelated domains, particularly in the middle of the decade. In parallel, the domain of climate change has gained ever more attention since 2017 and has emerged as a discursive hub. We further develop hypotheses for how external factors and events (especially EU-level programs) likely led to increases in attention to some domains. Finally, we find that the Twitter discourse across domains mirrors common blind spots regarding sustainable digitalization discourses in its uncritical stance toward economic growth and its overreliance on efficiency in comparison to sufficiency concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a business model for big and open linked data in smart and circular cities, laying the foundation of a new approach that generates societal, business, and public value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today's global shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the current war conflict, raise serious challenges to cities. Smart cities, as engines of innovation, can respond to these shocks and show resilience. However, there are significant differences in the performance of smart cities around the world, which have been further widened by the COVID-19 pandemic. In our study, we use the IMD smart city index to examine how the pandemic has affected European smart cities and how their ranking has changed in a global comparison. The results suggest that there have been major shifts in their rankings, and that some of the differences in the performance of individual cities during the pandemic can be traced back to different urban governance models. The changes in the ranking of smart cities highlight the fact that different urban governance models operate differently in times of crisis, especially in terms of measurable short- and long-term effectiveness. These results highlight the importance of complex and combined urban governance models to deal effectively and flexibly with external shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Informacion Comercial Espanola Revista de Economia is the property of S.G.E.E.I.P.C., Secretaria de Estado de Comercio, Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the context of new economic, pandemic and geo-political challenges, the development of smart cities becomes an essential objective for solving complex problems, ensuring sustainability and increasing the quality of urban life. The main objective of the research is to provide a useful framework for supranational, national and local decision-makers to adopt effective urban management measures that are compatible with development, environment and people's well-being. The research methods used are literature metaanalysis, comparative-critical analysis of indicators and cluster analysis. The main conclusion of the analysis is that urban development disparities are strongly influenced by the overall level of economic development and become vulnerable under conditions of economic, social, political and military stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the impact of using three-dimensional digital participatory planning (3DDPP) on planning practices. This method was tested within the framework of a redevelopment project in one of the less-advantaged neighborhoods in the Dutch city of Schiedam. An interactive 3DDPP tool was employed by a group of residents who co-designed public spaces in the neighborhood. Residents were given the opportunity to visualize online the project area in 3D format, suggest their ideas, comment on the design proposal, produce interactive graphical designs online, and interact with each other. The impact of this process was tested according to five criteria (efficiency, feasibility, attractiveness, interaction, and satisfaction) developed via free-listing and pile-sorting methods in collaboration with nine experts. A qualitatively driven (QUAL) mixed method was used to analyze the data collected from a sample of 62 subjects, which included professionals and citizens. The results showed that the use of 3DDPP tools can potentially enhance community engagement in decision-making. This article concludes by emphasizing that socioeconomic, political, and demographic challenges, which might decrease the residents' willingness to be actively engaged in collaborative decision-making, might not solely be solved via technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy transition toward smart grids with deep impact of renewables, energy storage systems, and electric vehicle charging stations will increasingly promote the establishment of energy communities that own portions of the electricity grid. The energy communities will consist of clusters of multiunit buildings and or single residential units aggregated sharing a common or multiple medium and low voltage (MV/LV) electrical substations. The size and impact of the location of these MV/LV substations can constitute a barrier especially for highly urbanized contexts where it is very complicated to provide technical spaces inside buildings for large technical systems like transformers, MV switchgear, etc. The idea of this work consists of developing a compact outdoor MV/LV substation to reduce the overall dimensions and to make the execution modularized to facilitate management and maintenance. Also an investigation of energy exchange between multiunit buildings, which are considered as the real energy community case study. The main objective for this case study is to minimize the operation cost of the system by maximizing the self-consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Industry 4.0 (I4.0) aims to develop a framework where the new technologies interoperate with each other and with employees, creating a smart and efficient environment. Although there are many public and private initiatives focused on boosting the deployment of I4.0 in all sectors worldwide, the adoption is slower than expected. One of the main reasons is the lack of training in those technologies involved in I4.0, the so-called key-enabling technologies (KET). In this article, the current status of I4.0 adoption from the industry, employees, and training point of view is analyzed. The lack of I4.0 competences in the curricula of vocational education training (VET) and higher education (HE) is also highlighted. Finally, the European innovative training action IN4WOOD is presented as a successful open and free training tool developed to offer students, employees, and managers an easy way to learn, use, and deploy KET of I4.0. Although the main target users of the training action are those in the furniture and woodworking sector, it has been designed to be useful also for users in other business sectors. The training tool is composed of more than 300 video learning pills, practical use cases, gamification, and evaluation test for measuring the level of knowledge acquired. The training tool has been tested in a pilot launched in four European countries. The results from the pilot prove that the IN4WOOD training helps to fill the skill gaps identified in the current VET/HE students and improves the competitiveness of employees, managers, and enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current global context, policymakers are called to face complex and numerous challenges in achieving sustainable development with rapid urbanization and industrialization. The world's population is growing, and cities will be increasingly condensed in the future. Nowadays, cuttingedge technologies and digitalization are radically changing urban life and how cities are planned, financed, and managed. A new urban model, known as a "smart city", is being developed throughout Europe and elsewhere worldwide. In a smart city, all the infrastructures are interconnected and integrated in an efficient and functional way through ICT by optimizing resource consumption, enhancing the quality of public services (Government services) through participatory governance, and increasing citizens' security. Indeed, urban transformation requires multiple stakeholders to come together toward shared and common goals. City leaders face challenges in enacting changes in balancing the needs of citizens, government, businesses, NGOs, and others: smart city development requires a strategic, long-term vision to create inclusive, fully integrated and synergistic systems. Technological progress is a fundamental requirement for the development of smart cities, but it must be supported by sustainable financial instruments. This paper aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the smart cities' projects and financial instruments used for implementing those models, traditional as well as innovative and sustainable. In particular, the analysis aims to highlight the ethical financial approach - having in mind the European and Islamic models- that characterizes some of these smart city models and the underlying idea of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quadruple and Quintuple Helix Innovation Systems aim to optimize the design and operation of modern, democratic societies and economies in a smart, sustainable, inclusive, resilient and efficacious manner via the cyber-physical ecosystems that align with Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0 precepts. In this context, the Quintuple Innovation Helix Framework (which is part of the Quadruple/Quintuple Innovation Helix or Q2IH) represents the most comprehensive, meaningful and valuable construct and modality as it encompasses the five key core dimensions of modern, sustainable and democratic knowledge economies and societies. These are the Environment, the Civil Society as well as the Government, University and Industry dimensions. We strongly feel that it is appropriate and even critical, given current events in Europe that starkly highlight the conflict and struggle between democracies and autocracies, to enable, facilitate and even accelerate the further development of an Emerging Unified Theory of Helical Architectures (EUTOHA). The objective would be to bring clarity, coherence and consistency to the process of leveraging the helical architectures to advance and enhance the design of solutions for the digital transformation of modern knowledge economies and societies towards more democratic and sustainable (green) ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three paradigms to deal with urban water issues are compared. The analysis focuses on their definition and objectives, the role of different stakeholders, the issues they deal with, and the possible solutions suggested. The paradigms differ in scope (from the narrow focus of the sponge city paradigm to the broad goals of eco-city paradigm) and in terms of the governance structures used to coordinate different stakeholders. The smart and sponge paradigms mainly use existing government structures. In the eco-cities approach, the citizens want to be involved through newly created governance structures. Smart and eco-city initiatives emphasize the involvement of stakeholders, while in the sponge cities approach, the initiative is often taken by the local government. Finally, in terms of expected solutions, the paradigms want to create eco- or healthy cities or improve water management to create a more healthy urban environment. After identifying the issue, alternative water-related technologies are available, like generating energy from wastewater or separating grey and brown water. Cities require different governance structures, and managing information flows in an integrated way to solve water and other issues. The experience in Europe, China, and India may help other cities choose the right paradigm., Competing Interests: The authors declare there is no conflict., (© 2024 The Author This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits copying, adaptation and redistribution, provided the original work is properly cited (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

The public sector in Europe can make use of artificial intelligence (AI) to boost its digital transformation. To improve public services in alignment with the European democratic values, principles and rights, public procurement can leverage the innovation of AI for the public good. Both AI and the Internet of Things (IoT), fueled with quality data, offer new possibilities to spark the innovative power of a city, a Smart City. The potential of AI is at the tip of our mobile phones and the connection to networks where data is shared. This can be useful to citizens and administrations, but not without challenges and risks. Therefore, this article explores what a Smart City is, and the benefits and risks of AI based solutions in the context of Innovation Procurement. It offers examples and refers to legal and ethical frameworks for the reuse of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of smart cities (SCs), governance has been placed at the core of the debate on how to create public value and achieve a high quality of life in urban environments. In particular, given that public value is rooted in democratic theory and new technologies that promote networking spaces have emerged, citizen participation represents one of the principal instruments to make government open and close to the citizenry needs. Participation in urban governance has undergone a great development: from the first postmodernist ideals of countering expert dominance to today's focus on learning and social innovation, where citizen participation is conceptualized as co-creation and co-production. Despite this development, there is a lack of research to know how this new governance context is taking place in the SC arena. Addressing this situation, in this article, we present an exhaustive survey of the research literature and a deep study of the experience in participative initiatives followed by SCs in Europe. Through an analysis of 149 SC initiatives from 76 European cities, we provide interesting insights about how participatory models have been introduced in the different areas and dimensions of the cities, how citizen engagement is promoted in SC initiatives, and whether the so-called creative SCs are those with a higher number of projects governed in a participatory way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Science Policy & Practice is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• Robust impact evaluation frameworks for nature-based solutions that assess multifunctionality are virtually inexistent. • There are many conceptual problems and empirical gaps in evaluation schemes for nature-based solutions. • The pathways connecting nature-based solutions and outcomes should be systematically defined and assessed. • Trade-offs between outcomes and among social groups should be identified. • Long-term evaluation of outcomes should become more common. Cities all over the world are confronting intertwined environmental, social and economic problems and aim to become resilient to climate change and promote wellbeing for all their citizens. Nature-based solutions have been proposed as a promising policy approach to addressing urban problems for the potential they have to deliver multiple benefits and foster wellbeing for individuals and communities. However, the evidence for their multiple benefits is rather scarce and highly fragmented, and more robust frameworks for the monitoring and assessment of their impacts are needed to guide urban policy-making. This paper focuses on the current state of impact assessment of nature-based solutions in Europe and through a systematic review of the literature identifies four conceptual problems and three empirical gaps that impede the accumulation of solid evidence regarding of the impacts of different types of nature-based solutions for different social groups; as well as of the contextual conditions that contribute to their performance and delivery of multiple outcomes. Based on the identified mis-conceptualizations and gaps, we derive a series of principles that should guide the development of robust impact assessment frameworks for nature-based solutions. We discuss the policy implications of these gaps and principles. We conclude by making a series of recommendations that should inform the design of impact monitoring and evaluation frameworks in cities, in order to develop the comparative evidence base on the effectiveness of nature-based solutions. This, in turn, can inform urban decision-making on the appropriate design, implementation, and long-term regeneration of nature-based solutions, to ensure long-term delivery of important ecosystem services for different social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructures from different time periods, installed for different purposes in often discordant political and economic systems, function alongside one another in contemporary cities. While infrastructures attracted a great deal of attention in geographical research, the "East" of Europe has still largely been left out, as the studies mostly focused on the global North and the global South. This paper, thus, takes on two challenges by intersecting an infrastructural lens with the re‐conceptualisation of post‐socialism. First, following calls from comparative urbanism and the postcolonial turn in urban studies and geography to work beyond usual suspects, the paper expands the territorial scope of infrastructure research. Second, the paper takes the critical edge of the aforementioned calls by offering new ways of attending to infrastructures through relations to the (socialist) past. Taking a threefold approach of expanding, learning, and challenging from a more‐than‐North/South perspective, this paper analyses post‐socialist infrastructuring by highlighting inequalities, such as the introduction of individual measuring of heat, using green spaces as boosterist urban governing, and turning transport to a consumer good. Instead of centralising the present or the "Western" best practice, the paper investigates to what extent it is possible to take elements of the (socialist) past and develop them into forward‐looking measures. The paper shows the need to incorporate questions of social justice and equity – perspectives which were more central for infrastructural provision under socialism – into the ways in which infrastructures are planned, made, and used today. While infrastructures have attracted a great deal of attention in geographical research, the "East" of Europe has still largely been left out, as studies have mostly focused on the global North and the global South. This paper intersects an infrastructural lens with the re‐conceptualisation of post‐socialism. Taking a threefold approach of expanding, learning, and challenging from a more‐than‐North/South perspective, this paper analyses post‐socialist infrastructuring by highlighting inequalities, such as the introduction of individual measuring of heat, using green spaces as boosterist urban governing, and turning transport to a consumer good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines what smartness does on the ground by examining how its anticipatory media visions have been interpreted and acted on in policy decisions and local implementations since the early 2000s. Using a comparative-historical analysis that draws on fieldwork in aspiring smart cities in the United States and Europe, we argue that the visions of smartness are neither singular nor fixed across time and space. Instead, the role of smartness in diffusing new technologies is recruited and reshaped in the present to lend legitimacy to future public and private interventions. We first demonstrate that the narrative of crisis, often associated with smartness, shifted from a pre-2008 emphasis on sustainability and climate change to a post-financial crisis engagement with entrepreneurship and platformization. We then discuss how the development of smart city initiatives has followed divergent paths in the United States and Europe, with big tech companies dominating in the former and the 'living lab' model prevailing in the latter. Our analysis highlights the importance of investigating the complex relationships between anticipatory media visions of smartness and their varying, down-to-earth implementations in the built environment rather than solely focusing on the discursive appeal of techno-idealism. It also explains the enduring appeal of smartness as an urban vision, despite its various shortcomings, by revealing its adaptability to the changing social and political–economic shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The studies that focus on smart growth obviously show that countries interpret this concept in accordance with their own structures. The aim of smart growth in the US is more about planning the cities, in other words, smart cities. However, the concept is used equivalently to developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation in the EU, as it is mentioned in the Europe 2020 Report. For both of the different concepts of smart growth, the important part is that it has to include green policies to support sustainable development. Based on this fact, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a crucial indicator to analyze the countries' sustainable development policies. This study aims to examine the relationship between smart growth and sustainable development in the EU. By following the EU's smart growth concept; this research mainly analyzes GHG emissions, as it is one of the main indicators of sustainable development. The study first specifies the sectors and countries with the highest share of GHG emissions in the EU, so that the sectors that need priority can be determined for policymakers. The results figure out that the energy sector has the most significant contributions to these emissions. In addition to this, the emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants from final use of CPA08 products are classified and their trends are examined. Direct emissions by private households has the largest share with a percentage of 19,04% in 2017. This ranking is followed by electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning with 8,57% and constructions and construction works with 7,22%. Considering all these information and the data, it is concluded that the EU should implement urgent and primary policies to reduce GHG emissions in the energy sector in order to achieve its smart growth, and hence sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation in Europe, and especially Romania is lagging behind the State of the Art. The European Commission and policy makers are trying to learn from best practice examples, such as the big corporate models in USA and adapt innovation ecosystems to its specific context. European Universities, Cities, Policy makers are driven to work together in Digital Innovation Hubs, while building ecosystems designed to drive research and innovation to the foreground of European Development. As SME's are the main pillar for economic growth and Cities are the driver for sustainable social development, Europe's future depends in leveraging on their adaptability, resources and creativity, while bringing academia, users and communities to the co-creation and co-design table of goods, services and processes. Digital Innovation Hubs and Urban Innovative Actions provide the context for making these actors work together for the common good in a smart, sustainable and livable Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper brings into the spotlight the concept of smart city, emerging from major economic, social and environmental considerations and developed to provide new possibilities for the inhabitants, but also to limit the impact of human activities on the environment. Thus, the authors initiate a presentation of attempts to define the smart city, highlighting the six dimensions on its development in a sustainable context. Moreover, as one of the greatest challenges of mankind today is to ensure the increasing demand for energy by maintaining the balance with the environment, the paper highlights aspects regarding the use of a form of renewable energy, known as bioenergy. This is one of the key factors for ensuring the sustainable development of smart cities and beyond. Taking into account that smart cities have a smart energy approach, in the last part of the paper the authors present ways to integrate bioenergy into the functioning of such urban areas in Europe and build a map of smart European cities which make use of bioenergy in the benefit of population's consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cities are key actors in the fight against climate change. They have developed integrated strategies harnessing the power of information and communication technologies (ICT) as part of the move towards smart(er) cities. In spite of our knowledge of the role of technological infrastructure in tackling climate change, the role of governance mechanisms to actively pursue environmental sustainability is often understated. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyse governmentality mechanisms developed by a small town in Europe to render energy savings and new energy sources visible and to create new identities with which the citizen and other cities could then identify with, thereby participating in the fight against climate change. Design/methodology/approach: Data were gathered through non-participant observation, interviews and access to internal data from the city's energy control project. Findings: The outcome of these governmentality mechanisms was to create two new identities: the "good citizen", responsible to lower his impact on climate change, and the "model city", a laboratory that would serve as a guide for future policies to tackle climate change at the city level. While the "model city" was successful and identification happened with other small cities taking example from it, the "good citizen" failed and inhabitants did not identify with this role model that was defined for them as a way to participate in the fight against climate change. Practical implications: This case study is a concrete example, based on a longitudinal study, of a city's strategy and actions on climate change. Other small cities will be able to use this case study to gauge their possibilities for action on climate change. Notably, it is an example of how a network of mechanisms can achieve results in CO2 emissions reduction. It also demonstrates the difficulty to enrol citizens into an environmental sustainability scheme. Social implications: This paper has implications for how climate change can be tackled in rural areas by small cities. While the role of organizations and large cities (e.g. C40 city network) has been acknowledged, there is a possibility for smaller local actors to act upon grand challenges with local strategies and their own governmentality mechanisms. Originality/value: The case study contributes to the literature on cities, bringing new insights into how they can become actors of climate change beyond acting on internal controls, and the literature on governmentality by demonstrating how mechanisms can act upon a population without being calculative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WiFi4EU initiative represents the European Union support for installing free Wi-Fi hotspots in local communities in parks, squares, hospitals, schools, libraries and other public spaces in line with EU objectives and proactive measures to enhance connectivity across EU territory and boost Europe's competitiveness. This paper aims at discussing regulation of WiFi4EU programme as it offers "Free Wi-Fi for Europeans" in the coming years and the way the estimated results of the public funding mechanism match the principles of digital economy with regards to geographical distribution and current needs of connectivity. As this innovative initiative will have a growing effect upon the development of ICT infrastructure all over Europe, authors assess the possible impact of the winning projects on local economy, making use of some relevant statistical data. Also, results of the analysis are compared to features and indicators of smart cities and agile companies in order to establish a viable connection between this EU initiative and concepts of the new economy. Given the potential of this unique programme, some recommendations for improvement and growth in the near future are expressed in order for the strategic objectives of EU vision for the European Gigabit Society to be successfully accomplished by year 2025. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This is a pioneering research linking two areas of knowledge which attract great attention from academia, industry, and governments: business incubation and smart cities. It is a quantitative exploratory study, whose purpose is to investigate the relationship between incubation mechanisms and local urban development according to the concept of Smart City. Methodologically, canonical correlation analysis was applied between two sets of elements: variables associated to business incubation and variables related to smart city characteristics. The research was concentrated on 157 medium- and large-sized cities from 25 European countries. Based on the findings, clusters analysis was also performed. The article presents, among the main results: (1) evidence of correlation between business incubation and smart urban development, and (2) visual classification of these cities into four clusters, according to their urban development and incubation activity. Highlights • It is a pioneer study linking business incubation and smart cities. • 157 cities from 25 European countries were investigated. • Canonical analysis points to a relationship between incubation and smart cities. • Cluster analysis identifies 4 groups of cities according to canonical correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This article conceptualises the European smart city as an assemblage of peripheral smart city network practices and central smart city project practices. Both practices are primarily geared towards the pursuit of 'smartness', a prestigious urban adjective that, in the European context, often means receiving an award or large grant from Europe. This article focuses on smart city projects that received European funding, and explores why, how and with what effect for citizen participation these projects are shaped by specific visions for European cities in general, and for European smart cities in particular. It does so by situating these ideas within the intersecting political-economic ambitions of those able to grant 'smart' (European Research and Innovation Schemes) and those needing to pursue it (post-crisis municipalities). It then illustrates how this political economy results in a discursive production logic that explains why so many smart city projects, that were or want to be successful in European grant applications, tend to exclude the perspective and interests of citizens. The article consequently proposes that politicians, city makers and scientists, who so laudably (cl)aim to position and treat citizens as key stakeholders in European smart cities, reflect more explicitly on their own roles in preserving and challenging this production logic. Highlights • Many European 'smart cities' exist as very specific smart city projects, funded by European Research & Innovation Schemes. • Post-crisis municipalities need to get funded by, and work within, these schemes for smart city recognition and branding. • Underpinning these schemes' view of smart cities is a logic of Europe, and its municipalities, as global competitors. • Analysis shows that to comply with this logic is to essentially exclude the perspectives of citizens in the smart city. • The 'inclusive smart city' is an empty policy mantra, unless this logic is structurally defied or strategically navigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation in Europe, and especially Romania is lagging behind the State of the Art. The European Commission and policy makers are trying to learn from best practice examples, such as the big corporate models in USA and adapt innovation ecosystems to its specific context. European Universities, Cities, Policy makers are driven to work together in Digital Innovation Hubs, while building ecosystems designed to drive research and innovation to the foreground of European Development. As SME's are the main pillar for economic growth and Cities are the driver for sustainable social development, Europe's future depends in leveraging on their adaptability, resources and creativity, while bringing academia, users and communities to the co-creation and co-design table of goods, services and processes. Digital Innovation Hubs and Urban Innovative Actions provide the context for making these actors work together for the common good in a smart, sustainable and livable Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise constitutes an unwanted by-product of the use of transport infrastructure and various other social and economic activities, especially in dense urbanized territories, affecting citizens' health, sleep regime, social behavior and psychological comfort as well as the environment. The Directive 2002/49/EC on the assessment and management of environmental noise (END) sets the legislative background for the prevention of environmental noise and the reduction of its harmful effects on humans putting Member States (MS) in the driving-seat when shaping and implementing noise rules. However, although it was the first comprehensive effort aspiring to carve out a coherent EU-wide noise policy, its fragmented and problematic implementation raises crucial questions about its effectiveness. To this end, except from the END enforcement at national level, emphasis will be given to the noise protective regime emerging from ECHR and the ECtHR case law as well as to the most recent developments in the field, such as the "smart city" mechanisms for improving acoustic well-being in urban living spaces and the Dutch concept of "environmental distribution policy". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fuel consumption, and travel times of vehicles. • We suggest a potentially customized route to each vehicle. • We have designed an EA to compute the configuration of the system. • Our proposal has achieved competitive results when compared to other strategies. • Green Swarm improves all the metrics analyzed even when only 10% of drivers are using it. Abstract This article proposes a mobility architecture, called Green Swarm, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from road traffic in smart cities. The traffic flow optimization of four European cities: Malaga, Stockholm, Berlin, and Paris, is addressed with new case studies importing each city's actual roads and traffic lights from OpenStreetMap into the SUMO traffic simulator, so as to find the best ways to redirect the traffic flow, and advise drivers. Additionally, the proposal is compared with three other strategies, which are also combined with Green Swarm in order to improve metrics such as travel times, gas emissions, and fuel consumption. This results in reductions in gas emissions as well as in travel times and fuel consumption in more than 500 city scenarios. The proposal has also been tested in scenarios where not all drivers are using it, to observe the change in traffic conditions when it is only in partial use, successfully paving the way for future sustainable cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, the Smart Cities debate has been characterized by a continuous and significant development, giving rise to a wide range of definitions with the purpose of identifying the exact perimeter of the phenomenon.. This included determining the processes needed to transform an urban agglomeration into a 'smart' city through the development of new technologies and innovation with a social purpose.With the intent of pursuing those targets and creating a model of organization designed to evaluate problems linked to the environmental protection and commercial evolution (and, as a result, to increase the quality of life of people that live in it), the EU introduced a new plan of development (the Europe 2020 program) encouraging public administrations to extend the use of instruments that were already part of the European Union legal system(like the Pre-commercial Procurement, a kind of public-private partnership) and to test new ones, like innovation partnership, introduced by Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement. This paper aims at analysing the impact of innovation partnership in the European countries, with particular reference to Italy, considering also a comparative perspective between different approaches on the evolution and development of Smart Cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the paper is to examine the extent to which the legacy of European Capitals of Culture (ECOC) increases the “smartness” of cities. A qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews and desk research was used to assess the impact on the smart city's dimensions hypothesized by Giffinger et al. (2007). The research revealed that this kind of mega-event reinforces the smartness of the city in which it is hosted in terms of attributes such as living, economy, people and environment. No significant legacy is observed with respect to the mobility dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Investments through the 2014–2020 European structural funds pursue goals of smart, inclusive and sustainable growth, while many towns and cities in Europe are shrinking rather than growing. Policy makers and practitioners therefore face challenges in ensuring that places with very limited growth potential will not fall further behind. While scholars argue that cities in long-term decline would benefit from enhancing their capacity to develop collaborative initiatives that draw on local resources and assets, in practice local decision makers seem to struggle to engage their communities in the fight against the causes and consequences of decline. This paper advances the argument that the concept of co-production is well suited to explore and explain how collaborative actions unlock new strategic choices that are based on capabilities and resources over which local actors have control. A case study from a small manufacturing town in Germany is used to illustrate how co-production at different levels can lead to tangible, long-term improvements in a context of ongoing shrinkage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities play a prominent role in our economic development as more than 80 % of the gross world product (GWP) comes from cities. Only 600 urban areas with just 20 % of the world population generate 60 % of the GWP. Rapid urbanization, climate change, inadequate maintenance of water and wastewater infrastructures and poor solid waste management may lead to flooding, water scarcity, water pollution, adverse health effects and rehabilitation costs that may overwhelm the resilience of cities. These megatrends pose urgent challenges in cities as the cost of inaction is high. We present an overview about population growth, urbanization, water, waste, climate change, water governance and transitions. Against this background, we discuss the categorization of cities based on our baseline assessments, i.e. our City Blueprint research on 45 municipalities and regions predominantly in Europe. With this bias towards Europe in mind, the challenges can be discussed globally by clustering cities into distinct categories of sustainability and by providing additional data and information from global regions. We distinguish five categories of sustainability: (1) cities lacking basic water services, (2) wasteful cities, (3) water-efficient cities, (4) resource-efficient and adaptive cities and (5) water-wise cities. Many cities in Western Europe belong to categories 3 and 4. Some cities in Eastern Europe and the few cities we have assessed in Latin America, Asia and Africa can be categorized as cities lacking basic water services. Lack of water infrastructures or obsolete infrastructures, solid waste management and climate adaptation are priorities. It is concluded that cities require a long-term framing of their sectoral challenges into a proactive and coherent Urban Agenda to maximize the co-benefits of adaptation and to minimize the cost. Furthermore, regional platforms of cities are needed to enhance city-to-city learning and to improve governance capacities necessary to accelerate effective and efficient transitions towards water-wise cities. These learning alliances are needed as the time window to solve the global water governance crisis is narrow and rapidly closing. The water sector can play an important role but needs to reframe and refocus radically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attention for Smart governance, a key aspect of Smart cities, is growing, but our conceptual understanding of it is still limited. This article fills this gap in our understanding by exploring the concept of Smart governance both theoretically and empirically and developing a research model of Smart governance. On the basis of a systematic review of the literature defining elements, aspired outcomes and implementation strategies are identified as key dimensions of Smart governance. Inductively, we identify various categories within these variables. The key dimensions were presented to a sample of representatives of European local governments to investigate the dominant perceptions of practitioners and to refine the categories. Our study results in a model for research into the implementation strategies, Smart governance arrangements, and outcomes of Smart governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to define a set of smartness and sustainability indicators applicable to European cities and to assess their outcome in an ex ante perspective with regard to the implementation of Europe 2020 strategy. Following the DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impact, Response) model, we select a bundle of indicators for three relevant sustainability domains (environmental, social and cultural), which are proper to the smart city definition. Then we define groups of homogeneous cities for each domain by using a two-step cluster analysis. Results show the existence of heterogeneous groups of cities that are likely to become smart in the cultural domain, side by side with groups of more developed urban areas that have acquired a substantial advantage in the environmental and social dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasting future trends constitutes a key process for supporting urban and territorial policy making in general. In this work, we explore how the domains of smart cities, smart transport, and smart energy will evolve until 2030 from a scientific and technological perspective, as a means to inform future policies for urban development in Europe. We started our work with an extensive review of recent and relevant research, covering policy and market reports, scientific journal articles, and other scientific publications. Then, a two-round Delphi survey with 120 field experts was conducted to assess the plausibility of the literature review findings to materialize until 2030. According to our empirical findings, there will be several speedy and structural changes in the three domains: we were able to identify a set of 18 statements that are highly probable to become reality in the next decade, whereas 17 statements were classified as plausible but not highly probable, and three statements raised controversiality. This work provides significant added value in supporting territorial policymakers' and stakeholders' decision making under uncertainty, as well as in designing highly relevant research agendas, attuned to contemporary and emerging trends. [Display omitted] • we performed a foresight exercise on emerging trends in smart cities, transport and energy in urban settings with the participation of 120 experts • the three domains will undergo speedy and structural changes until 2030 • 18 statements are highly probable, whereas 17 statements are plausible but not highly probable to become realized. • researchers can pinpoint multiple areas in which further research and development will be required in the forthcoming years • policy makers can use the results to manage uncertainty and design more informed and anticipatory policies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City evolution is connected to social, economic and technological evolutions. New technologies induce further changes, which are highly innovative, which again affect the urban and territorial systems. The city once again adjusts to new opportunities in relation to information and communications technologies, energy and mobility. In this paper, smart city, configured as a set of interacting systems with people, is focused as a possible model to follow for pursuing sustainability in real cities of the twenty-first century. Three processes are recalled: city development, city planning theories and city rules. Smart city seems to be the convergent point for all processes evolving in European urban areas. Theoretical definitions of smart city are recalled. At the same time, the European Commission is promoting smart city rules for implementation. Moreover, in the last years some local decision-makers implemented specific measures that today can be considered in the class of smart city measures. The objective of the paper is to analyse the European perspectives for smart city, trying to separate the three processes that are strongly integrated, but without formal links. To verify the European smart city approach, a study case concerning city logistics is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The objective of the paper is to analyse the state of implementing the idea of smart cities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) by identifying the most widely used smart solutions on its area. The authors give definitions of a smart city and indicate the variety of methods and tools for implementing the concept in practice. Then they focus on selected rankings of smart cities and examine a few successful examples of smart initiatives from CEE. As a result of the analyses, the authors state that the philosophy of a smart city is to identify and implement the most efficient ways of providing public services in cities. The authors also found that in spite of the fact that CEE cities are not European leaders in terms of the ongoing smart initiatives and rankings of smart cities, within their territories smart solutions are implemented increasingly and more effectively. The authors indicate that the main advantage of implementing intelligent solutions in CEE cities might be building their brands and thereby encouraging the influx of new residents, investors and tourists. Although these solutions are not a comprehensive set of management tools for authorities of a city, smart cities are slowly becoming reality in CEE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Stakeholders see great potential in PEDs for energy poverty reduction. • Energy poverty mitigation needs to be included in PEDs from the onset. • PED replication can synergistically address both decarbonization and energy poverty mitigation. • Increasing levels of energy poverty makes PEDs more financially viable as mitigation tools. • More consideration needs to be given to the social dimension in decisions on new PED creation. 100 Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) are to be created in Europe by 2025, with a stated goal of urban decarbonization. These are highly energy efficient residential urban areas, powered entirely through renewables. PED creation is to be guided by principles of quality of life, sustainability, and inclusiveness (specifically focusing on affordability and energy poverty prevention). Although there is research into the decarbonization aspects of PEDs, there has been little focus on the guiding principles, and their potential to reduce energy vulnerability. Using energy vulnerability factors and an energy justice framework, this article examines how the topic of energy vulnerability mitigation is perceived by professional PED stakeholders. Stakeholders from multiple countries were interviewed in order to determine how and to what extent they approached the topic of inclusivity and energy vulnerability. The contribution of this paper to academic research is in helping to frame energy vulnerability in European smart city urban areas, focusing on the perceptions of key stakeholders. This contributes to research on the identification and evaluation of innovations such as PEDs which offer a potential model for an inclusive transition. Furthermore, this article offers a contribution for policymakers, informing PED replication policies with a focus on the synergistic aims of decarbonization and energy vulnerability mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]