About 968 results for "Sustainable cities"

Abstract: Smart governance—the integration of digital technologies into urban governance—is increasingly recognized as a transformative approach to addressing complex urban challenges such as rapid urbanization, climate change, social inequality, and resource constraints. As a foundational pillar of the smart city paradigm, it enhances decision-making, service delivery, transparency, and civic participation through data-driven tools, digital platforms, and emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, and blockchain. While often positioned as a pathway toward sustainability and inclusivity, existing research on smart governance remains fragmented, particularly regarding its relationship to urban sustainability. This study addresses that gap through a systematic literature review using the PRISMA methodology, synthesizing theoretical models, empirical findings, and diverse case studies. It identifies key enablers—such as digital infrastructure, data governance, citizen engagement, and institutional capacity—and highlights enduring challenges including digital inequity, data security concerns, and institutional inertia. In response to this, the study proposes a multidimensional framework that integrates governance, technology, and sustainability, offering a holistic lens through which to understand and guide urban transformation. This framework underscores the importance of balancing technological innovation with equity, resilience, and inclusivity, providing actionable insights for policymakers and planners navigating the complexities of smart cities and urban development. By aligning smart governance practices with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDG)—particularly SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities—the study offers a strategic roadmap for fostering resilient, equitable, and digitally empowered urban futures.

Abstract: Infrastructure, service delivery, governance, and digital transformation stand as indispensable cornerstones, playing pivotal roles in the establishment of intelligent and sustainable urban centers. While the extant literature has underscored the significance of each of these elements, their interconnected and symbiotic relationship demands a more profound exploration. Grounded in a systematic review of the existing literature and relevant case studies, this paper explored the intricate interplay between digital transformation, infrastructure development, service delivery, and governance in contemporary society, all in the pursuit of cultivating smart sustainable cities. It contends that by collaboratively working together, these four pillars possess the transformative potential to turn cities into smart and sustainable cities. Digital transformation emerges as the catalyst, propelling innovation and efficiency, while infrastructure forms the bedrock for the seamless delivery of services. Effective governance, in turn, ensures alignment with the evolving needs of citizens. In essence, this study underscores the transformative power of combined action, asserting that the interdependent elements within can transform cities beyond merely having smart or sustainable status to become smart sustainable cities. This paradigm shift harmonizes technological advancements with the foundational goals of sustainable development, steering towards a holistic and inclusive urban future.

Abstract: Addressing the global urgency for improved sustainable cities and communities, as per the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, requires innovative and disruptive approaches, which also include applying artificial intelligence (AI). While AI holds significant potential to address complex socio-economic and environmental challenges in cities, a comprehensive analysis of its applications and implications, particularly in urban contexts, is required to address the research gap in understanding how AI can be effectively deployed to meet the challenges. This paper reports on a study that evaluates how AI may facilitate achieving SDG 11. This assessment includes an expert-driven literature review, drawing insights from authoritative sources. In addition, a set of case studies illustrate practical applications of AI to improve urban sustainability. The combination of these approaches led to findings that underscore the pivotal role of AI in optimizing energy use, streamlining waste management, enhancing traffic flow, and contributing to environmental sustainability. However, according to the findings, AI implementation needs oversight to ensure it is ethical, inclusive, and privacy-respecting as an effective tool to aid decision-making. By fostering collaboration among planners, policy-makers, and AI experts, the full potential of AI may be unlocked to shape sustainable urban environments and realize SDG 11.

Abstract: Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) plays a pivotal role in shaping sustainable cities by integrating natural elements into the urban landscape. This comprehensive review explores the multifaceted contributions of UGI towards enhancing environmental quality, social well-being, and economic resilience in urban settings. As cities continue to grapple with challenges such as climate change, air and water pollution, and the urban heat island effect, UGI emerges as a key solution for fostering urban sustainability. The review delves into the various components of UGI, encompassing green spaces, urban forests, green roofs, and permeable surfaces. It examines how these elements collectively contribute to mitigating environmental issues by absorbing carbon dioxide, reducing air pollutants, and attenuating the impacts of extreme weather events. Additionally, UGI serves as a biodiversity hotspot, supporting diverse flora and fauna within urban boundaries. Beyond its environmental benefits, UGI significantly influences social dynamics and well-being. The presence of green spaces fosters recreational opportunities, promotes mental health, and strengthens community cohesion. Accessible and well-designed green infrastructure contributes to equitable distribution of environmental benefits, addressing environmental justice concerns in urban areas. Economically, UGI proves to be an asset for cities by enhancing property values, reducing energy consumption through temperature regulation, and supporting local businesses. The review explores successful case studies of cities that have effectively implemented UGI to achieve sustainable urban development, drawing insights into best practices and potential challenges. This comprehensive review underscores the integral role of Urban Green Infrastructure in creating sustainable and resilient cities. By addressing environmental, social, and economic dimensions, UGI emerges as a holistic approach that aligns with the evolving needs of urban populations and the imperatives of a sustainable future. Understanding the intricacies of UGI implementation provides a foundation for policymakers, urban planners, and researchers to collaboratively work towards fostering greener, healthier, and more sustainable urban environments.

Abstract: One of the most recent topics in smart cities is community engagement which has been generally deliberated in both industrial and academic literature around the approaches and tools employed in urban environment. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to advocate for community engagement as a key driver that supports the acquisition of knowledge and requirements needed for innovation and creativity towards achieving an equitable community for social sustainability. A semi-systematic review method is adopted to analyze 71 sources from Web of Science and Scopus databases. Secondary data from the literature is extracted and synthesized to provide narrative and descriptive analysis. Findings from this study presents a developed model that can support community engagement for urban innovation by specifying factors that influences community engagement for smart sustainable city development. The model enables citizens, policy makers, government, urban planners, academics, and enterprises in urban environment to connect, interact, engage, and co-create innovative services. More importantly findings from this research provides theoretical evidence on administrative and non-administrative stakeholder’s involvement towards co-creation of urban services towards smart sustainable cities. Furthermore, this study provides recommendation on how community engagement perspective involving different stakeholders can help to achieve resilient technological driven city by supporting sustainable development and ultimately actualizing a socially inclusive urban space.

Abstract: Information society allows the expansion of the global information and communication technologies, generating, through deep restructuring in all areas of human activity, structural and institutional mutations at the level of economic reality. In the knowledge based society, we can talk about knowledge as a fundamental resource, information and communication technologies representing both a result of the use of new types of resources and an infrastructure that enables the global dissemination of new knowledge. The challenges of the information society have determined important changes of paradigm and recreation of knowledge terms, information and data. The information society can accept the existence of valid knowledge outside of human cognitive faculties, in introducing the epistemic equation the smart artifacts capable of knowledge, which fundamentally changes the classic theory of knowledge. Artificial intelligence becomes substantial to both the subject and the object of knowledge.

Abstract: Sustainable cities are considered paradigmatic to achieve COP27 targets, but scant literature has analyzed the association with CO2 emission (CE) mitigation policies, especially for the G7 economies. This study traces the impacts of urbanization, innovation, income, and energy consumption on CE for the G7 countries from 1995 to 2019. The time period is important due to the rapid increase in urbanization, globalization, and, at the same time, technology diffusion. The study is focused on novel and relevant panel data econometric methods that tackle cross-section dependence, non-normality of data, and heterogeneity in slope coefficients. The empirical outcome first confirms the long-run cointegrating relationship among the variables in the presence of structural breaks by employing the advanced panel cointegration test. Technologies related to environmental management and energy consumption are positively linked with CE. However, the role of income per capita is found to be inverse with CE. In contrast, the effect of urbanization in different models is mixed for CE. Innovation and its interaction with urbanization are crucial for limiting CE and promoting sustainable cities in G7 economies. This indicates that urbanization with environment-friendly innovation can help G7 countries foster sustainable cities and achieve COP27 targets in general, specifically the Sustainable Development Goal of sustainable cities. The results were tested for the multiplicative effect of different variables with urbanization and innovation. Regarding policy insights, the study recommends focusing on smart and sustainable cities with environment-related innovations and transitioning towards cleaner energy from conventional energy consumption.