Towards a Smart and Sustainable City with the Involvement of Public Participation—The Case of Wroclaw

How the V4 Nations Handle the Idea of Smart Cities

Smart city is a term that includes digital, information, and communication technologies that contribute to increasing the level and quality of life in individual cities. It focuses primarily on the efficient use of existing resources but also on the discovery of new ones, with the goal of lowering energy consumption while also reducing environmental impact and optimizing traffic in specific areas of the city. This concept is increasingly coming to the fore. Thus, the aim of this article was to determine the level of involvement of Slovak, Czech, Polish, and Hungarian authors in solutions for Smart cities using Web of Science data. The analysis of countries that form the Visegrad Four (V4) region reveals how the region ranks compared to other countries that are actively involved in Smart cities based on VosViewer. To map a specific region of countries, it is necessary to first understand the underlying causes of the problem worldwide. Then, the status of the authors, the number of articles and citations, and universities may be actively discussed and graphically depicted for each nation in Visegrad. Based on the discovered results, academics can identify the contributors and institutions that have solved the issue individually or in co-authorships over a long period. The findings provide data for future testing of selected dependencies and a platform for creating a scientific model to rank countries. In addition, the authorities may focus on identified clusters of key areas that are an essential part of Smart cities and provide a higher quality of life in their city for the people.

What Are the Needs of City Dwellers in Terms of the Development of Public Spaces? A Case Study of Participatory Budgeting in Częstochowa, Poland

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is considered a human-centered method of public resource management and investment planning, which strongly reflects the needs of the inhabitants of the municipality. The aim of this article is to assess the structure of the inhabitants’ needs expressed in the PB procedures in Częstochowa, Poland and their relation to the social and demographic characteristics of the city districts. The standard methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis were used (Pearson correlation coefficient and content analysis of the municipal documents), based on the data about: (1) the projects implemented in Częstochowa PB in the years 2015–2019; (2) the age structures and population density in the districts; and (3) qualitative data on district development characteristics. Based on the authors’ typology of projects, it was found that the most popular tasks were related to the comfort and safety of mobility and recreational facilities used for spending free time in public spaces. A relatively lower level of activity of the citizens was found when expressing their needs in central, densely populated districts with a high share of people aged over 65, and a relatively higher level of activity was found in the districts with a high proportion of people aged 0–18 and with lower population density. In the densely populated central districts, relatively high interest in the development of green areas was observed, while in the less populated developing peripheral districts, the preferred infrastructure was related to mobility. These correlations can be logically explained by the conditions related to the development processes of individual districts. The authors conclude that PB can be an important mechanism in determining local needs for the development of public spaces; however, it rewards the needs of the most active social groups.

Smart Sustainable City Roadmap as a Tool for Addressing Sustainability Challenges and Building Governance Capacity

Building smart sustainable cities initiatives requires governance capacity, which is constantly challenged by a diversity of actors and the transformation towards a digital society; however, the process of identifying the conditions for building a smart sustainable city (SSC) is not straightforward. As an attempt to map the key governance conditions, the goal of this study is to suggest guidelines for the development of SSC initiatives in the format of a generic roadmap. This research applies design science research methodology and builds the roadmap based on identified antecedents that may hinder or facilitate the development of SSC initiatives from a systematic literature review and the analysis of key governance aspects from 12 smart city initiatives in Europe and Latin America. This paper builds its results through a four-step approach including: (1) defining the main concepts and dimensions within the smart sustainable city context; (2) identifying sustainability challenges for the development of smart sustainable city initiatives; (3) analysing key governance aspects from smart sustainable city initiatives; and (4) designing an actionable research-based roadmap and practical recommendations. The resulting roadmap contains 11 key governance conditions for developing strategies for smart sustainable city initiatives that were classified into three main phases: (1) planning; (2) implementing; and (3) adopting, monitoring, and evaluating. In terms of contribution, this research provides a tool to support the development of initiatives, addressing sustainability challenges and strengthening governance capacity to ensure the long-term impacts of smart sustainable cities.

The System Dynamic and Compram Methodologies for Modelling, Simulation and Forecasting of Road Safety of Uzbekistan

In Uzbekistan, about 2,000 people die every year as a result of a traffic accident. At the same time, according to the Pulitzer Centre on Crisis Reporting, the Republic has the lowest rate in road mortality among the countries in the Central Asian region - for every 100,000 people, it is 11.32 people. Losses from road accidents in Uzbekistan equivalent up to 2.8% of GDP that is also one of the lowest indicators. But according to traffic safety experts, the losses from accidents are greater than reported data. Nowadays there are a lot of methods to analyse and ensure road safety and traffic management on the roads. The authors believe that road safety is a complex societal problem not only in Uzbekistan but all over the world. One of these methods is System Dynamic (SD) and COMplex PRoblem hAndling Methodology (COMPRAM). In this work, the Vensim PLE SD software tool (it is one SD tool amongst many others) has been used to perform the SD modelling of the case study at hand. In the methods of system dynamics, a computer model is created using a graphical technique for constructing flow diagrams and causal relationships of the system under study and then simulated on a computer. COMPRAM allows us to figure out the way to handle complex societal problems while involving a System Dynamics (SD) simulation option. There are similarities between COMPRAM and the traditional way of analysing road safety. In traditional ways, each element or factor is studied as a separate phenomenon. These indicators are studied in the stages of COMPRAM. This article has been studied a different aspect of how road accidents happen. The developed a comparison (according to six criteria) of the different modelling paradigms which have been historically used to assess road safety. Also, the authors made a comparison of the COMPRAM methodology with the traditional road safety assessment approach to highlight similarities and differences.

Residents’ Sustainable City Evaluation, Satisfaction and Loyalty: Integrating Importance-Performance Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling

There has been an increase in research on sustainable urban development, especially in recent years, and importance-performance analysis (IPA) is one of the popular methods applied in sustainable development research. However, few have integrated IPA with structural equation modelling (SEM). This study developed and tested an integrated IPA and SEM approach to measuring the effects of the perceived importance of sustainable city dimensions and the perceived performance of a city on resident satisfaction and loyalty. A total of 388 survey responses were collected from the residents of Shanghai and analyzed using the integrated IPA-SEM approach. The results show that resident satisfaction mediates the relationship between overall perceived performance and resident loyalty, while the relationship between overall perceived importance and resident loyalty is mediated by both overall perceived performance and resident satisfaction. The findings from the SEM are in line with the IPA’s concept in that, to ensure resident satisfaction and loyalty, the quadrant that requires the most attention is Q1, while Q2 stands as the target quadrant. Implications and future research directions are proposed based on the findings.

Dependencies between Demographic Urbanization and the Agglomeration Road Traffic Volumes: Evidence from Poland

A method is proposed for forecasting traffic intensity at the border of an agglomeration’s core, using demographic data such as amount (number) and structure of population and housing in the surrounding (suburban) area. Relationships between groups of variables are analyzed by calibrating traffic and demographic models for a selected agglomeration in Poland. The choice of Poland is justified by an intensive suburbanization process that took place during the transition from a centrally controlled market to a free market economy after 1989, such research being quite novel and original for this country. Three assumptions concerning this research methodology (concerning how to specify the research area and parameters characterizing traffic and population) were formulated and tested. Models (dependencies) acquired this way were tested in another Polish agglomeration of similar size, yielding similar results. Very high correlations between characteristic groups of variables were indicated. The best correlation occurred between an intensity of cars leaving the center of an agglomeration in the afternoon rush hour (as a traffic group variable), with the total population, the number of economically active people, and the number of dwellings in the surrounding areas (being population group variables). A novel way of specifying the range of the surrounding areas influencing the main city traffic was proposed. The results obtained and the models constructed should be applicable for other agglomerations, since the universality of the observed phenomena and their relationships are expected.

STRATEGY FORMULATION FOR THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SMART CITIES: A CASE STUDY OF NANJING, CHINA

Smart cities possess huge potential in future urban development. However, the critical problems in developing sustainable smart cities in China are the lack of clear strategies and effective strategy planning tools. Therefore, reasonable plans and strategies play important roles in helping the government develop sustainable smart cities. In this study, 16 SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) factors were identified. According to a structured questionnaire survey about SWOT factors, an integrated method, composed of SWOT and AHP (analytic hierarchy process) was conducted. A case study was conducted in Nanjing, China. The most powerful facilitators (strengths and opportunities) and the most powerful obstacles (weaknesses and threats) for developing Smart Nanjing City (SNC) were identified. The strategic intensity and value of the elements were confirmed. Moreover, proactive strategies were proposed including strengthening intelligent clusters, establishing governance ecosystem, and providing integrated services for SNC, which can be considered as policy suggestions for SNC, providing hybrid strategies for a planning approach integrating bottom-up and top-down design to develop smart cities, as a reference for other global cities. Moreover, the proposed AHP-SWOT hybrid method can be used as an effective quantitative strategy planning tool to help other authorities determine appropriate strategies for developing smart cities.

Mapping RRI Dimensions and Sustainability into Regional Development Policies and Urban Planning Instruments

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is an inclusive approach to the research and innovation process. Regional and local authorities are encouraged to take advantages of RRI in order to address the complexity of the interplay between science and society, especially as it affects territorial development policies. However, adopting the RRI approach is not an immediate or linear process. Consciously or not, many territories have already adopted policies and planning instruments that incorporate RRI, generating effects on the spatial scales. The aim of this study is to provide a methodology to map the inclusion of RRI dimensions (i.e., public engagement, open access, gender, ethics, science education) into regional development policies and spatial planning instruments, in order to detect integrated strategies and elements that are sustainable, open, inclusive, anticipative and responsive. The mapping methodology has been applied to three territorial pilot cases. The results provide the territories with a baseline to improve the integration of the RRI approach in their commitments to develop self-sustaining research and innovation ecosystems. Through the lessons learnt from the pilot cases, recommendations are drawn for the integration of RRI in spatial and urban planning policies and tools.

How a Participatory Budget Can Support Sustainable Rural Development—Lessons From Poland

Since the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the need for localization of SDGs has been emphasized. In this context, sustainable rural development is still a relatively undescribed area in the context of using the participatory budget as a tool to implement SDGs. Few countries have introduced legal regulations in practice, enabling the creation of participatory budgets (especially in rural areas), so a multifaceted analysis of a decade of Poland's experience may provide important guidelines for countries considering introducing such solutions, which we consider to be the main purpose of this study. This is the first study covering all communes where participatory budgets (Solecki Fund—FS) were created in Poland during the 2010–2018 period (up to 60% of all), covering both the analysis of the process of creating FSs, the directions of spending and the scale of spending (including regional differentiation), as well as legal regulations and the consequences of including central government support in this mechanism. On the basis of the research, it can be observed that, despite the small scale of FS spending, the number of municipalities using this form of citizen participation is increasing. At the same time, there is significant variation between regions, which indicates the flexibility of the FSs in adapting to the needs reported by residents. The analysed directions of expenditure indicate that the FSs are in line with the SDG objectives related to the improvement of residents' quality of life. It can be concluded that, despite the existing legal regulations, the introduction of the Solecki Fund undoubtedly depends on the political will of the local government's legislative authorities and the willingness of residents to participate in decisions on spending directions.