Three Decades of Research on Smart Cities: Mapping Knowledge Structure and Trends

Ethical enactivism for smart and inclusive STEAM learning design

Current global challenges of the 21st century promote STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education and digitalization as a means for humans to be the central actors in the construction of a sustainable society that favors a sense of worth and global wellbeing. In this scenario, new educational technology tools and immersive learning affordances (possibilities), offer unprecedented potential for the design of smart and dynamic learning systems and contexts that can enhance learning processes across varied audiences and educational settings. However, current STEAM education practice lacks attention to equipping all citizens with the necessary skills to use digital technologies in an ethical, critical and creative way. This gap calls for attention in design processes, principles and practices that are attentive to ethical considerations and values-based approaches. On the other hand, in its formulation STEAM as an educational approach is framed in four fundamental pillars: creativity, inclusion, citizenship and emerging technologies, which also put attention on the inclusion of disadvantaged and underrepresented social groups during STEAM education design. Following an apparent need to explore ethical and inclusive design in STEAM education, and inspired in the 4E cognition framework, ethical enactivism and embodied and ecosomaesthetics experience design, here we propose a theoretical framework grounded on systems thinking for the design of smart and dynamic STEAM learning systems and settings. The framework is aimed at STEAM educational psychologists, educational technologists, learning designers and educational practitioners who wish to address the global challenges of 21st century education by means of creative, innovative and inclusive education design.

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.

Smart City Applications to Promote Citizen Participation in City Management and Governance: A Systematic Review

This systematic review aimed to provide a comprehensive view of (1) the purposes of research studies using smart city infrastructures to promote citizen participation in the cities’ management and governance, (2) the characteristics of the proposed solutions in terms of data sources, data quality, and data security and privacy mechanisms, as well, as strategies to incentivize citizen participation, and (3) the development stages of the applications being reported. An electronic search was conducted combining relevant databases and keywords, and 76 studies were included after a selection process. The results show a current interest in developing applications to promote citizen participation to identify urban problems and contribute to decision-making processes. Most of the included studies considered citizens as agents able to report issues (e.g., issues related to the maintenance of urban infrastructures or the mobility in urban spaces), monitor certain environmental parameters (e.g., air or acoustic pollution), and share opinions (e.g., opinions about the performance of local authorities) to support city management. Moreover, a minority of the included studies developed collaborative applications to involve citizens in decision-making processes in urban planning, the selection of development projects, and deepening democratic values. It is possible to conclude about the existence of significant research related to the topic of this systematic review, but also about the need to deepen mechanisms to guarantee data quality and data security and privacy, to develop strategies to incentivize citizen participation, and to implement robust experimental set-ups to evaluate the impact of the developed applications in daily contexts.

International Research Progress in School Travel and Behavior: A Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis

A deep understanding of school travel mode can help policymaking related to the optimization of the school travel structure, alleviating urban traffic congestion due to the increasingly prominent phenomenon of urban sprawl. However, existing studies in this field are based on a specific research perspective, and comprehensive reviews are rather limited. Therefore, this study aims to provide an in-depth, systematic review of school travel by using bibliometric analysis. Firstly, based on the Web of Science, TRID, ScienceDirect, and MEDLINE databases, 457 studies about school travel are selected from between 1996 and 2021. Secondly, utilizing bibliometric analysis, the research progress is summarized with emphasis on the annual performance of the literature, publication status of a country or region, literature source institutions, keywords of the literature, and co-citation network analysis. The research results show that (1) the United States, Canada, and Australia rank top in the number of studies on school travel, and they also have high citation frequency and connection strength. (2) This study collects studies published in 34 journal publications, and the “Journal of Transport & Health” is the main source for publishing research. (3) The choice of school travel mode is significantly affected by individual characteristics, family conditions, and social status. The built environment and parental factors play a leading role in students’ active travel to school, and independent mobility and active transport contribute to students’ healthy development. However, policy planning is necessary to further improve the transportation infrastructure sustainability and school route safety. (4) Finally, several promising directions and potential limitations are discussed for developing countries based on the research progress in developed economies.

Research Structure and Trends of Smart Urban Mobility

Mobility is a subject of increasing importance in a time when cities have gained prominence, as they are home to over 56% of the world’s population and generate over 80% of global GDP. Urban planning principles have traditionally been developed to promote urban efficiency and enhance productivity. The emergence of ‘Smart Mobility’ has provided researchers and policy practitioners new ways to understand and plan cities. With rapid urbanization growth and the sustained mobility challenges faced in most global cities, this paper sets forth to understand and map the evolution of the concept of ‘Smart Urban Mobility’ through a bibliometric analysis and science mapping techniques using VOSviewer. In total, 6079 articles were retrieved from the Web of Science database over 5 decades, from 1968 to 2021, and divided into four sub-periods, namely 1968 to 2010, 2011 to 2015, 2016 to 2019, and 2020 to 2021. The paper provides a better understanding of the thematic focus and associated trends of smart mobility beyond technical issues related to Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), where due to diverse dynamics, such as unprecedented growth and advancement in technologies, attention has extended to incorporating the impacts of the application of different technologies in urban mobility as well as associated fields. This paper further identifies major sources, authors, publications, and countries that have made more contributions to the development of this field. The findings of this study can help researchers better understand the evolution of the subject, and help policymakers make better-informed decisions on investable infrastructures for better mobility outcomes in urban regeneration pursuits and future cities.

Systematic literature review of context-awareness applications supported by smart cities’ infrastructures

Since none of the existing systematic reviews of the literature related to smart cities have focused on smart cities applications using context-aware features, this study aims to provide a comprehensive view of (1) the characteristics of context-aware applications supported by smart cities’ infrastructures, (2) the characteristics of the context-aware technologies being used, and (3) the maturity level of the identified applications. An electronic search was conducted on Scopus, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore databases, combining relevant keywords. After the studies’ selection, 27 studies were included. The results show the interest in using context-aware features to develop smart cities’ applications targeting public health, tourism experience, urban mobility, active citizenship, shopping experience, management of urban infrastructures, public alerts, recommenders, and smart environments. Moreover, the applications reported by the included studies do not allow the execution of actions without the explicit consent of the users, and they integrate personal sensors, sensors deployed in the city and crowdsourcing mechanisms to acquire primary context attributes (i.e., location, activity, and environment) and secondary context attributes (i.e., speed, physical activity, points of interest, stress, and tourists’ emotions). In addition, the included studies present scarce details about context reasoning, data privacy, integrity, and confidentiality, data aggregation and accuracy, and data interoperability. Finally, the results also indicate low maturity level of the developed applications, which is evidenced by the lack of user-centred evaluations, as well as by the difficulty in integrating important technologies being developed for smart cities.

From federal transfers and local investments to a potential convergence of COVID-19 and climate change: The case study of São Paulo city

This paper is divided into two parts to explore some aspects of municipal development related to national and subnational investments in disaster risk reduction and urban sustainability related to Covid-19 and climate change response. In Part I, a survey on disasters and national transfers to 45 Brazilian municipalities is presented. In Part II, the local-scale approach enabled to compare the areas most affected by COVID-19 with those impacted by climate change. There are large uncertainties around financial support from the federal government and their impact at local scale. São Paulo city was chosen because it reveals some important aspects of spatial structure carried out through local investments. In this sense, updated information on floods and warmer surfaces were updated to provoke a discussion about a potential confluence with the effects of pandemic. The results highlighted the effects of scarce federal transfers and the maps help us to identify the spatial distribution of people at risk, which can be beneficial for municipal decisions as they highlight a significative relationship between pandemic effects and an uneven social structure. In conclusion, the trade-off between this unequal structure and a necessary and effectively sustainable change leads us to reflect on local investment trends.

Safety and Risk Analysis of Autonomous Vehicles Using Computer Vision and Neural Networks

The autonomous vehicle (AVs) market is expanding at a rapid pace due to the advancement of information, communication, and sensor technology applications, offering a broad range of opportunities in terms of energy efficiency and addressing climate change concerns and safety. With regard to this last point, the rate of reduction in accidents is considerable when switching safety control tasks to machines from humans, which can be noted as having significantly slower response rates. This paper explores this thematic by focusing on the safety of AVs by thorough analysis of previously collected AV crash statistics and further discusses possible solutions for achieving increased autonomous vehicle safety. To achieve this, this technical paper develops a dynamic run-time safe assessment system, using the standard autonomous drive system (ADS), which is developed and simulated in case studies further in the paper. OpenCV methods for lane detection are developed and applied as robust control frameworks, which introduces the factor of vehicle crash predictability for the ego vehicle. The developed system is made to predict possible crashes by using a combination of machine learning and neural network methods, providing useful information for response mechanisms in risk scenarios. In addition, this paper explores the operational design domain (ODD) of the AV’s system and provides possible solutions to extend the domain in order to render vehicle operationality, even in safe mode. Additionally, three case studies are explored to supplement a discussion on the implementation of algorithms aimed at increasing curved lane detection ability and introducing trajectory predictability of neighbouring vehicles for an ego vehicle, resulting in lower collisions and increasing the safety of the AV overall. This paper thus explores the technical development of autonomous vehicles and is aimed at researchers and practitioners engaging in the conceptualisation, design, and implementation of safer AV systems focusing on lane detection and expanding AV safe state domains and vehicle trajectory predictability.

Smart City and Crisis Management: Lessons for the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 shocked cities around the world and revealed the vulnerability of urban lives and functions. Most cities experienced a catastrophic disturbance that has lasted for a long time. Planning plays a critical role in responding efficiently to this crisis and enabling rapid functional recovery in the post-disaster era. Cities that have implemented digitalization initiatives and programs are likely to have more capacity to react appropriately. Specifically, digitalized cities could ensure the well-being of their residents and maintain continuity of urban functions. This research aims to analyze the role of technology in crisis management in the last two decades and provide appropriate policy recommendations for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Systematic literature review and subjective content analysis are employed to investigate the effects of technology on community well-being and making cities more resilient in past crises. This study shows that different technology-driven policies and actions enable crisis management, enhance community well-being, and increase urban resilience. Technology has enhanced coping and recovery capacities by increasing participation and social connectedness, enhancing physical and mental health and maintaining the functionality of education and economic systems. These have been achieved through various solutions and technologies such as social media, telehealth, tracking and monitoring systems, sensors and locational applications, teleworking systems, etc. These solutions and technologies have also been used during the COVID-19 pandemic to enhance community well-being and sustain urban functions. However, technology deployment might have adverse effects such as social exclusion, digital divide, privacy and confidentiality violation, political bias and misinformation dissemination, and inefficient remote working and education. It is suggested that to mitigate these side effects, policymakers should liberate the process of digitalization, increase the accessibility to digital services, and enhance digital literacy.

Contributions of Smart City Solutions and Technologies to Resilience against the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Literature Review

Since its emergence in late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept through many cities around the world, claiming millions of lives and causing major socio-economic impacts. The pandemic occurred at an important historical juncture when smart solutions and technologies have become ubiquitous in many cities. Against this background, in this review, we examine how smart city solutions and technologies have contributed to resilience by enhancing planning, absorption, recovery, and adaptation abilities. For this purpose, we reviewed 147 studies that have discussed issues related to the use of smart solutions and technologies during the pandemic. The results were synthesized under four themes, namely, planning and preparation, absorption, recovery, and adaptation. This review shows that investment in smart city initiatives can enhance the planning and preparation ability. In addition, the adoption of smart solutions and technologies can, among other things, enhance the capacity of cities to predict pandemic patterns, facilitate an integrated and timely response, minimize or postpone transmission of the virus, provide support to overstretched sectors, minimize supply chain disruption, ensure continuity of basic services, and offer solutions for optimizing city operations. These are promising results that demonstrate the utility of smart solutions for enhancing resilience. However, it should be noted that realizing this potential hinges on careful attention to important issues and challenges related to privacy and security, access to open-source data, technological affordance, legal barriers, technological feasibility, and citizen engagement. Despite this, this review shows that further development of smart city initiatives can provide unprecedented opportunities for enhancing resilience to the pandemic and similar future events.