Parece que todo um mundo novo de tecnologia, trabalho e lazer está agora a começar. O Metaverso é o sucessor da Internet, um mundo virtual 3D, uma rede de experiências e dispositivos interligados, ferramentas e infraestruturas, muito além da mera realidade. Web 3, blockchains e NFT (non-fungible token). Esta nova Internet não está apenas no telemóvel ou no computador, em vez disso rodear-nos-á, nas nossas vidas, no trabalho e lazer, e assim será sobretudo para a nova geração, para quem o Metaverso será simplesmente uma extensão psicológica perfeitamente natural de tudo o que já conheceu. Quem concebe as cidades inteligentes projeta-as ainda no mundo dos homens, não as pensa no Metaverso, mas isto não nos impede de equacionar a cidade no Metaverso e refletir como a implementação das cidades é aceleradamente dinâmica, de tal modo que o que hoje se configura como cidade do futuro já amanhã é realidade, levando-nos a pensar na própria transformação do conceito e na variação de indicadores sobre a implementação de cidades inteligentes. De resto, se ontem a cidade inteligente correspondia sobretudo à cidade sustentável, rapidamente passou a ser a cidade digital e algorítmica.Não há como recusar o desafio, pois, ironicamente quem, num futuro não tão longínquo, estiver fora do Metaverso estará fora do mundo. E é para essa cidade, talvez uma cidade mais perto de Deus, que brevemente nos deslocaremos, no séc. XXI.
Smart cities aim to enhance the quality of life for citizens by integrating information technology in various aspects of daily life. This paper focuses on recent innovations in the integration of two prominent technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, to manage complex interactions between smart connected devices, individuals, government agencies, and the private sector. By conducting a systematic scientometric analysis and visualization of 505 articles published between 2017 and 2023, we uncover the social, conceptual, and intellectual structures of the literature in this field through co-authorship, co-word, and co-citation networks. Our analysis identifies key insights, research hotspots, specialties, and emerging trends by examining important nodes in the bibliometric networks. The findings of this study can be of interest to both academics and practitioners working in the fields of AI, blockchain, and smart cities.
Le Anh Nguyen Long, Shenja van der Graaf, Athanasios Votsis
Borrowing from insights produced in urban planning, media and governance studies thereby leveraging the Ostrom-nian ideas of institutions and polycentricity, this paper examines how to govern commons in the smart city. It offers a reflection upon whether Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) could be a key notion for the commons discourse which centers around stakeholders, self-organization, and a rights-based framework. By decentralizing ledgers and enabling the interoperability of the various interfaces, DLTs make records more accessible, exchanges more transparent, and reduce costs while increasing efficiency, and permit automation, therefore commoning interactions both offline and online are facilitated. We argue that the use of DLTs to preserve the spatiotemporal integrity of key urban spaces is a common value question that needs to be elucidated or renegotiated in order to provide any useful guidance to DLTs integrity-preserving potential. In doing so, we draw attention to DLT-based urban commons and urban governance, and point to inherent incompatibilities that may lead to radical and not-so-smooth changes in urban institutions, while providing a way of thinking which can move the smart city closer towards a values-centered process and away from a preoccupation with technology and efficiency.
Technological imaginaries have been increasingly shaping the future perceptions of cities. From artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology to three-dimensional printing, high-tech artifacts are very often the premises of such imaginaries. However, technology does not only refer to artifacts. Technology also encompasses the processes around the artifacts: how the artifacts are designed, manufactured, used, maintained, and disposed. From this perspective, high-tech visions often disregard problems that pertain to resource extraction, labor exploitation, energy use, and material flows. On the contrary, low-tech and localized alternatives incite lower impact and higher resilience visions. However, they fail to offer solutions of the desired scale and intensity. To address this tension, we provide an alternative vision for mid-tech: a balance between the opposite extreme qualities of low-tech and high-tech. Through a case of open-source prosthetics, we illustrate how to synergistically combine the efficiency and versatility of high-tech solutions with the potential for autonomy and resilience that low-tech offers. Then we discuss a mid-tech approach for distributed ledger technology from a city as a license lens. We provide connections with existing or conceptual applications to show how distributed ledger technology could support more socially and ecologically responsible data practices for city governance.
Cities have been growing at an impressive rate, and with the advancement of technology and digitization, new ways have been proposed to provide cities with a certain level of autonomy and intelligence so that they can self-regulate tasks that currently take a lot of time for both citizens and authorities, and which also have a negative impact on the environment. We have recently experienced one of the most abrupt changes in history as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, where millions of people, businesses, schools, companies, governments, etc., have had to modify their ways of working, in addition to dealing with many other changes in the present moment, the most important of which is the transition to electronic transactions. This is a chance to progress toward smart city transformation and the implementation of models that assist citizens in their ordinary activities. One of the most common activities is the purchase of real estate. In this study, we propose a model to make the purchase and sale of real estate more equitable and fairer, and not just based on the amount of money. A smart home should be able to identify who its current owner is by functioning as an IoT badge, and, after the subject’s identity has been verified, it should be granted full access to all services, or else it should be blocked and/or alerted to the authorities. The use of smart contracts in a blockchain to transfer ownership of a smart home that includes, as inputs, those interested in acquiring a specific house and, as outputs, a person who chose the system based on the requirements previously established by the government of the Smart City. As a result, susceptibility to fraud or interference by a third person is reduced, and an individual’s security of living in a smart home, and therefore, in a smart city, is strengthened.
The advancement in blockchain applications in the smart sustainable city infrastructure is evaluated in this paper through a comprehensive mapping review. The evaluation is carried out by posing four research questions that address current developments in blockchain technology in the context of smart cities and point out areas where additional study is needed. This study also includes a scoping of blockchain applications in a smart city context to highlight the obstacles to incorporating blockchain technology into smart city infrastructure. Finally, some suggestions for overcoming the problems of incorporating blockchain technology with smart city infrastructure are offered. This research will help researchers and policymakers gain a better understanding of blockchain applications in smart cities.
A smart city can be defined as an integration of systems comprising a plethora of task-oriented technologies that aim to evolve and advance with city and infrastructure needs while providing services to citizens and resolving urban challenges through intersystem and data-driven analytical means, with minimal human intervention. Applications of technology include management, operations, and finance. One such technology is Blockchain. A main advantage of Blockchain is the simplification of processes that are costly and time-consuming. This is accomplished by simplifying operations to minimize costs resulting from the decentralization of assets. Blockchain has been proven to facilitate transparency, security, and the elimination of data fragmentation. However, as a relatively new technology, it poses regulatory obstacles. This issue can be attributed to the fact that many infrastructural governing organizations have incomplete knowledge of their infrastructure, which can lead to confusion when attempting to comprehend the different elements of the infrastructure, resulting in a lack of direction when trying to solve a problem. This paper explores the different applications of Blockchain technology in the sectors of energy, transportation, water, construction, and government, and provides a mechanism for implementing this technology in smart cities. As a present component of infrastructure management systems, Blockchain may potentially serve as the initial step toward upgrading infrastructure technology.
Emerging growth in technology has rapidly changed our homes and cities. Present homes and cities will be upgraded to smart homes and smart cities in the near future. Various solutions used to build the smart-city network demand a scalable and decentralized solution. This study proposes a blockchain-empowered decentralized and scalable solution for a sustainable smart-city network. The Internet of Things (IoT), fog nodes, permissioned trust chain, smart contract, blockchain, and InterPlanetary file system (IPFS) are deployed to construct a scalable and decentralized solution for a sustainable smart city. Three main public sector departments, i.e., electricity, water supply, and health care, are studied over the proposed solution. The proposed solution is implemented over constrained application protocol (CoAP) and Ethereum blockchain. The performance of the proposed model is evaluated for 1500 devices and over 10,000 records. A total 77.44% improvement is registered during performance evaluation over a scalable environment. The performance evaluation of each case study and collaborative performance evaluation concludes the improvised performance of the proposed solution for scalable and distributed applications. Better performance, scalability, and the distributed nature of the presented model make it suitable for the sustainable smart-city network.
A smart city is a comprehensive concept created by multiple digital industries. Smart city is a new generation of information technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, and geospatial information to promote smart new ideas for urban planning, construction, management and services, power city operation and administrative management, industrial development, and public services in various fields. It is a modern high-end urban development form. A smart city is to establish a city center system by connecting terminals, applying information technology and network, and ultimately promoting the efficiency improvement and economic structure optimization in various fields. However, in the construction of smart cities, due to the sharing of a large amount of data, a lot of data leakage is caused, and data protection faces many challenges. The article first introduces the structure of smart cities, the challenges faced by smart cities in data protection and data privacy protection; then summarizes the characteristics, applications, and challenges of blockchain technology in the application of blockchain in smart cities, and makes reference to references. The corresponding comparisons are made, and the future challenges are finally summarized and proposed.
S. Palmieri, Mario Bisson, Alessandro Ianniello, Riccardo Palomba · 5 authors
The expected demographic densification presents specific critical points where op-portunities for improving citizens' lives can be identified. For this reason, projects are underway to analyze and explore the dynamics of cities to adapt to new con-texts. Several European cities, including Milan, Paris, and Barcelona, are already implementing changes to encourage new types of neighborhood organizations which revolve around the concept of proximity, and primary services close to home. In this context, it seems fundamental to seek connectivity, encouraging new forms of relationships between citizens. The use of new digital tools, such as blockchain, favors new types of autonomous organizations that can manage activities on a neighborhood scale. Design should propose suitable and innovative models of ap-plication and act as a facilitator for their implementation. Through design, it is also possible to identify guidelines for the relationships in a neighborhood and to define activities and experiences with which citizens can relate.
With advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in convergence with blockchain technology, cities have been given the opportunity to improve their services, efficiently use resources, and, thus, become Smart Cities. The main properties of blockchain technology like decentralization, immutability, transparency, consensus, and robustness are qualities needed for Smart City. In this paper, we propose a digitalization strategy for the City of Osijek. Smart City digitalization strategy aims to solve problems of emerging urbanization, improve administration by reducing energy and water consumption, carbon emissions, pollution, and city waste management. To develop an information system based on blockchain technology, the administration structure and the current state of information systems are analyzed, and new solutions are presented.
Nada Alasbali, Saaidal Razalli Azzuhri, Rosli Salleh, Miss Laiha Mat Kiah · 7 authors
Motivation. Standardization in smart city applications is restricted by the competitive pressures of proprietary innovation and technological compartmentalization. Interoperability across networks, databases, and APIs is essential to achieving the smart objectives of technology-supported urban environments. Methodology. The issues that smart cities face, as well as the usage of blockchain in Internet of Things (IoT) applications, are discussed in this research paper. Problem Statement. The study shows the obstacles to the establishment of an IoT-driven smart city agenda, including system security, dispersed node interoperability, data resource management, and scalability of a diverse IoT network. Results. To resolve these challenges, this research proposes a working infinite loop model for establishing a standardized, intermediary cloud-based blockchain for IoT networking within smart cities. The blockchain intermediary function will resolve critical gaps in the existing, distributed IoT-based smart cities’ standards, drawing connections between nodes, users, and service providers that are enabled through autonomous, immutable, and nonrepudiated transactions.
Government corruption in Latin America prevents the region’s sustainable development and constitutes a failure of current systems. Governments have started to leverage new technologies to increase transparency and promote integrity within their processes. Among these, blockchain technology has gained traction as a promising tool for Smart Governance due to its unique properties in terms of immutability, trust, coordination, security, and transparency. The use of blockchain within Smart City initiatives is complicated by a lack of diffusion models. This paper develops a diffusion model for blockchain technology after analyzing three case studies and conducting a survey of thirty blockchain start-up leads across Latin America. The final model, named Smart Governance BT diffusion model, conceptualizes the diffusion of blockchain as a gradual process including inputs, a dynamic throughput, and outputs. Relevant for academics and government representatives alike, the model aims at improving the conceptual understanding of technology diffusion in Smart Cities and highlights the potential of blockchain as a mitigator of vulnerabilities to corruption. As initial conditions matter for its successful adoption and diffusion, it is recommended for Latin American governments to (1) redesign and digitalize their processes and legislation, (2) conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis for specific use cases, and (3) reduce inefficiencies in areas with relatively medium to low levels of historical corruption in a first instance. The model can be tested and refined in future research and can be applied to any Smart City initiative requiring conceptualization.
M. M. Kamruzzaman, Bingxin Yan, Md Nazirul Islam Sarker, Omar Alruwaili · 6 authors
Nowadays, technology has been evolving rapidly. Due to the consequent impact of smart technologies, it becomes a ubiquitous part of life. These technologies have led to the emergence of smart cities that are geographic areas driven by advanced information and communication technologies. In the context of smart cities, IoT, blockchain, and fog computing have been found as the significant drivers of smart initiates. In this recognition, the present study is focused on delineating the impact and potential of blockchain, IoT, and fog computing on healthcare services in the context of smart cities. In pursuit of this objective, the study has conducted a systematic review of literature that is most relevant to the topic of the paper. In order to select the most relevant and credible articles, the researcher has used PRISMA and AMSTAR that have culminated in the 10 most relevant articles for the present study. The findings revealed that IoT, blockchain, and fog computing had become drivers of efficiency in the healthcare services in smart cities. Among the three technologies, IoT has been found to be widely incorporated. However, it is found to be lacking in terms of cost efficiency, data privacy, and interoperability of data. In this recognition, blockchain technology and fog computing have been found to be more relevant to the healthcare sector in smart cities. Blockchain has been presented as a promising technology for ensuring the protection of private data, creating a decentralized database, and improving the interoperability of data while fog computing has been presented as the promising technology for low-cost remote monitoring, reducing latency and increasing efficiency.
Bokolo Anthony, Sobah Abbas Petersen, Markus Helfert
Abstract Cities are actively deploying modern digital technologies to foster digitalization due to the emergence of data-driven innovations. Through modern digital technologies, municipalities aim to enhance services performance. Despite prior studies that focused on digital transformation in smart cities, there have been few studies aimed at managing service transformation and complexities needed to support cities in getting smarter. Also, as the deployment of information technology (IT) continues to grow within urban environment, there has been little research conducted that develops data-driven approach for digital services within urban environment. Additionally, cities are exploring methods of providing seamless mobility services based on collaboration among several enterprises and stakeholders in urban environment while achieving seamless data-driven services. Therefore, this study explores the adoption of Enterprise Architecture (EA) for digital transformations to achieve seamless urban mobility services. Qualitative data was collected using case study by interview from an organization that employs distributed ledger technology (DLT) to deploy digital services in smart cities. Findings from the interview sessions were modelled in ArchiMate language to illustrate the application of digital payment solution via DLT toward digitization of urban mobility services. The findings reveal that EA supports digital transformation of cities and manages data integration and alignment. Besides, findings from this study propose an EA approach to support urban planners and developers in understanding the actions required to implement digital transformation of their city services in becoming smarter.
Dave Murray-Rust, Chris Elsden, Bettina Nissen, Ella Tallyn · 6 authors
This paper presents an annotated portfolio of projects that seek to understand and communicate the social and societal implications of blockchains, distributed ledgers and smart contracts. These complex technologies rely on human and technical factors to deliver cryptocurrencies, shared computation and trustless protocols but have a secondary benefit in providing a moment to re-think many aspects of society, and imagine alternative possibilities. The projects use design and HCI methods to relate blockchains to a range of topics, including global supply chains, delivery infrastructure, smart grids, volunteering and charitable giving, through engaging publics, exploring ideas and speculating on possible futures. Based on an extensive annotated portfolio we draw out learning for the design of blockchain systems, broadening participation and surfacing questions around imaginaries, social implications and engagement with new technology. This paints a comprehensive picture of how HCI and design can shape understandings of the future of complex technologies.
Smart home designs have an essential role in enabling new urban co-living services for the rental housing market. These services are appealing for their flexibility, ease of access and comfort, but they impact the autonomy of the residents. By utilising a protection-appreciation space model we explore how bundled co-living contracts, community as a service, and smart spaces redefine the relationship between the tenants and housing service providers in the smart city. We discuss the compromises tenants have to accept for the comfortable housing service. Our results are based on a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with residents in two co-living studio facilities in a major Nordic city. We conclude with a reflection on how the technologies used function to cushion the autonomy of the residents and identify policy development needs to respond to the new challenges presented by the application of smart home technologies in co-living.
Recently, 6G-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining attention and addressing various challenges of real time application. The artificial intelligence plays a significant role for big data analytics and presents accurate data analysis in real time. However, designing big data analysis through artificial intelligence faces some issues in terms of security, privacy, training data, and centralized architecture. In this article, blockchain-based IoT framework with artificial intelligence is proposed which presents the integration of artificial intelligence and blockchain for IoT applications. The performance of the proposed architecture is evaluated in terms of qualitative and quantitative measurement. For qualitative measurement, how the integration of blockchain and artificial intelligence addresses various issues are described with the description of AI oriented BC and BC oriented AI. The performance evaluation of proposed AI-BC architecture is evaluated and compared with existing techniques in qualitative measurement. The experimental analysis shows that the proposed framework performs better in comparison with the existing state of art techniques.
Cities in the Middle East and North Africa are already suffering the effects of climate change. Weak urban regulation, ineffective climate policies, limited decentralization and insufficient empowerment of local authorities and civil society further decrease urban resilience. Future climate scenarios and projected urban growth threaten the stability of the region; with potential negative knock-on effects on Europe. This CASCADES Spotlight Study examines climate vulnerabilities in urban areas in countries to the south of the EU and the wider Middle East and North Africa region and advocates for systemic approaches to addressing urban climate resilience by strengthening the water-energy-food nexus, as well as other enabling factors such as decentralization. It concludes with recommendations on how the European Green Deal can help cities in the region adapt to climate impacts, based on a water-energy-food nexus approach. Over the past two decades, the European Commission has stepped up its support for urban climate action and resilience. An increasing number of programmes financed under the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) South have addressed urban climate resilience in response to the region’s rapid urbanization and the high climate vulnerability of cities. The number of urban dwellers in the wider Middle East and North Africa region is estimated to reach 527 million in 2050, an increase of 72% compared to 2020. At the same time, climate impacts – including both slow onset changes and sudden disasters – are putting additional stress on urban infrastructure. This stress is aggravated by weak urban regulations that have created unsustainable development trends which undermine the potential benefits of urbanization and adversely affect urban climate resilience. The prevalence of highly centralized administrative systems and incomplete decentralization reforms hamper local capacity building and decision-making, which are prerequisites for effective adaptation and resilience. At the same time, climate impacts – including both slow onset changes and sudden disasters – are putting additional stress on urban infrastructure. This stress is aggravated by weak urban regulations that have created unsustainable development trends which undermine the potential benefits of urbanization and adversely affect urban climate resilience. The prevalence of highly centralized administrative systems and incomplete decentralization reforms hamper local capacity building and decision-making, which are prerequisites for effective adaptation and resilience. The convergence of the region’s harsh climatic conditions with rapid, unsustainable urbanization and the associated socio-economic burdens can exacerbate existing political instability, conflict-induced migration and poverty. These developments could cascade into the EU, altering security, trade and diplomatic relations with the Southern Neighbourhood. The EU’s evolving approach to working with local authorities on urban infrastructure and climate governance is a first step towards addressing the region’s intertwined urban and climate crises. However, this approach is still in the early stages and there is a need to reflect on lessons learned and how urban spaces, climates and governance are evolving in the region. This study suggests that the EU’s overwhelming focus on supporting cities in the region with energy efficiency and the transition to sustainable energy systems is not enough to strengthen urban climate resilience. In cities of the Southern Neighbourhood, which typically struggle with resource management and scarcity, climate resilience will increasingly depend on local capacities to formulate and implement nexus approaches, especially in the water, energy and food sectors. Based on case studies of three small and intermediary urban areas, the study advocates for a systemic approach to addressing urban climate resilience in Southern Neighbourhood cities. Considering the established effectiveness of applying a water-energy-food nexus approach to improving climate resilience, the paper stresses the need for local governments to explore nexus opportunities between the water, energy and food sectors in order to achieve resilient and sustainable urbanism, while also highlighting other enabling factors such as decentralization. It concludes by exploring how future external action around the European Green Deal and its ambitions for systemic transformation could benefit from stepping up cooperation with cities in the Southern Neighbourhood around the water-energy-food nexus.
The contribution of smart campuses to smart cities’ development and vice versa has been elucidated in extant literature. The micro-transfer of smart technologies and probable procurement and contracting models remain critical for such contributions to take place. This study used a systems thinking approach to establish the interrelationships existing between smart campus technologies which can be scaled towards the development of smart cities and assess the critical failure factors negating the micro-transfer of these technologies to smart city development initiatives in developing countries. To achieve its objective, the study adopted a phenomenological research design wherein qualitative data was elicited from a purposively selected sample of seven interviewees in South African Universities. The next phase of the analysis involved a thematic approach for the production of a causal loop diagram (CLD) reflecting the interrelationships between the abovementioned facets and the associated impact on the transference of knowledge and technologies from smart campuses to smart cities. This CLD was subsequently validated by a cohort of five experts. Findings from the validation phase were incorporated in an improved CLD which provided different archetypes for engendering successful transference. This study holds salient implications for universities, cities and other stakeholders seeking to engage in a quadruple helix innovative arrangement for smart campus/city development. This study concluded that smart campuses could act as living labs for future smartness of cities globally. Government funding and willingness to produce smart cities from campuses is a fundamental feature of creating smart infrastructure in cities.
Open access
Smart Cities and Technologies
Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development
Abderahman Rejeb, Karim Rejeb, Steven J. Simske, John G. Keogh
Blockchain can function as a foundational technology with numerous applications in smart cities. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, it provides a detailed overview of the extant literature on blockchain applications in smart cities; second, it reveals the trends and suggests future research directions for scholars who wish to contribute to this rapidly growing field. We conducted a bibliometric review using a keyword co-occurrence network and article co-citation analysis. The analysis includes the assessment of 148 articles published between 2016 and 2020 in 76 academic journals. The review results demonstrate that the number of articles devoted to the study of blockchain applications and smart cities has increased exponentially in recent years. More importantly, the research identifies some of the most influential studies in this area. The paper discusses trends and highlights the challenges related to the deployment of blockchain in smart cities. To the authors' best knowledge, this represents the first study to review the literature from leading journals on blockchain applications in smart cities using bibliometric techniques.