Blockchain Papers

Zakariae Ismaili, Ali Younes, Abdel Ali Harchaoui, Monir EL Mounaoui

No abstract is available for this record.

Amin Khoshkenar, Hala Nassereddine

Smart Cities (SCs) leverage advanced technologies and data analytics to optimize infrastructure and services for economic and quality of life benefits. However, realizing the potential of SCs requires interoperability between different systems, which remains challenging due to fragmentation. Thus, unified architectures are needed to enable effective coordination through common languages and protocols. Digital Twin (DT) models, bidirectional virtual representations of physical assets, show immense promise for unifying SCs by integrating massive heterogeneous data streams. Although there have been numerous studies investigating unified models for SCs, in the context of DT, most studies narrowly focus on using DT for different systems within cities rather than citywide implementation. As a response, this study identified 34 recent papers investigating interoperability and unified models in SCs, out of which 19 papers were focused on developing unified models for SCs and 15 papers were focused on unified DT models in SCs. These 15 papers were systematically reviewed, identifying the key factors, benefits, and challenges of such models. To help city leaders and to make focused, context-aware decisions aligned to their objectives, whole factors were categorized into four groups, including relevance-based, influence-based, complexity-based, and risk-based. To guide future research, the study highlights edge computing and implementing blockchains as underrepresented areas within the realm of SCs.

Abhaar Gupta

This chapter discusses the growing challenges faced by cities as their population continues to grow and citizen services become more and more complex and interconnected. It argues that many of the inefficiencies and mistrust are not because of a lack of digitization of urban services, but because of fragmented data, agencies operating in silos, and a lack of transparency in government processes. With that in mind, the chapter introduces blockchain as a distributed ledger technology and a tool that governments can use to fundamentally redefine management of data, processes, and coordination across agencies while maintaining transparency. The chapter further dives into cases where blockchain has been used to manage public records, procurement, utilities, citizen participation, and resource management. It also discusses technical, legal, financial, and social limitations of the technology. The chapter concludes with an explanation of an implementation framework with a strong focus on long-term sustainability, inclusiveness, regulatory compatibility, and incremental adoption. The combination of these makes blockchain a strategic solution to reestablish accountability, transparency, and confidence in urban services instead of a panacea.

Shafiqul Hassan, Mohsin Dhali

The rapid expansion of fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies has intensified the expectation that artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, and automation can accelerate the process of achieving the United Naitons Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in developing nations. Whether these technologies live up to their expectation, however, depends not only on technological capability but also on the legal, regulatory, and institutional environment in which they operate. However, the governance of 4IR technologies has gained far less scholarly attention than their technological potential. The present study examines how legal frameworks, policy instruments, and governance arrangements influence the contribution of 4IR technologies to sustainable development in developing countries. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, literature published between 2015 and 2025 was identified through searches of Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, Pub Med, and arXiv. From 721 retrieved records, 50 peer reviewed studies met the eligibility criteria and were synthesised using a narrative approach. The analysis reveals three consistent patterns. First, legal authority is fragmented within and across jurisdictions. Second, policy commitments frequently outstrip implementation capacity, a performativity in which governments announce SDG ambitions without building the institutional means to deliver them. Third, governance is constrained by limited expertise, weak enforcement, and poor coordination between agencies. The review also identifies three important gaps in the literature: a predominant focus on artificial intelligence at the expense of other technologies, limited empirical testing of the links between fourth industrial revolution technologies and SDG outcomes, and minimal attention to how rules are enforced in practice. These finding suggest that the prime difficulty of harnessing 4IR technologies for sustainable development in developing nations are institutional rather than technological. Therefore, it is not only about advancing technological innovation but also strengthening regulatory coherence, governance capacity, and the effective implementation of legal frameworks to achieve SDGs in developing countries.

Authors unavailable

Smart cities are quickly becoming data-driven environments that are dependent on intelligent technologies to make cities efficient and their citizens happy. In this chapter, the author introduces a comprehensive concept of deep learning and blockchain that will be used to secure and improve multimodal smart city applications. It explores the heterogeneity issues of Internet of Multimedia Things (IoMT) data, such as security, privacy, and trust, and shows how deep learning can facilitate intelligent analysis by means of feature extraction, multimodal fusion, and real-time decision-making. Data integrity and transparency, as well as decentralized governance, are guaranteed by blockchain and secure access control and policy automation through smart contracts. It is also in this chapter that mechanisms of identity and trust management, secure data and model management, and privacy are discussed. Applied benefits are demonstrated by use cases in surveillance, transportation, and energy management, whereas challenges and future research discussions provide a basis for secure, resilient, and intelligent urban ecosystems.