Insights from Smart City Initiatives for Urban Sustainability and Contemporary Urbanism

Urbanization growth poses various challenges, such as congestion, pollution, and resource consumption, prompting city planners and governments to adopt smart systems to manage these issues more efficiently. Despite widespread adoption, there is no consensus on the defining attributes of smart cities...

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Main Authors: Águeda Veloso, Fernando Fonseca, Rui Ramos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-10-01
Series:Smart Cities
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2624-6511/7/6/124
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author Águeda Veloso
Fernando Fonseca
Rui Ramos
author_facet Águeda Veloso
Fernando Fonseca
Rui Ramos
author_sort Águeda Veloso
collection DOAJ
description Urbanization growth poses various challenges, such as congestion, pollution, and resource consumption, prompting city planners and governments to adopt smart systems to manage these issues more efficiently. Despite widespread adoption, there is no consensus on the defining attributes of smart cities, particularly regarding their role in urban sustainability and contemporary urbanism. This paper provides a literature review to understand the implications of smart city initiatives for sustainable urban planning, focusing on practices in Singapore, Helsinki, Barcelona, and Medellin. Based on 71 publications surveyed from Scopus and Web of Science, this paper evaluates smart, sustainable initiatives undertaken in these four cities across six smart domains: mobility, governance, environment, people, living, and economy. This review shows that most studies focus on Barcelona and Singapore, particularly in the domains of smart environment and governance. Despite differing urban contexts, the notion of “smart” is closely tied to using information and communication technologies to drive urban operations. This analysis identifies a lack of assessment studies on the benefits of smart cities in terms of urban sustainability and a lack of holistic approaches to address the complex challenges cities face in achieving sustainable development.
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spelling doaj-art-07dd07aa4028464e85bc15a6e27a857a2025-08-20T02:57:04ZengMDPI AGSmart Cities2624-65112024-10-01763188320910.3390/smartcities7060124Insights from Smart City Initiatives for Urban Sustainability and Contemporary UrbanismÁgueda Veloso0Fernando Fonseca1Rui Ramos2Centre for Territory, Environment and Construction (CTAC), University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, PortugalCentre for Territory, Environment and Construction (CTAC), University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, PortugalCentre for Territory, Environment and Construction (CTAC), University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, PortugalUrbanization growth poses various challenges, such as congestion, pollution, and resource consumption, prompting city planners and governments to adopt smart systems to manage these issues more efficiently. Despite widespread adoption, there is no consensus on the defining attributes of smart cities, particularly regarding their role in urban sustainability and contemporary urbanism. This paper provides a literature review to understand the implications of smart city initiatives for sustainable urban planning, focusing on practices in Singapore, Helsinki, Barcelona, and Medellin. Based on 71 publications surveyed from Scopus and Web of Science, this paper evaluates smart, sustainable initiatives undertaken in these four cities across six smart domains: mobility, governance, environment, people, living, and economy. This review shows that most studies focus on Barcelona and Singapore, particularly in the domains of smart environment and governance. Despite differing urban contexts, the notion of “smart” is closely tied to using information and communication technologies to drive urban operations. This analysis identifies a lack of assessment studies on the benefits of smart cities in terms of urban sustainability and a lack of holistic approaches to address the complex challenges cities face in achieving sustainable development.https://www.mdpi.com/2624-6511/7/6/124smart citiessustainabilityurban planningplanning practices
spellingShingle Águeda Veloso
Fernando Fonseca
Rui Ramos
Insights from Smart City Initiatives for Urban Sustainability and Contemporary Urbanism
Smart Cities
smart cities
sustainability
urban planning
planning practices
title Insights from Smart City Initiatives for Urban Sustainability and Contemporary Urbanism
title_full Insights from Smart City Initiatives for Urban Sustainability and Contemporary Urbanism
title_fullStr Insights from Smart City Initiatives for Urban Sustainability and Contemporary Urbanism
title_full_unstemmed Insights from Smart City Initiatives for Urban Sustainability and Contemporary Urbanism
title_short Insights from Smart City Initiatives for Urban Sustainability and Contemporary Urbanism
title_sort insights from smart city initiatives for urban sustainability and contemporary urbanism
topic smart cities
sustainability
urban planning
planning practices
url https://www.mdpi.com/2624-6511/7/6/124
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