Trends in Smart City Development

This report examines the meanings and practices associated with the term 'smart cities.' Smart city initiatives involve three components: information and communication technologies (ICTs) that generate and aggregate data; analytical tools which convert that data into usable information; and organizational structures that encourage collaboration, innovation, and the application of that information to solve public problems

Port-City Development: The Spanish Case

[Abstract]: The objective of this paper is to try to evaluate the port-city relationship from its onset, taking into account the challenges of port 4.0. Indicators such as the percentage of employees participating in training programs, the percentage of female employees in Galician ports, the percentage of merchandise moved by private operators and the percentage of companies with quality certification in Galician ports are evaluated. The fourth revolution is based on the transition from current fossil fuel-based energy models to alternative energy sources, changes in the logistics and transport parameters and finally, on the elimination of intermediation. The key component of the third pillar of new Economy 4.0 is complete digitalization. The optimum port-city solution must address the need of both the urban planner and the port manager to evaluate potential measures that would alleviate the pressure of dedicated port facilities on the city and vice versa to the greatest extent possible

Towards evaluation design for smart city development

Smart city developments integrate digital, human, and physical systems in the built environment. With growing urbanization and widespread developments, identifying suitable evaluation methodologies is important. Case-study research across five UK cities - Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Peterborough - revealed that city evaluation approaches were principally project-focused with city-level evaluation plans at early stages. Key challenges centred on selecting suitable evaluation methodologies to evidence urban value and outcomes, addressing city authority requirements. Recommendations for evaluation design draw on urban studies and measurement frameworks, capitalizing on big data opportunities and developing appropriate, valid, credible integrative approaches across projects, programmes and city-level developments

Smart City Development with Urban Transfer Learning

Nowadays, the smart city development levels of different cities are still unbalanced. For a large number of cities which just started development, the governments will face a critical cold-start problem: 'how to develop a new smart city service with limited data?'. To address this problem, transfer learning can be leveraged to accelerate the smart city development, which we term the urban transfer learning paradigm. This article investigates the common process of urban transfer learning, aiming to provide city planners and relevant practitioners with guidelines on how to apply this novel learning paradigm. Our guidelines include common transfer strategies to take, general steps to follow, and case studies in public safety, transportation management, etc. We also summarize a few research opportunities and expect this article can attract more researchers to study urban transfer learning

Earnings inequality and central-city development

This paper was presented at the conference "Unequal incomes, unequal outcomes? Economic inequality and measures of well-being" as part of session 4, "Economic inequality and local public services." The conference was held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on May 7, 1999. The author considers not only the competition between cities, but also the competition between cities and the surrounding areas - the suburbs. He notes that rising income inequality tends to lead to greater income disparity between the suburbs and the central cities because the rich are more likely to move to the suburbs. In addition, business suburbanization has occurred because modern transportation and communication technologies have reduced the costs of moving people, goods, and messages over considerable distances. Moreover, some central business districts have become so large as to exhaust the advantages of locating there. However, the author suggests that the movement of businesses away from central cities began to change around 1996. Tighter labor markets have induced U.S. businesses to locate in central cities for the same reason that these businesses have been going to Mexico and East Asia - namely, the availability of relatively low-wage workers. The author also cites the dramatic fall in central-city crime rates in the 1990s and new legislation allowing cities to limit "brownfields liability" - the liability of businesses for environmental damage that occurred before their occupation of a site - as developments that have made it easier for businesses to return to the central cities.Income distribution ; Income ; Urban economics

Social participation in the aspect of a smart city development

Advanced technologies are entering citizens’ lives, which can be noticed at every turn. Society is becoming increasingly involved in building, creating and planning a city, district or the nearest place of residence. The quality of the functioning of the local community and the quality of life depend, to a large extent, on the level of social participation. The aim of social participation is to establish a mechanism for meeting citizens’ needs, and to achieve citizens’ acceptance of the authorities’ actions. Modern communication techniques greatly facilitate the expression of public opinion and public awareness in this regard has been on the rise. A growing number of new forms of communication using modern technologies are being developed all the time. The aim of the study is to analyse the forms of social participation in the city life, inter alia spending financial resources on its development. Attention is also drawn to the most recent ways in which the authorities communicate with the public in order for the latter to express their opinions on the former’s actions. Practical research was conducted for the city of Olsztyn located in the north-eastern part of Poland. Social activity forms were analysed, including those carried out using ICT technologies. The research shows that access to modern technologies facilitates contact between the city authorities and citizens, which ensures that the policy under implementation is kept in line with citizens’ expectations

Morphological design control for large-scale city development: A new proposal

Whereas many good examples can be found of the study of urban morphology informing the design of new residential areas in Europe, it is much more difficult to find examples relating to other land uses and outside of Europe. This paper addresses a particular issue, the control and coordination of large and complex development schemes within cities, and, in doing so, considers commercial and mixed-use schemes outside of Europe. It is argued that urban morphology has much to offer for both the design of such development and its implementation over time. Firstly, lessons are drawn from the work of Krier and Rossi in Berlin, the form-based guidance developed in Chelmsford, UK, and the redesign and coordination of the Melrose Arch project in Johannesburg, SA. A recent development at Boggo Road in Brisbane, Australia, is then subjected to a more detailed examination. It is argued that the scheme has been unsatisfactory in terms of both design and implementation. An alternative framework based on historical morphological studies is proposed that would overcome these deficiencies. It is proposed that this points the way to a general approach that could be incorporated within the planning process internationally

Reapportionments of State Legislatures—Legal Requirements

The continuously rising attention to and practice of eco-city development in Sweden and China, as well as the countries’ active cooperation has motivated this study and the exploration of eco-city development in these two countries. In eco-city development, diverse environmental issues may well be beyond the planning sector’s capacity and need to be resolved elsewhere by other authorities and agencies in such areas as energy, water and traffic. This may in practice require the reframing of certain institutions to ensure that relevant sector authorities, scientific institutions and actors have responsibilities for integrative tasks and can cooperate effectively. The study aims to investigate how institutional conditions affect environmental integration in urban planning. The approach used is the exploration of how different institutional conditions promote and/or hinder environmental integration by the examination of four examples of eco-city development in Sweden and China. Based on theories of institutions, Environmental Policy Integration (EPI) and sustainable urban planning, an analytical framework is used to describe institutional conditions related to formal rulemaking, informal rules and administrative management and organizations. Formal rules provide framework and legitimacy for guiding and enforcing actors in the practice of realizing environmental integration in urban planning. Meanwhile, informal rules; i.e. wills, interests, understanding and knowledge, could considerably affect the design of formal rules and how they are to be implemented. Administrative management and organization serve to realize environmental integration following the formal rules, but the informal institutional conditions of e.g. officials’ interests, understanding, knowledge and experience, as well as political support, affect the organizations’ performance and abilities for implementation, which in turn also largely depends on the specific organizational settings. All three need to be combined to achieve environmental integration in sustainable urban planning, since each one has its own strengths and weaknesses and they gradually affect each other in practices.QC 20140908</p

OECD reviews of higher education in regional and city development, State of Victoria, Australia

With more than 5.3 million inhabitants Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Once a manufacturing economy, Victoria is now transforming itself into a service and innovation-based economy. Currently, the largest sectors are education services and tourism. In terms of social structure, Victoria is characterised by a large migrant population, 24% of population were born overseas and 44% were either born overseas or have a parent who was born overseas. About 70% of the population resides in Melbourne. Victoria faces a number of challenges, ranging from an ageing population and skills shortages to drought and climate change and increased risk of natural disasters. Rapid population growth, 2% annually, has implications for service delivery and uneven development as well as regional disparities. There are barriers to connectivity in terms of transport and infrastructure, and a high degree of inter-institutional competition in tertiary education sector. The business structure in Victoria includes some highly innovative activities such as in biotechnology, but other sectors, especially those with high number of small and medium-sized enterprises, are lagging behind. Most of the larger manufacturing enterprises are externally controlled and there is uncertainty over the long term investments they will make in the state, as well as the place of Victoria in the global production networks