Leadership in, of, and for Smart Cities – Case Studies from Europe, America and Australia

This paper analyses leadership in, of and for smart cities. Using a multi-case study research design and Mode 2 research (based upon collaboration between a scholar and a practitioner) we explore smart cities initiatives in Europe (Amsterdam, Bristol & Milton Keynes), North and South America (Chicago & Curitiba) and Australia (Melbourne). We undertake a comparative analysis which looks at leadership through six lenses: place, purpose, person, position, process, performance. From our analysis four modes of smart city leadership emerge: smart cities as digital government; smart cities as digital driver for economic growth; smart cities as an open platform for digital socio-political innovation; and smart cities as an open platform for digital economy

Tweeting Behaviour during Train Disruptions within a City

In a smart city environment, citizens use social media for communicating and reporting events. Existing work has shown that social media tools, such as Twitter and Facebook, can be used as social sensors to monitor events in real-time as they happen (e.g. riots, natural disasters and sport events). In this paper, we study the reactions of citizens in social media towards train disruptions within a city. Our study using 30 days of tweets in a large city shows that citizens react differently to train disruptions by, for instance, displaying unique behaviours in tweeting depending on the time of the disruption. Specifically, for working days, tweets related to train disruptions are typically generated during rush hour periods. In contrast, during weekends, urban citizens tended to tweet about train disruptions during late evenings. Using these insights, we develop a supervised approach to predict whether a train disruption tweet will be retweeted and propagated on the social network, by using features, such as time, user, and the content of tweets. Our experimental results show that we can effectively predict when a train disruption tweet is retweeted by using such features

INTEGRATION OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY INTO AUTOMOBILES TO PREVENT AND STUDY THE CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS

Automobile collisions occur daily. We now live in an information-driven world, one where technology is quickly evolving. Blockchain technology can change the automotive industry, the safety of the motoring public and its surrounding environment by incorporating this vast array of information. It can place safety and efficiency at the forefront to pedestrians, public establishments, and provide public agencies with pertinent information securely and efficiently. Other industries where Blockchain technology has been effective in are as follows: supply chain management, logistics, and banking. This paper reviews some statistical information regarding automobile collisions, Blockchain technology, Smart Contracts, Smart Cities; assesses the feasibility of automobile collisions using Blockchain technology framework, and lastly includes some discussion in future studies of Blockchain technology

Challenges in recommending venues within smart cities

Recommending venues to a user within a city is a task that has emerged recently with the growing interest in location-based information access. However, the current applications for this task only use the limited and private data gathered by Location-based Social Networks (LBSNs) such as Foursquare or Google Places. In this position paper, we discuss the research opportunities that can arise with the use of the digital infrastructure of a smart city, and how the venue recommendation applications can benefit from this infrastructure. We focus on the potential applications of social and physical sensors for improving the quality of the recommendations, and highlight the challenges in evaluating such recommendations

Reconsidering the calculation and role of environmental footprints

Following the recent Copenhagen Climate Change conference, there has been discussion of the methods and underlying principles that inform climate change targets. Climate change targets following the Kyoto Protocol are broadly based on a production accounting principle (PAP). This approach focuses on emissions produced within given geographical boundaries. An alternative approach is a consumption accounting principle (CAP), where the focus is on emissions produced globally to meet consumption demand within the national (or regional) economy1. Increasingly popular environmental footprint measures, including ecological and carbon footprints, attempt to measure environmental impacts based on CAP methods. The perception that human consumption decisions lie at the heart of the climate change problem is the impetus driving pressure on policymakers for a more widespread use of CAP measures. At a global level of course, emissions accounted for under the production and consumption accounting principles would be equal. It is international trade that leads to differences in emissions under the two principles. This paper, the second in this special issue of the Fraser Commentary, examines how input-output accounting techniques may be applied to examine pollution generation under both of these accounting principles, focussing on waste and carbon generation in the Welsh economy as a case study. However, we take a different focus, arguing that the ‘domestic technology assumption’, taken as something of a mid-point in moving between production and consumption accounting in the first paper, may actually constitute a more useful focus for regional policymakers than full footprint analyses

The role of transportation planning and policy in shaping communities

This article reviews some of the social and environmental costs of transportation planning over the past half-century, and highlights some promising trends in planning and policy development at the local and federal level. These legislative measures, incentives, and new patterns of growth - including transit-oriented development (TOD) - are poised to remedy some past harms by better aligning transportation, housing, and environmental considerations. Equitable TOD, though not a silver bullet, has particular potential to enhance access for low-income communities to employment, education, and other opportunities, while at the same time supporting environmentally sustainable urban growth patterns.Community development ; Transportation