Big data analytics:Computational intelligence techniques and application areas

Big Data has significant impact in developing functional smart cities and supporting modern societies. In this paper, we investigate the importance of Big Data in modern life and economy, and discuss challenges arising from Big Data utilization. Different computational intelligence techniques have been considered as tools for Big Data analytics. We also explore the powerful combination of Big Data and Computational Intelligence (CI) and identify a number of areas, where novel applications in real world smart city problems can be developed by utilizing these powerful tools and techniques. We present a case study for intelligent transportation in the context of a smart city, and a novel data modelling methodology based on a biologically inspired universal generative modelling approach called Hierarchical Spatial-Temporal State Machine (HSTSM). We further discuss various implications of policy, protection, valuation and commercialization related to Big Data, its applications and deployment

MONICA in Hamburg: Towards Large-Scale IoT Deployments in a Smart City

Modern cities and metropolitan areas all over the world face new management challenges in the 21st century primarily due to increasing demands on living standards by the urban population. These challenges range from climate change, pollution, transportation, and citizen engagement, to urban planning, and security threats. The primary goal of a Smart City is to counteract these problems and mitigate their effects by means of modern ICT to improve urban administration and infrastructure. Key ideas are to utilise network communication to inter-connect public authorities; but also to deploy and integrate numerous sensors and actuators throughout the city infrastructure - which is also widely known as the Internet of Things (IoT). Thus, IoT technologies will be an integral part and key enabler to achieve many objectives of the Smart City vision. The contributions of this paper are as follows. We first examine a number of IoT platforms, technologies and network standards that can help to foster a Smart City environment. Second, we introduce the EU project MONICA which aims for demonstration of large-scale IoT deployments at public, inner-city events and give an overview on its IoT platform architecture. And third, we provide a case-study report on SmartCity activities by the City of Hamburg and provide insights on recent (on-going) field tests of a vertically integrated, end-to-end IoT sensor application.Comment: 6 page

GRINDING A DIAMOND – THE ITERATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF CITIZEN-INITIATED SERVICES

Many city administrations follow the smart city concept to grasp the potential of citizen participation. However, most participation concepts are not developed thoroughly, this leading to unexploited potential. Citizens are experts of their everyday life and are best aware of their personal needs. However, current forms of citizen participation stop at the idea phase of service engineering. Following design science research, we iteratively build and evaluate a so-called “digitalization street” which aims to systematically guide the citizens through the refinement and further development of their services. This digitalization street is implemented in a mid-size European city and integrates five modules which let citizens (1) describe their project proposal, (2) concretise according strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, (3) identify the gain creators and pain relievers, (4) create their solution, (5) present their solution. Based on literature and a requirement elicitation workshop, a first instantiation of the artefact was developed. We contribute to the existing body of knowledge by presenting a framework for creating services based on a citizen-centric approach. We exhibit how the digitalization street can be implemented into existing processes in the city administration and help to increase the citizen participation from a project to an evaluated prototype

Roadmaps to Utopia: Tales of the Smart City

Notions of the Smart City are pervasive in urban development discourses. Various frameworks for the development of smart cities, often conceptualized as roadmaps, make a number of implicit claims about how smart city projects proceed but the legitimacy of those claims is unclear. This paper begins to address this gap in knowledge. We explore the development of a smart transport application, MotionMap, in the context of a £16M smart city programme taking place in Milton Keynes, UK. We examine how the idealized smart city narrative was locally inflected, and discuss the differences between the narrative and the processes and outcomes observed in Milton Keynes. The research shows that the vision of data-driven efficiency outlined in the roadmaps is not universally compelling, and that different approaches to the sensing and optimization of urban flows have potential for empowering or disempowering different actors. Roadmaps tend to emphasize the importance of delivering quick practical results. However, the benefits observed in Milton Keynes did not come from quick technical fixes but from a smart city narrative that reinforced existing city branding, mobilizing a growing network of actors towards the development of a smart region. Further research is needed to investigate this and other smart city developments, the significance of different smart city narratives, and how power relationships are reinforced and constructed through them

Rethinking Public Organizations as Knowledge-Oriented and Technology-Driven Organizations

Public organizations should rediscover the role of knowledge as a source for designing and implementing internal processes and adopt a knowledge management approach by using and managing technology as means and enabler for building a citizen-centered public management, sustaining democratic and civic values by promoting openness and fostering participation in order to encourage collaboration with citizens for co-producing public services and co-creating public value. Information and communication technologies are driving public organizations as responsive institutions in front of the citizens to proceed towards sustainability as a principle of governance for promoting the public interest and sustaining active citizenship, enhancing both collaboration and interaction between citizens and public administration. Introducing and actively implementing technology in government helps rethink public organizations as knowledge oriented and information based organizations seeking sustainability by involving citizens, businesses and other stakeholders for public value creation, enabling access to information, sustaining openness, transparency and accountability in order to engage citizens and encourage them to be included and actively participate in democratic public life, involving citizens to assume the responsibility for co-production of public services and fostering citizen participation in public policy choices. Technology opens up new opportunities for public organizations seeking sustainability by rediscovering knowledge as source and strategic asset following a knowledge management approach for designing and implementing democratic and administrative processes, redesigning the relationship with citizens, building public trust, encouraging citizen participation and sustaining co-production of public services

Reference Model and Method of Evaluation for Smart Cities in Government Portals: a study of the Portuguese and Brazilian reality

The urban issue is currently of great inter-est. The cities and its multiple socio-cultural and political manifestations have been acquiring, from the technological changes of Information Society, new in-struments for ensuring the quality of the future life of most of the world population, and this subject has been named in doctrine as Smart Cities. According to this, several organizations have been gathering efforts in order to monitoring the different dimensions of smart cities. It is thus of utmost importance to analyse the main (inter) national metrics and indicators for evaluating the levels of smartness of cities, with special focus in governance. For this, and based in bibliographic revision and realizacao of conceptual proof, it is proposed an evaluation method that expresses the variables capable of enhancing the intelligent governance in Govern-ment portals. From the research undertak-en, it may be verified that studies in this field are still incipient. On the other side, in spite of the knowledge of the limits of such approach, this method will serve as a new focus on the fiability of the communication process between government and society and as source of consultation and evaluation of the intelligent governance. Finally, it is believed that tha periodical application of this method will allows, besides the monitoring and control of public policies, also the opening up of new ways of citizen's participation.Our thanks to the CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil, and also to the CIIDH-Interdisciplinary Research Center in Human Rights, and to the Algo-ritimi Centre, both at University of Minho. The work of Marciele Berger has been supported by CAPES under Grant nr. BEX - 1788/15-9. The work of Paulo Novais has been supported by COMPETE Pro-gramme (operational programme for com-petitiveness) within project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043, by National Funds through the FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within the Projects UID/CEC/00319/2013. The work of Nuno Lopes has been supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020) whithin the pro-ject "SmartEGOV: Harnessing EGOV for Smart Governance (Foundations, methods, Tools) / NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000037", under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the Euro-pean Regional Development Fund (EFDR)

The new role of citizens as co-creators of socio-digital innovations and urban development: A case-study of participation and co-creation in the smart city development of Barcelona.

Die vorliegende Masterarbeit untersucht aktuelle Trends in der Stadtplanung und Design, um zu analysieren, wie Bürger an der Mitgestaltung von Smart Cities beteiligt werden können. Ziel ist es, ein ganzheitliches Verständnis der neueren Konzepte und Methoden von Co-Design und Co-creation zu entwickeln und diese mit den etablierteren Forschungsfeldern der Bürgerbeteiligung und Koproduktion zu vergleichen. Koproduktion und Co-Creation können als verbesserte Partizipation oder Partnerschaft in Bezug auf die Partizipationsleiter verstanden werden, da beide Konzepte Beziehungen auf Augenhöhe zwischen Bürger und Stadtverwaltung voraussetzen. In ähnlicher Weise gesteht Co-Design, Designern und Usern die gleichen Rechte und Möglichkeiten im Gestaltungsprozess zu. Es wird eine ganzheitliche Definition des Co-Creation-Prozesses dargelegt, die Erkenntnisse aus Co-Design, Co-Produktion und Partizipation beinhaltet und Co-Creation als einen Prozess versteht, der aus Initiation, Design und Produktion besteht. Die Smart City als sich rasch entwickelndes Forschungsfeld, Definitionen und Charakteristika sowie populäre imaginäre und dominante Diskurse werden vorgestellt. Um die Rolle des Bürgers zur Smart City zu verstehen, werden die unterschiedlichen Verständnisse von Smart Governance erläutert und Aspekte von Open Data, Big Data und Big Data Analytics sowie die Rolle von Bürgern und Gefahren der Smart City diskutiert. In der Fallstudie zur Bürgerbeteiligung werden Methoden und Werkzeuge zur Förderung der Mitgestaltung einer Smart City anhand Partizipationsleiter von (Arnstein 1969) diskutiert und analysiert. Die Smart City Entwicklung in Barcelona wird vor dem Hintergrund der gemeinschaftlichen Entwicklung sozialer Innovationen in Smart Cities analysiert. Die Fallstudie verweist auf Mängel im Hinblick auf Bürgerbeteiligung an der Entscheidungsfindung und an der Verlagerung von Machtverhältnissen in der Entwicklung der Smart City Barcelona, die dafür aber mit neuen Werkzeugen und Technologien für partizipative Stadtentwicklung experimentiert und sich zu einem alternativen Smart City Modell entwickelt. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse sind abschließend im Methodenkatalog zusammengefasst, der Methoden und Tools aus Theorie und Fallstudie aufgreift um zu dem Verständnis beizutragen, wie Smart Cities gemeinsam gestaltet werden können.This thesis studies current trends in planning and design studies to analyse how citizens can participate in the co-creation of smart cities. It aims at developing a holistic understanding of the new concepts and methods of co-creation, and co-design and compares those with the more established research fields of citizen participation and co-production. Co-production and co-creation can be understood as instances of enhanced participation or as a partnership in participation, as both concepts require equal relationships among citizens and the city administration. Similarly, co-design requires designers and users to share the same rights and possibilities in the design process. A holistic definition of the co-creation process is provided that incorporates insights from co-design, co-production and participation and defines co-creation as a process consisting of initiation, design and production. The smart city as emerging research field, definitions and characteristics, as well as popular imaginary and dominant discourses, are presented. To grasp the role of the citizen in the smart city, the different understandings of smart governance are explained and aspects of to open data, big data and big data analytics, as well as the role of citizens and perils of the smart city are discussed. In the case-study of citizen participation methods and tools fostering the co-creation of a smart city are discussed and analysed with the introduced participation framework, which is based on the ladder of participation (Arnstein 1969). The smart city development in Barcelona is analysed against the backdrop of co-creating social innovations in smart cities. There might be a lack of citizen participation in decision-making and shifting power relations in the city, which experiments nonetheless with new tools and technologies for the participatory environment experiments with new formats and technologies for economic and urban development and evolves to become an alternative model of the smart city. The main findings are included in the toolbox based on methods and tools from theory and the case-study contributing to the knowledge of how to co-create of smart cities

(Smart) City and the (Open) Data. A Critical Approach to a Platform-driven Urban Citizenship

This paper represents a first attempt to reconstruct a theoretical map of the relation between technology (digital media) and citizenship. We start from the reconstruction of the role of citizens in the smart city paradigm and then face the challenge that the so-called Big Techs move to the ideal of an engaged "smart community" by promoting an individual relationship between users/citizens and digital platforms. Finally, we present two emerging participation paradigms concerning Data Activism and Cooperativism, which seem to represent relevant fields for experiencing (and observing) the agency of a future, networked citizenship

Rediscovering intelligent cities by technology

As engines of social and economic growth cities develop urban intelligence using information and communication technology in order to improve quality of life, rediscover the city as a community and support urban innovation. Smart cities and smart communities develop as intelligent cities and spaces of urban innovation in order to advance towards sustainable urban growth

Co-production for innovation: the urban living lab experience

Urban Living Labs (ULLs) are public spaces where local authorities engage citizens to develop innovative urban services. Their strength and popularity stem from a methodology based on open innovation, experimentation, and citizen engagement. Although the ULL methodology is supposed to largely adopt a co-production approach, connections between the two have not yet been thoroughly investigated. The paper seeks to fill this gap by examining through a qualitative analysis three experiences of ULLs made in Amsterdam, Boston and Turin. Specifically, the paper aims to assess whether ULLs can be really conceptualised as a form of co-production and, if so, which elements characterised them as innovative in comparison to \u2018mainstreaming\u2019 co-production; Then it analyses benefits and drawbacks related to their implementation