115,559 research outputs found
Integrating big data into a sustainable mobility policy 2.0 planning support system
It is estimated that each of us, on a daily basis, produces a bit more than 1 GB of digital content through our mobile phone and social networks activities, bank card payments, location-based positioning information, online activities, etc. However, the implementation of these large data amounts in city assets planning systems still remains a rather abstract idea for several reasons, including the fact that practical examples are still very strongly services-oriented, and are a largely unexplored and interdisciplinary field; hence, missing the cross-cutting dimension. In this paper, we describe the Policy 2.0 concept and integrate user generated content into Policy 2.0 platform for sustainable mobility planning. By means of a real-life example, we demonstrate the applicability of such a big data integration approach to smart cities planning process. Observed benefits range from improved timeliness of the data and reduced duration of the planning cycle to more informed and agile decision making, on both the citizens and the city planners end. The integration of big data into the planning process, at this stage, does not have uniform impact across all levels of decision making and planning process, therefore it should be performed gradually and with full awareness of existing limitations
Software Platforms for Smart Cities: Concepts, Requirements, Challenges, and a Unified Reference Architecture
Making cities smarter help improve city services and increase citizens'
quality of life. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are
fundamental for progressing towards smarter city environments. Smart City
software platforms potentially support the development and integration of Smart
City applications. However, the ICT community must overcome current significant
technological and scientific challenges before these platforms can be widely
used. This paper surveys the state-of-the-art in software platforms for Smart
Cities. We analyzed 23 projects with respect to the most used enabling
technologies, as well as functional and non-functional requirements,
classifying them into four categories: Cyber-Physical Systems, Internet of
Things, Big Data, and Cloud Computing. Based on these results, we derived a
reference architecture to guide the development of next-generation software
platforms for Smart Cities. Finally, we enumerated the most frequently cited
open research challenges, and discussed future opportunities. This survey gives
important references for helping application developers, city managers, system
operators, end-users, and Smart City researchers to make project, investment,
and research decisions.Comment: Accepted for publication in ACM Computing Survey
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
Orchestrating the spatial planning process: from Business Process Management to 2nd generation Planning Support Systems
Metaplanning can be considered as a necessary step for improving collaboration, transparency and accountability in sustainable and democratic spatial decision-making process. This paper reports current findings on the operational implementation of the metaplanning concept developed by the authors relying on Business Process Management methods and techniques. Two solutions are presented which implement spatial planning process workflows thanks to the development of original spatial data and processing services connectors to a Business Process Management suite. These results can be considered as a first step towards the development of 2nd generation Planning Support Systems
Innovation platform and governance of local rice value chains in Benin: Between game of power and internal democracy?
In Benin, rice plays a major role in the food security of the poorest rural and urban populations. However, the rice value chains have failed to achieve their potential because of some systemic constraints. In recent years, innovation platforms (IPs) have received increasing focus as mechanisms for strengthening the interaction between the stakeholders in the rice value chains. Nevertheless, the issues of information asymmetry and power between stakeholders with often divergent interests suppress the expected effects of the implementation of IP approach. This article used thematic content analysis to assess the influence of IPs on the governance of the parboiled rice value chain. The findings reveal that local rice value chains are characterized by unequal access to resources and asymmetry of power, which generates inequalities within groups. Although their influence is less discernible, IPs have contributed to greater visibility for some emerging stakeholders and rebalanced stakeholders in terms of influence in value chains. Moreover, the perverse effects of financial and human resources management limit the impact of improvement actions in various value chains. Therefore, the development model of value chains may be oriented toward the “business idea approach” instead of the “project approach”
An Architecture for Integrated Intelligence in Urban Management using Cloud Computing
With the emergence of new methodologies and technologies it has now become
possible to manage large amounts of environmental sensing data and apply new
integrated computing models to acquire information intelligence. This paper
advocates the application of cloud capacity to support the information,
communication and decision making needs of a wide variety of stakeholders in
the complex business of the management of urban and regional development. The
complexity lies in the interactions and impacts embodied in the concept of the
urban-ecosystem at various governance levels. This highlights the need for more
effective integrated environmental management systems. This paper offers a
user-orientated approach based on requirements for an effective management of
the urban-ecosystem and the potential contributions that can be supported by
the cloud computing community. Furthermore, the commonality of the influence of
the drivers of change at the urban level offers the opportunity for the cloud
computing community to develop generic solutions that can serve the needs of
hundreds of cities from Europe and indeed globally.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Strategic Research Agenda for organic food and farming
The TP Organics Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) was finalised in December 2009.
The purpose of the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) is to enable research, development and knowledge transfer that will deliver relevant outcomes – results that will contribute to the improvement of the organic sector and other low external input systems.
The document has been developed through a dynamic consultative process that ran from 2008 to 2009.
It involved a wide range of stakeholders who enthusiastically joined the effort to define organic research priorities.
From December 2008 to February; the expert groups elaborated the first draft. The consultative process involved the active participation of many different countries. Consultation involved researchers, advisors, members of inspection/certification bodies, as well as different users/beneficiaries of the research such as farmers, processors, market actors and members of civil society organisations throughout Europe and further afield in order to gather the research needs of the whole organic sector
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