Towards a Generic Framework for Smart Cities

Cities are formidable drivers of economic, social and cultural development but face a rising multitude of challenges: urban sprawl, transportation problems and climate change to mention but a few. Evolving concepts such as smart cities, sustainable communities and low carbon cities have been employed to formulate initiatives to tackle these challenges. Smart cities appear to address efficiency in reducing time, cost, and energy in delivering services-smart transportation, intelligent buildings, and green infrastructure with a view to reaching low carbon city development and eventually sustainability. This article attempts to construct a general framework for smart cities. First, the overall smart city system is depicted. Second, the dynamics of urban sector drivers in smart and low carbon cities are elucidated. Third, the performance of smart cities is measured in relation to low carbon development. By applying the smart city framework to the cities of Vienna, London, New York and Tokyo, the model proved robust and flexible. The investigation is concluded with policies to realign city plan and development policies

A Strategy-Based Model for Low Carbon Cities

Low carbon cities are increasingly forming a distinct strand of sustainability literature. Models have been developed to measure the performance of low carbon cities. The purpose of this paper is to formulate a strategy-based model to evaluate current performance and predict future conditions of low carbon cities. It examines the dynamic interrelationships between key performance indicators (KPIs), induces changes to city plan targets, and then instantly predicts the outcome of these changes. Designed to be generic and flexible, the proposed model shows how low carbon targets could be used to guide the transformation of low carbon cities under four strategies: (1) Passive intervention, (2) problem solving, (3) trend modifying, and (4) opportunity seeking. Further, the model has been applied to 17 cities and then tested on five cities: London, New York, Barcelona, Dubai, and Istanbul. The paper concludes with policy implications to realign city plans and support low carbon innovation

Empowering digital creative ecosystem using problem structuring method and a service science perspective: a case study in Cimahi and Bandung, Indonesia

The digital creative economy in Indonesia has the potential to grow rapidly due to its large and skilled population. Although a goal was set in 2016 to make Indonesia the largest digital economy in ASEAN by 2020, the complexity of stakeholder interactions has become a major obstacle. Fostering a healthy business ecosystem and collaboration among stakeholders has been difficult to achieve due to a lack of funding, talent, and trust. This paper developed “should-be” and “as-is” models of feasible action plans to enhance value co-creation interactions among stakeholders. We investigated how stakeholders perceive their roles and interactions to construct an “as-is” model using a soft operational research method, namely strategic options development and analysis (SODA). Next, we developed a “should-be” model from a service science perspective. By comparing the two models, we derived action plans and recommendations to guide stakeholders in creating digital creative ecosystems (DCEs) in Indonesia. The action plans have been implemented by the government to improve the current strategies and validate our approach