Implementing Data-Driven Smart City Applications for Future Cities

Cities are investing in data-driven smart technologies to improve performance and efficiency and to generate a vast amount of data. Finding the opportunities to innovatively use this data help governments and authorities to forecast, respond, and plan for future scenarios. Access to real-time data and information can provide effective services that improve productivity, resulting in environmental, social, and economic benefits. It also assists in the decision-making process and provides opportunities for community engagement and participation by improving digital literacy and culture. This paper aims to review and analyze current practices of data-driven smart applications that contribute to the smooth functioning of urban city systems and the problems they face. The research methodology is qualitative: a systematic and extensive literature review carried out by PRISMA method. Data and information from different case studies carried out globally assisted in the inductive approach. Content analysis identified smart city indicators and related criteria in the case study examples. The study concluded that smart people, smart living, and smart governance methods that have come into practice at a later stage are as important as smart mobility, smart environments, and smart economy measures that were implemented early on, and cities are opening up to new, transparent participatory governance approaches where citizens play a key role. It also illustrates that the current new wave of smart cities with real time data are promoting citizen participation focusing on human, social capital as an essential component in future cities

The ANDROID Case Study; Venice and its territory: A general overview.

The Work Package 7 (Research Futures & Special Interest Groups) of the ANDROID project, selected Venice and its territory as an emblematic case study of a region that could be affected by cross-border disastrous events. The paper provides a general overview on the topic, trying to organise the large amount of available scientific literature in some strategic cores, identifying undoubted milestones, open questions and future research needs, following a holistic approach to risk assessment. This case study is carried out not only as an engaging exercise, but with the purpose to provide a reference point for scientists and teachers interested to translate multifaceted knowledge into specific solutions. In fact, the paper is strongly linked as a whole to other three ones (presented at the 4th International Conference on Building resilience), which deepen respectively hazard, vulnerability/resilience, and mitigation about the site taken into consideration. Furthermore, the City of Venice takes part to the UNISDR Program “Making Cities Resilient”, and planned a robust intervention, consisting in the realisation of mobile dikes located at the openings of the lagoon (MOSE project, almost terminated), which has been strongly debated since the beginning, due to possible negative consequences on the environment. At last, the paper analyses drawbacks and benefits of the above said intervention, and suggests further proposals for the global safeguard of Venice and its lagoon

Evolutionary Designed Building Skins with Embedded Biomimetic Adaptation Lessons

The ambition of this study is to create a computational design engine that develops testable simulated models that can adapt to various situations or environments by abstracting some adoption lessons from biology and their relationship to the evolutionary growth of natural systems. With an emphasis on the optimisation of thermal and visual comfort across specific floor areas, the abstracted principles of biology are used to develop building skin tissues. These designs, evaluations, and implementation principles are conceptualised and computationally simulated. The idea of nature as a repository of interconnected dynamic processes that are open to investigation and simulation has changed from a formal metaphor to credible applications that can be implemented to improve the built environment. Environmental catastrophes during the past 20 years have accelerated efforts to gain a deeper understanding of natural systems and processes. A greater congruence between architecture and nature is believed to be possible with the help of applying the principles of natural systems and processes to the construction of buildings. Examining and reflecting on the interrelations of forms, processes, and behaviours can yield useful strategies to develop architectural morphologies that require significant environmental performance enhancements. This paper aims to propose an evolutionary design process with embedded biomimetic principles to generate building skins with morphological characteristics that can be applied in the context of excessive solar radiation e.g. the Persian Gulf region, to maximise thermal comfort by blocking unwanted the solar radiatio

How the construction industry can improve the health and well-being of their workers in a post COVID-19 era

UK Construction industry employs 2.7m employees and can lead the economic recovery by adapting to the current crisis. It accounts for a 6.02% share of the GDP and was hit strongly by the COVID-19 pandemic. Research has revealed that construction workers are at an increased risk of suffering from mental health conditions and data shows that male construction workers are three times more likely to commit suicide than the average male in the UK. Job insecurity, long hours, time away from families, lack of support from organisations and late payments are all known to contribute to this crisis. This paper explores how the construction industry can improve the mental health of its work force in the post pandemic era and what measures organisations can take to tackle the mental health crisis that the industry is facing, and which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. The research methodology used is a qualitative systematic literature review of published material including research journal papers, government and industry reports and articles that explore mental health challenges faced by the construction industry before and after the pandemic. The paper identifies the indicators of mental health and the existing initiatives currently operational within the construction sector and examines how mental health issues can be mainstreamed and be incorporated into construction industry policies and programmes to result in a healthy and balanced workforce