Smart Cities, Volume 5, Issue 3 (September 2022) – 22 articles

The Internet of things (IoT) continues to “smartify” human life while influencing areas such as industry, education, economy, business, medicine, and psychology. The introduction of the IoT in psychology has resulted in various intelligent systems that aim to help people—particularly those with special needs, such as the elderly, disabled, and children. This paper proposes a framework to investigate the role and impact of the IoT in psychology from two perspectives: (1) the goals of using the IoT in this area, and (2) the computational technologies used towards this purpose. To this end, existing studies are reviewed from these viewpoints. The results show that the goals of using the IoT can be identified as morale improvement, diagnosis, and monitoring. Moreover, the main technical contributions of the related papers are system design, data mining, or hardware invention and signal processing. Subsequently, unique features of state-of-the-art research in this area are discussed, including the type and diversity of sensors, crowdsourcing, context awareness, fog and cloud platforms, and inference. Our concluding remarks indicate that this area is in its infancy and, consequently, the next steps of this research are discussed. Full article

Digital twin (DT) is one of the key concepts of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). A DT is a data-driven, digital replica of a real-world object or environment, including all the states and behaviour of the real-life counterpart. Based on research across multiple domains, DTs show great potential to improve both efficiency and sustainability. In addition, a DT is able to remove key constraints of human observations and interactions. Yet, the technology is still in its infancy. Thus, this article presents a literature search across five different databases focusing on suitable approaches for data coupling and the stages of DT implementation integration with Industry 4.0 technologies. The review process follows the systematic literature review (SLR) methodology. The selected articles cover a wide range of DT implementations across the agricultural industry, ranging from arable farming to aquaponics. Findings include identification of the stages needed to create the DTs, the data coupling processes, and how Industry 4.0 technologies (e.g., cloud-based technologies, IoT, and AI subfields) are integrated. Findings presented in this article will support others in the design of DTs and integration of Industry 4.0 technologies for agricultural greenhouses. Full article

The paper suggests a model-based approach to assessment and choice of parameters of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fleets applied as one of the main services for Smart Cities and recommendations to assure their dependability. The principles of building and modeling a UAV Fleet as a Dependable Service (UAVFaaDS) for Smart Cities are formulated. Dependability issues for UAVFaaDS including a taxonomy of UAVF failures caused by equipment faults and attacks on assets were specified. The main results cover methodology, classification of UAVFaaDS models as models of queuing systems, and a set of queueing theory-based models for assessment of UAVFaaDS performance, and availability allowing for analysis and choice of fleet parameters. The efficiency of UAVFaaDS is assessed by the probability of successful delivery of services. The proposed modeling base and algorithms provide a choice of appropriate models for analysis and synthesis of UAVFaaDS, grounding of parameters of UAV fleets considering operation modes, and maintenance policy. The application of the developed models and algorithms during the synthesis of UAVFaaDS allows choosing the appropriate parameters of the fleet and ensuring the dependability of services, as well as service of orders with a probability of 0.9–0.99 depending on the requirements. Two cases of UAVFaaDS application for delivery of medicines in normal and emergence modes, models’ development, and recommendations for their utilization are discussed. Full article

The Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) was launched on 1 November 2021 in China. This article provides a state-of-the-art review of PIPL through a policy analysis. This paper aims to compare the three main worldwide data privacy paradigms that exist at present: (i) the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the E.U., (ii) the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the U.S., and (iii) PIPL in China. The research question is twofold: (i) how will PIPL affect the data privacy of Chinese citizens and consequently, (ii) how will PIPL influence the global digital order, particularly paralleling the existing GDPR and CCPA? In the first section, this article introduces the topic of data privacy as a global concern, followed in the second section by an in-depth policy context analysis of PIPL and a literature review on privacy that elucidates in particular the impact of the Social Credit System (SCS). In the third section, a comparative benchmarking is carried out between the GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Methodologically, policy documents around PIPL will be analyzed. In the fourth section, the case study of Shenzhen will be examined by undertaking a multi-stakeholder analysis following the Penta Helix framework. The article concludes by responding to the research questions, acknowledging limitations, and presenting future research avenues. Full article

Communication technologies have drastically increased the number of wireless networks. Heterogeneous networks have now become an indispensable fact while designing the new networks and the way the data packet moves from device to device opens new challenges for transmitting the packet speedily, with maximum throughput and by consuming only confined energy. Therefore, the present study intends to provide a shrewd communication link among all IoT devices that becomes part of numerous heterogeneous networks. The scrumptious dataflow strategy (SDS) for IoT devices in the heterogeneous network environment is proposed and it would deal with all link selection and dataflow challenges. The SDS would accomplish the targeted output in five steps: Step 1 determines the utility rate of each heterogeneous link. Step 2 develops a link selection attribute (LSA) that gauges the loads of network features used for the link selection process. Step 3 calculates the scores of all heterogeneous networks. Step 4 takes the LSA table and computes the network preference for different scenarios, such as round trip time (RTTP), network throughput, and energy consumption. Step 5 sets the priority of heterogeneous networks based on the scores of network attributes. Performance of the proposed SDS mechanism with state of the art network protocols, such as high-speed packet access (HSPA), content-centric networking (CCN), and dynamic source routing (DSR), was determined by conducting a simulation with NS2 and, consequently, the SDS exhibited its shrewd performance. During comparative analysis, in terms of round trip time, the SDS proved that it utilized only 16.4 milliseconds to reach IoT device 50 and was first among all other protocols. Similarly, for network throughput, at IoT device 50, the throughputs of the SDS are recorded at 40% while the rest of other protocols were dead. Finally, while computing the energy consumption used to reach IoT device 50, the SDS was functional and possessed more than half of its energy compared to the other protocols. The SDS only utilized 302 joules while the rest of the protocols were about to die as they had consumed all of their energy. Full article

The evolution of traffic-related accidents caused by long, short, and medium trucks at signalized road intersections have been underemphasized in the last few years. Far, little attention has been paid to the modelling of trucks traffic flow using an artificial neural network model and evaluating the stability analysis of trucks depending on the heterogenous optimal velocity. This research evaluates the effect of trucks on some specific traffic flow features. Over the years, it has been deduced that trucks, irrespective of their sizes, significantly impact their surrounding traffic flow due to their body sizes and operational features. In this study, we focused on modelling the traffic flow of trucks at signalized road intersections using traffic flow variables such as speed, traffic volume, traffic density, and time as our inputs and outputs. The truck traffic data was collected using up-to-date equipment such as video cameras and inductive loop detectors from the South Africa transportation network. During the ANN modelling of the truck traffic flow, we used 956 traffic datasets divided into 70% for training and 15% each for testing and validation. The ANN model results show testing regression values of $R^2$ (0.99901). This shows that the inputs and output are well correlated and the ANN model’s superiority in predicting truck traffic flow at signalized road intersections. Based on the HEOV model results, the result of the research indicates that in the mixed traffic flow of trucks in real-life scenarios, the proportion of different trucks on the signalized road intersections rather than the proportions of types of trucks can be used in the determination of traffic flow stability of each truck. This research extends our knowledge of truck traffic flow modelling and provides a blueprint for examining the stability analysis of long, short, and medium trucks in their immediate driving environment. Full article

In recent years, mobility as a service (MaaS) (i.e., a system combining public transport, shared rides, short-term vehicle rentals, and taxis sourced via mobile applications) has become a solution that is increasingly available in smart cities. Along with the development of transport options, the range of vehicles offered as part of this type of service has expanded widely, from buses, taxis, bicycles, and cars to the innovation of electric scooters. The universality of MaaS services has led to a change in communication behavior and, at the same time, to a rapid increase in the number of people using the proposed solutions. Due to this increase, several researchers devoted their dissertations to issues of the management or optimization of websites; however, they ignored the many technical and health aspects. Recognizing a scientific niche area, the research conducted has been devoted to assessing the impact of the vibrations generated by electric scooters upon the user. Research on the vehicles used in MaaS systems has been conducted to learn and analyze the selected design solutions and their impact on the user who utilizes them. The scope of the research included vibroacoustic research and the mathematical modeling of the studied phenomena. Full article

As prices on renewable energy electricity generation and storage technologies decrease, previous standard home energy end-users are also becoming producers (prosumers). Together with the increase of Smart Home automation and the need to manage the energy-related interaction between home energy consumers and Smart Grid through different Demand Response approaches, home energy management becomes a complex and multi-faceted problem, calling for an extensible, interoperable and secure solution. This work proposes a modular architecture for building a Smart Home Energy Management System, integrable with existing Home Automation Systems, that considers the use of standard interfaces for data communication, the implementation of security measures for the integration of the different components, as well as the use of semantic web technologies to integrate knowledge and build on it. Our proposal is finally validated through implementation in one real smart home test-bed, evaluating the system from a functional standpoint to demonstrate its ability to support our goals. Full article

The worldwide targets for carbon-neutral societies increased the penetration of distributed generation and storage. Smart cities now play a key role in achieving these targets by considering the alliances of their demand and supply assets as local citizen energy communities. These communities need to have enough weight to trade electricity in wholesale markets. Trading of electricity can be done in spot markets or by bilateral contracts involving customers and suppliers. This paper is devoted to bilateral contracting, which is modeled as a negotiation process involving an iterative exchange of offers and counter-offers. This article focuses on local citizen energy communities. Specifically, it presents team and single-agent negotiation models, where each member has its sets of strategies and tactics and also its decision model. Community agents are equipped with intra-team strategies and decision protocols. To evaluate the benefits of CECs, models of both coalition formation and management have been adapted. This paper also describes a case study on forward bilateral contracts, involving a retailer agent and three different types of citizen energy communities. The results demonstrate the benefits of CECs during the negotiation of private bilateral contracts of electricity. Furthermore, they also demonstrate that in the case of using a representative strategy, the selection of the mediator may be critical for achieving a good deal. Full article

The 2030 Agenda is a clear development milestone for humanity in its ambition to care for our future generations. Smart Cities play an essential role in this development, the development direction of which is based, among others factors, on the fulfilment of the criteria set by the various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The purpose of the current research is to verify the current state of science concerning the development of the SDGs in Smart Cities to establish a theoretical framework for the development and integration of data specific to a Smart City to participate in homogeneous monitoring of these indicators and to compare with other Smart Cities. Once a robust bibliographic study has been carried out, we proceed to establish a theoretical study, the application methodology of which follows a process developed in various phases to obtain an integrated system for monitoring and linking of the development of Smart Cities according to the criteria set out in the applicable SDGs. The clear implication is establishing an objective and efficient process that covers collection to integrate and compare the obtained data. One of the limitations of this process is overcoming the technological barrier in specific less developed environments that may not have sufficient funding. With respect to future lines of research, the current study opens the door to studying the implications of this type of process on the management and elaboration of specific public policies, for example, concerning the time taken to establish and resolve them. Full article

This study starts by questioning what smart cities are and how they are being planned for the future of the population. Faced with a wide range of information, the coexistence of multiple definitions, and differences between the theoretical concept and what is being carried out in the real world, it is recognized that entrepreneurs and public managers require more clarity regarding the essential attributes that need to be considered in the initiatives of a city that aims to be classified as smart. This study strives to identify and synthesize essential information, helping managers to define and develop projects and initiatives within the context of smart cities. Through a literature review, six widely cited and commonly used groups of indicators are selected, and the most frequent themes, indicators, and keywords are identified. The results are the essential elements founded and synthesized in a single visual scheme. Although this study has a practical purpose, it is also necessary to promote new policies focused on incentives for local initiatives to support and complement them due to the new decentralized and anthropocentric approach to smart sustainable cities. Full article

A smart city can be defined as an integration of systems comprising a plethora of task-oriented technologies that aim to evolve and advance with city and infrastructure needs while providing services to citizens and resolving urban challenges through intersystem and data-driven analytical means, with minimal human intervention. Applications of technology include management, operations, and finance. One such technology is Blockchain. A main advantage of Blockchain is the simplification of processes that are costly and time-consuming. This is accomplished by simplifying operations to minimize costs resulting from the decentralization of assets. Blockchain has been proven to facilitate transparency, security, and the elimination of data fragmentation. However, as a relatively new technology, it poses regulatory obstacles. This issue can be attributed to the fact that many infrastructural governing organizations have incomplete knowledge of their infrastructure, which can lead to confusion when attempting to comprehend the different elements of the infrastructure, resulting in a lack of direction when trying to solve a problem. This paper explores the different applications of Blockchain technology in the sectors of energy, transportation, water, construction, and government, and provides a mechanism for implementing this technology in smart cities. As a present component of infrastructure management systems, Blockchain may potentially serve as the initial step toward upgrading infrastructure technology. Full article

The huge amount of daily generated data in smart cities has called for more effective data storage, processing, and analysis technologies. A significant part of this data are streaming data (i.e., time series data). Time series similarity or dissimilarity measuring represents an essential and critical task for several data mining and machine learning algorithms. Consequently, a similarity or distance measure that can extract the similarities and differences among the time series in a precise way can highly increase the efficiency of mining and learning processes. This paper proposes a novel elastic distance measure to measure how much a time series is dissimilar from another. The proposed measure is based on the Adaptive Simulated Annealing Representation (ASAR) approach and is called the Adaptive Simulated Annealing Representation Based Distance Measure (ASAR-Distance). ASAR-Distance adapts the ASAR approach to include more information about the time series shape by including additional information about the slopes of the local trends. This slope information, together with the magnitude information, is used to calculate the distance by a new definition that combines the Manhattan, Cosine, and Dynamic Time Warping distance measures. The experimental results have shown that the ASAR-Distance is able to overcome the limitations of handling the local time-shifting, reading the local trends information precisely, and the inherited high computational complexity of the traditional elastic distance measures. Full article

The advent of autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs) will give drivers time and space instead of focusing on driving. Because of this, some drivers may want to personalize their car for their work, while others may want to customize their vehicle space to be more suitable for relaxation, which will accelerate the megatrend of mass individualization. However, the production of individualized cars faces several challenges. For example, since high-level automation during individualized car production is difficult, a stable skilled labor supply is essential, low-volume/high-variety production is required, and customer proximity or involvement is also important. These conditions can be satisfied by building a car assembly plant in an urban area. The problem is that urban areas are often spatially and environmentally constrained. However, it is be possible to overcome these urban limitations by implementing a conveyor-less micro factory. The objective of this study is to propose a new iterative matrix-system layout design method that can realize a conveyor-less urban car assembly factory with two technologies—VaaC (vehicle as a conveyor) and matrix assembly system. VaaC consists of three novel ideas: sensor skid, safety-sensor guidance system, and vehicle-powered devices, and this paper views each of them in detail. The proposed iterative matrix-system layout design method consists of four steps: (1) layout refinement, (2) simulation, (3) cost analysis, and (4) optimization check, and will examine how each step is performed through simple examples. The authors hope that this paper will arouse interest and provide elements to spur future research on the conveyor-less urban car assembly system. Full article

In the concept of the Smart City, the issue of quality of life of residents is strongly emphasized. In theory and practice, the quality of urban life is determined by a wide variety of factors. This article focuses on housing infrastructure as a determinant of the quality of life in selected Polish Smart Cities and seeks answers to the question: What is the level of variation in the availability and quality of housing infrastructure in the studied cities and against the provinces in which they are located? In solving the research problem formulated in this way, the following were used: (1) Indicators determining the quality and accessibility of housing infrastructure at the level of the studied cities and provinces; (2) a multiple case study (for eight cities from different regions of Poland); and (3) a comparative analysis conducted at the level of the cities and provinces in which they operate. The resulting analyses indicate that there are differences in the availability and quality of housing infrastructure at the level of smart cities and provinces representing the regional average. The analyzed cities—in all the criteria studied (except the area of the apartment)—dominate over the provinces, which means that they have larger and better housing resources than the rest of the region. Full article

The electricity market is particularly complex due to the different arrangements and structures of its participants. If the energy price in this market presents in a conceptual and well-known way, the complexity of the market will be greatly reduced. Drastic changes in the supply and demand markets are a challenge for electricity prices (EPs), which necessitates the short-term forecasting of EPs. In this study, two restructured power systems are considered, and the EPs of these systems are entirely and accurately predicted using a Gaussian process (GP) model that is adapted for time series predictions. In this modeling, various models of the GP, including dynamic, static, direct, and indirect, as well as their mixture models, are used and investigated. The effectiveness and accuracy of these models are compared using appropriate evaluation indicators. The results show that the combinations of the GP models have lower errors than individual models, and the dynamic indirect GP was chosen as the best model. Full article

Modern cities are associated with efficient transportation, including modern transportation solutions that reflect the trend towards sustainable development. These solutions, for example, are shared mobility services, which have gained popularity in recent years. The systems present in the markets, as well as each transport service, aimed at meeting the transport needs of the society, are also associated with the occurrence of many problems. Many of the problems can turn into transport barriers and have a real impact on the quality of transport services and the life of society in the city. To check whether transport problems occurring in shared mobility may translate into transport exclusion, the author’s own research was proposed. The aim of the study was to analyze the public negative opinions of the shared mobility services and to determine the existence of their connection with the main areas of the phenomenon of transport exclusion. The Desk Research method was used for the study, due to which 1500 opinions and complaints regarding 60 bike-, car-, and scooter-sharing applications operating in six European countries were analyzed. As a result of the research, it was shown that in all types of shared mobility, there are barriers that users complain about. These barriers are connected to the main transport social exclusion aspects indicated in the Church’s method framework. The leading areas of grievance are the system infrastructure and operational aspects. The mobile applications used to run the systems turned out to be the least problematic. Based on the results obtained, recommendations for the elimination of transportation social barriers were developed. The work supports municipalities and operators who wish to reduce the problems associated with shared mobility systems in cities. Full article

Science and technology transform the frontiers of knowledge and have deep and powerful impacts on society, demonstrating how social reality varies with each era of the world. As a set of fictional representations of technologically driven future worlds, the Metaverse is increasingly shaping the socio-technical imaginaries of data-driven smart cities, i.e., the outcome of radical transformations of dominant structures, processes, practices, and cultures. At the core of the systematic exploration of science and technology is the relationships between scientific knowledge, technological systems, and values and ethics from a wide range of perspectives. Positioned within science of science, this study investigates the complex interplay between the Metaverse as a form of science and technology and the wider social context in which it is embedded. Therefore, it adopts an analytical and philosophical framework of STS, and in doing so, it employs an integrated approach to discourse analysis, supported by a comparative analysis of the Metaverse and Ambient Intelligence. This study shows that the Metaverse as a scientific and technological activity is socially constructed, politically driven, economically conditioned, and historically situated. That is, it is inherently human and hence value-laden, as well as can only be understood as contextualized within the socio-political-economic-historical framework that gives rise to it, sustains it, and makes it durable by material effects and networks. This view in turn corroborates that the Metaverse raises serious concerns as to determinism, social exclusion, marginalization, privacy erosion, surveillance, control, democratic backsliding, hive mentality, cyber-utopianism, and dystopianism. This study argues that, due to the problematic nature of the Metaverse in terms of its inherent ethical and social implications, there need to be more explicit processes and practices for enhancing public participation and allowing a more democratic public role in its shaping and control, especially early in the decision-making process of its development—when the opportunity for effective inputs and informed choices is greatest. The novelty of this study lies in that it is the first of its kind with respect to probing the link between the Metaverse and data-driven smart cities from an STS perspective. The main contribution of this study lies in deepening and extending social scientific critiques and understandings of the imaginaries of data-driven smart cities based on the analysis and evaluation of the Metaverse and the warning signals and troubling visions it conveys and animates in order to help construct desirable alternative futures for the greater good of all citizens. The ultimate goal is to structure the Metaverse in ways that are morally acceptable and collectively the most democratically beneficial for society. Full article

Healthy buildings are gaining crucial significance in construction and one health setting for promoting occupants’ health. However, the traditional design process for healthy buildings presents limitations with no specific guidelines. In contrast, the integrated design process (IDP) has proven to be effective in realizing high-performance buildings. However, the IDP shortfall of not having robust health strategy (HS) capability is a concern of interest. Thus, we posit further advancement of IDP in the context of incorporating HS in the prevailing IDP guidelines with a sequential iterative procedure. Moreover, a conceptual framework aimed at invigorating the implementation of HS in all IDP stages is proposed. The strategies within IDP that would reinforce achieving healthy building by addressing building process implementation are highlighted. The (IDP + HS) iterative framework herein advanced is intended to aid neophyte and experienced building professionals to reflect about the process of achieving healthy building while optimizing IDP for one’s health invigoration in construction industry. Full article

Due to the intensive development of urbanization and digitization, the number of smart cities in the world is growing. Along with their exposure, more and more challenges are facing the service providers of the various types of systems offered in their area. These types of services include shared mobility systems that, as an alternative to transport by own vehicle, are becoming one of the leading promoted forms of mobility. Because of the prioritization of shared mobility solutions, more and more operators appear on the smart city markets, which is associated with many challenges related to the increased competition among service providers. One of the challenges is the appropriate visibility of the brand and vehicles in urban transport systems. This aspect, despite its high applicability, constitutes a research gap among world studies. Aiming to fill this gap, this article was dedicated to the issues of perception of visual communication by operators of shared mobility services. As part of the research, an expert study was conducted among representatives of shared mobility services operating in Poland. The expert survey was conducted with the Computer-Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) technique. The results of the research show that visual communication is not used quite correctly by operators. Although operators use single visual communication practices, overall consistency is lacking, which would add value to the brand. This article supports operators looking to expand their shared mobility services. What is more, it is also a response to the research gap regarding visual communication and its perception from the point of view of smart cities. Full article

Data infrastructures, economic processes, and governance models of digital platforms are increasingly pervading urban sectors and spheres of urban life. This phenomenon is known as platformization, which has in turn given rise to the phenomena of platform society, where platforms have permeated the core of urban societies. A recent manifestation of platformization is the Metaverse, a global platform project launched by Meta (formerly Facebook) as a globally operating platform company. The Metaverse represents an idea of a hypothetical “parallel virtual world” that incarnate ways of living and working in virtual cities as an alternative to smart cities of the future. Indeed, with emerging innovative technologies—such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, the IoT, and Digital Twins—providing rich datasets and advanced computational understandings of human behavior, the Metaverse has the potential to redefine city designing activities and service provisioning towards increasing urban efficiencies, accountabilities, and quality performance. However, there still remain ethical, human, social, and cultural concerns as to the Metaverse’s influence upon the quality of human social interactions and its prospective scope in reconstructing the quality of urban life. This paper undertakes an upper-level literature review of the area of the Metaverse from a broader perspective. Further, it maps the emerging products and services of the Metaverse, and explores their potential contributions to smart cities with respect to their virtual incarnation, with a particular focus on the environmental, economic, and social goals of sustainability. This study may help urban policy makers to better understand the opportunities and implications of the Metaverse upon tech-mediated practices and applied urban agendas, as well as assess the positives and negatives of this techno-urban vision. This paper also offers thoughts regarding the argument that the Metaverse has disruptive and substantive effects on forms of reconstructing reality in an increasingly platformized urban society. This will hopefully stimulate prospective research and further critical perspectives on the topic. Full article

The use of Electric Vehicles (EV) seems to be a promising solution to achieve a sustainable road transport system. Among the contactless dynamic vehicle charging technologies, the use of Charging Units (CUs)—cement concrete box—embedded into the road pavement seems to be a favorable option. The available scientific papers related to the structural effects of embedding CUs in road pavements consider the CU as a solid box, even if a cavity is needed for the electrical technologies’ accommodation. This is why the current research is aimed at studying electrified roads (e-road) with different CU cavity shapes and dimensions. In detail, pavement structural responses are investigated, as a first step, adopting a Finite Element Model (FEM), and, as a second step, the long-term performances (fatigue cracking/rutting proneness) are evaluated. The study is divided into two phases: the theoretical fatigue/rutting assessment, which allows to calculate the critical load repetitions leading to pavement failure, and an urban case study with the goals of both assessing the theoretical results and computing fatigue/rutting performance with real scale traffic conditions. The outcomes demonstrate that CUs can be used with no significant impacts on the long-term road pavement structural performance, laying the foundation for a future upgrading of the existing urban road networks. Full article