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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2024) | Viewed by 20141

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Prof. Dr. Tomáš Peráček

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Faculty of Management, Comenius University Bratislava, Odbojarov 10, 820 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
Interests: law; management; public administration; smart cities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Andrea Čajková

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Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Public Administration, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Bucianska 4/A, 917 01 Trnava, Slovakia
Interests: public policy; public administration; management; smart cities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The concept of smart cities represents a comprehensive approach to the functioning of urban regions and affects various social areas such as culture, infrastructure, the environment, energy, and social services. In each of these areas, it pursues multiple interconnected goals that, together, create a system based on the principles of sustainable development. The entire systems consists of public administration, private sector, and civil society entities, without which the set goals would not be achieved. For these reasons, there is no international legally binding definition for the given concept or legal framework to precisely regulate the procedure for achieving these goals. Individual states follow their own "smart" concepts and methodologies, which are in line with global documents dealing with the above issue. In addition, the complexity of the smart city concept, combined with complicated urban problems and the pursuit of sustainable solutions, makes it a challenging task. Therefore, smart city policies must be strategically focused on a smart economy, a smart environment, smart management, smart housing, smart mobility, and smart people. Smart city strategies should also focus on institutional changes to provide context-sensitive outcomes in local urban areas. This may include changing the structure of smart policy creation to a bottom-up, community-based approach rather than one that begins within institutions and industries.

In this Special Issue, we aim to publish innovative multidisciplinary work on current trends and perspectives in strategic management, innovation implementation, working models, and best practices that could improve the environment, the economy, and social well-being in smart cities and territories. We are particularly interested in advances in governance models, simulation methods and data analysis, forecasting techniques, scenario planning, future designs, and complex system models that could contribute to improving critical thinking and decision-making in urban and territorial resilience and sustainable development.

Smart cities are more efficient, provide more opportunities for job creation, and ensure growth while also improving the social inclusion and engagement of residents. Increases in the level of functionality, long-term sustainability, and standard of living for residents in smart cities can be achieved through the creation of effective, targeted, and sustainable smart city strategies.

Prof. Dr. Tomáš Peráček
Dr. Andrea Čajková
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

smart city
strategy
sustainability
innovation

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Sustainability, Strategic Management, Smart Governance and Smart Cities: 2nd Edition in Sustainability

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4236 KiB

Open AccessArticle

CLIMAEXTREMO: A New Risk Indicator for the Health Risk to Building Occupants during Extreme Weather Events in Portugal

by Carlos Santos Silva, Diana Vieira Fernandes, Ricardo Gomes, Francisco Pires Costa, Ligia Pinto, Sabrina Scuri, Andre Brito, Baltazar Nunes and Susana Pereira Silva

Sustainability 2024, 16(12), 5171; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16125171 - 18 Jun 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1106

Abstract

Portugal is the country in Europe where the death rate in winter and summer has the highest correlation with outdoor temperatures. The Portuguese National Institute of Public Health Ricardo Jorge has developed a national warning system for heat waves called ICARO, which has been in place since 1999 (and is the oldest in Europe). However, it presents some limitations, namely, the low spatial resolution (five regions in Portugal’s mainland), the low temporal forecasting period (one day), and the fact that it was only accessible to health authorities until very recently. This work describes the development of a new public dashboard that uses a new early warning index for extreme weather events, the CLIMAEXTREMO index, which extends the current warning system by improving the current forecasting models for risk by integrating new sources of public data and increasing the spatial and time resolution of the warnings to the municipality or the parish level. The new index is a combination of a new model to estimate the relative mortality increase (updating the model used in ICARO) together with a model of the indoor temperature of building archetypes for all municipalities and a vulnerability index that considers socio-demographic economic indicators. This work discusses the results of the new risk indicator for the heat waves that occurred in Portugal at the end of June and mid-August 2023, and it shows that the index was able to indicate a high risk for the municipalities that had an increase in the number of deaths during that period. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Strategic Management, Smart Governance and Smart Cities)

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16 pages, 251 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unlocking the Potential of Sustainable Smart Cities: Barriers and Strategies

by Ibrahim Mutambik

Sustainability 2024, 16(12), 5061; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16125061 - 14 Jun 2024

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1002

Abstract

The development of sustainable smart cities (SSCs) is pivotal for contemporary urban expansion, as highlighted by numerous international frameworks and scholarly studies. This study focused on Saudi Arabia to identify and assess the key challenges impeding the evolution of intelligent and sustainable urban environments. By categorizing and hierarchically analyzing these impediments, the research isolates the most significant barriers to SSC advancement. A total of 18 obstacles were identified, organized into four categories, and reviewed using existing scholarly literature. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders engaged in executing SSC initiatives, enriching the research from a practical perspective. Additionally, a survey ranked these barriers, revealing that social and economic factors pose the most significant challenges, followed by governance and legal, technology, and environment. The findings of this study offer critical insights for policymakers and governments to mitigate the barriers to SSC development efforts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Strategic Management, Smart Governance and Smart Cities)

20 pages, 1172 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Smart Experience and Green Health Tourism: The Moderating Role of Content Marketing

by Zohreh Amiri Sardari, Tayebeh Abdoli Mohamadabadi, Javad Nazarian-Jashnabadi, Giovanni Tesoriere and Tiziana Campisi

Sustainability 2024, 16(11), 4546; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114546 - 27 May 2024

Viewed by 1560

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to evaluate smart experience in green health tourism with the mediating role of content marketing by using the two models of technology acceptance and hedonism. This study utilizes quantitative and causal research methods. A total of 332 respondents completed a survey conducted at two Iranian tourism hubs. Also, purposeful sampling was used for data collection. Respondents rated their perceptions of each item on a five-point Likert scale. Using the partial least squares path modeling technique, the results reveal the direct effects of smart experience on green health tourism. The findings suggest that content marketing interacts with smart experience to influence green health tourism, such that the use of smart experience in health tourism can reduce the annual costs of developing environmental protection methods. This paper thus contributes to the hospitality management theory, green tourism, and wellness literature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Strategic Management, Smart Governance and Smart Cities)

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21 pages, 691 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Culturally Informed Technology: Assessing Its Importance in the Transition to Smart Sustainable Cities

by Ibrahim Mutambik

Sustainability 2024, 16(10), 4075; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16104075 - 13 May 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1112

Abstract

Since the idea of the smart city was first introduced, over two decades ago, there has been an increasing focus on sustainability as a core strategic priority. However, as the relevance, importance and even definition of sustainability is a function of cultural context, planners must take account of local and regional cultural factors in the selection and adaption of digital infrastructures, as well as in the management and encouragement of public acceptance. Achieving this is not a sequential process, but a concurrent one, as these factors are interdependent. This raises the question of what factors affect and mediate the technology, choice, and public acceptance of smart sustainable cities. This paper attempts to address this question by proposing a new model which advances our current, and considerable, understanding of Technology Acceptance Modelling—using an analysis based on Structural Equation Modelling. This new model, called the Culturally Informed Technology Acceptance Model, was validated using data from a survey of residents of a variety of Saudi Arabian cities. The proposed model is designed around important factors that can be influenced by cultural context, such as digital literacy, process improvements, cost savings and privacy, and is a useful tool for understanding the role of culture in the public acceptance of smart sustainable technology. This design focus is for a number of reasons, such as helping development bodies ensure that the technologies used align with the socio-cultural context. It will also help in the management of at-scale technology roll out in a way that is resource-efficient. Although the Culturally Informed Technology Acceptance Model has been developed and validated using data from Saudi Arabia, the authors believe that it could be adapted to meet the needs of countries/cities that are looking to implement smart city strategies matched to their own distinct socio-cultural identity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Strategic Management, Smart Governance and Smart Cities)

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21 pages, 1000 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Employee Acceptance of Digital Transformation: A Study in a Smart City Context

by Ibrahim Mutambik and Abdullah Almuqrin

Sustainability 2024, 16(4), 1398; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16041398 - 7 Feb 2024

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1955

Abstract

The notion of the smart city offers significant benefits to citizens and enterprises alike. To realize these benefits, however, the city’s organizations and working processes need to undergo a digital transformation (DT) which reshapes work practices and demands a new mindset from city employees. The readiness of these employees to accept such a DT has an effect on the extent to which the city’s residents and businesses benefit from being in a smart city context. This raises the question of which factors have the most influence on employees’ acceptance of DT—a question that has thus far received limited attention from researchers. This study introduces a model that examines various influencing factors, using data collected from a survey of 1180 employees in 10 smart cities in Saudi Arabia. The factors examined take a variety of forms, including external elements such as management provision for employees and process complexity, which can lead to resistance to change, as well as internal elements, such as perceived advantages and inertia. The findings of the study show that management support for employees and the perceived advantages of DT have a positive relationship with acceptance by employees, while process complexity and inertia have a negative relationship with employees’ acceptance. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature concerning DT acceptance in a smart city context and will provide organizations with insights on which to base strategies for encouraging employee adaptation to evolving digital landscapes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Strategic Management, Smart Governance and Smart Cities)

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37 pages, 5897 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Connectivity—Integration of Mobile Roaming, WiFi4EU and Smart City Concept in the European Union

by Michal Kaššaj and Tomáš Peráček

Sustainability 2024, 16(2), 788; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16020788 - 16 Jan 2024

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4460

Abstract

This article takes a comprehensive look at the integration of mobile roaming, WiFi4EU and the smart city concept within the European Union in the context of sustainability. These initiatives form key elements of the digital development and transformation of European cities. Starting with a brief look at the functioning of the European Union’s internal market, the article briefly analyzes the objectives of these projects, highlighting their interplay and benefits for citizens. It focuses on the development of smart cities and the importance of digital connectivity in the process of building smart cities. It discusses the WiFi4EU initiative, which provides funding for free public WiFi networks and promotes digital inclusion. It also looks at the core pillars of smart cities, including digital connectivity, efficient transport, environmental protection, innovation and citizen participation. The article discusses the challenges associated with this integration, such as ensuring interoperability of different technological solutions and data privacy. It also highlights the importance of cooperation between city authorities, local communities and European institutions to achieve successful digital urban development. The research emphasizes the economic sustainability implications of these integrated technologies, considering the potential for innovation, job creation and economic growth within the digital and tech sectors. The main method used in the writing process was the analysis method, which was complemented by the comparison and synthesis methods. The final discussion assesses the benefits and challenges that this integration brings for the development of cities and the improvement of the quality of life of citizens. By critically examining the convergence of mobile roaming, WiFi4EU and smart cities in the European Union, this study aims to provide insights into the transformative potential of sustainable connectivity. The findings contribute to ongoing discussions on urban development strategies, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach that addresses both technological advancements and the imperative of sustainable practices for the benefit of current and future generations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Strategic Management, Smart Governance and Smart Cities)

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17 pages, 2599 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Achieving Sustainable Tourism: Analysis of the Impact of Environmental Education on Tourists’ Responsible Behavior

by Jinming Wang, Jialu Dai, Weijun Gao, Xingbo Yao, Bart Julien Dewancker, Jiawei Gao, Yuhan Wang and Jiayi Zeng

Sustainability 2024, 16(2), 552; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16020552 - 9 Jan 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3529

Abstract

Environmental challenges like resource depletion, climate change, and biodiversity loss require human action. Environmental education influences individuals’ understanding and motivates responsible behavior, making it a real solution to address current problems. In this study, we examine the impact of situational environmental education and daily environmental education on tourists’ responsible environmental behavior by incorporating them as covariates into an integrated tourist behavior model. In total, 2381 valid questionnaires were obtained. The results showed that (1) daily environmental education mainly affects tourists’ responsible environmental behavior through attitude (0.467) and habits (0.634); (2) tourists’ responsible environmental behavior is mainly affected by situational environmental education through habits (0.534), subjective norms (0.504), and intention (0.614); and (3) personal factors, including attitudes toward environmental behavior, subjective norms, and perceptual behavior control, positively influence tourists’ responsible environmental behavioral intention and their responsible environmental behavior. This research will help to improve sustainability indicators and frameworks and to promote the adoption of sustainable tourism practices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Strategic Management, Smart Governance and Smart Cities)

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22 pages, 350 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gulf Cooperation Council Countries and Urbanisation: Are Open Government Data Portals Helping?

by Ibrahim Mutambik, John Lee, Abdullah Almuqrin, Abdulrhman Alkhanifer and Mohammed Baihan

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 12823; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151712823 - 24 Aug 2023

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1536

Abstract

Today, the concepts of the smart city and smart government are well established, and have become key in dealing with the challenges faced by rapidly increasing urbanisation across the world. One of the many ways in which smart cities and government can help meet these challenges is by empowering citizens to take more and better control of their own decisions, by giving them access to open (i.e., public and unrestricted) data via online portals. These portals can enable citizens and professionals to make more informed decisions across a wide variety of areas, from health and traffic issues to developing new businesses. They can also encourage citizens to become more involved in the making of more effective social policy. Open data is increasingly seen as a key enabler in designing and implementing knowledge-based solutions for more sustainable urban development. For these reasons, as well as others, OGD (Open Government Data) portals are already being implemented in many countries. However, if smart cities are to maximise their potential, OGD portals must be understood, accepted and—crucially—used by the public. The extent to which this is the case is not clear, as there have been few studies that have specifically examined the impact of open data in a smart city context. This is particularly true in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. This research uses a mixed methods (questionnaires and interviews) approach to examine this issue by carrying out a comparative study of the use of portals across the region and, therefore, whether these countries are making optimum use of open data. An existing evaluation framework was used with a group of evaluators representing professional users who are not experienced in using data portals. The findings of the research suggest that these countries are not yet realising the full potential of their portals, and more effective support for the transition to smart cities could be achieved with fuller and better cross-national cooperation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Strategic Management, Smart Governance and Smart Cities)

22 pages, 336 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transitioning to Smart Cities in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: The Role of Leadership and Organisational Culture

by Ibrahim Mutambik, John Lee, Abdullah Almuqrin and Justin Zuopeng Zhang

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10490; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310490 - 3 Jul 2023

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2333

Abstract

The concept of Society 5.0, first introduced by Japan in 2016, has become a widely accepted model for the development of social infrastructures across the world. It is a model which is expected to take root globally over the next few years. It is also a model which has smart cities, which are connected and inclusive, at its core. The role of open data is critical to smart cities, and the ability to design and implement strategies for its use is a crucial element in their growth and success. This requires a leadership and organisational culture that embraces the concept of open government data (OGD) and understands its key role in the development of smart cities. In this paper, we examine how the leadership and organisational culture in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries has impacted the progress of OGD initiatives and, therefore, the transition to smart cities. This is approached via a re-analysis of data from an earlier study in which semi-structured interviews were used to understand the views and attitudes of a range of senior government department personnel in OGD-related roles, where here a new thematic analysis seeks to identify clearer pointers to attitudes and practices directly relating to smart cities and Society 5.0. The focus on internal factors, such as leadership attitudes and organisational culture, as opposed to external factors, such as technology and resources, differentiates this research from previous studies and adds to our current knowledge. The findings lead to a discussion that identifies a likely gap in the leadership provided by more senior figures. A pilot study of a group of these leaders suggests a generalised problem with communication of policy, objectives and strategies, which is crucial to overcoming cultural impediments to smart city development. While further research is required, a need clearly emerges for significant changes in attitude and application at senior managerial and leadership levels if strategic goals are to be achieved. The paper also makes a number of specific recommendations for activities that could improve progress and indicate areas where more research would be beneficial. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Strategic Management, Smart Governance and Smart Cities)

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