Redefining Smart Cities, Urban Energy, and Green Technologies for Sustainable Development

Increasing greenhouse effects and global warming have been threatening the environment. Cities have directed their development strategies towards smart policies aiming to improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through sustainable environment and energy resources. Therefore, it became a very critical strategy to redefine urban energy sources and apply green technologies in all means of city lives for sustainable cities and reaching Sustainable Development Goals. In this chapter, background information for the role of cities in climate change and environmental pollution globally will be explained. Then a theoretical framework for smart cities and their important features focusing on technology innovation, smart governance, energy efficiency, waste management, as well as green buildings, smart grid-smart lighting, and smart mobility will be analyzed. Finally, sustainable development policy suggestions for sustainable plans and programs at the urban level within the current legislative framework will be put forth.

Sustainability of Smart Cities

The issue of sustainability of smart cities is approached in this chapter from two different angles: dimensions sector-specific and city governance. Following a short review of smart city sectors, emphasis is placed on the concept of smart governance of cities. The concept of smart governance is reviewed especially regarding cooperation with city governments of other cities within the region or country and empowering citizens. Different levels are presented with focus on four main conditions for smart governance, namely participation in decision-making, public and social services, transparent governance, and political strategies and perspectives. The chapter presents sustainability of smart governance through a paradigm of sustainability as an effectual model based on sustainability, wellbeing, productivity, and resilience. Finally, the chapter addresses the success criteria of sustainable smart cities regarding different aspects, such open data, agility to new technologies, cross-sectoral harmonization, and careful policy, strategy, and program alignment.

Citizen Participation and the Rise of Digital Media Platforms in Smart Governance and Smart Cities

Many governments and firms do believe that technology can supplant governance and human responsibility. This belief poses the question of who will really benefit from smart cities. This article explores this fundamental question through the study of digital media platforms. The ultimate goal is to understand the link between e-governance and smart city initiatives in our cases of study by testing whether these projects are explicitly for citizens. This article shows how e-platforms represent the use of information and communication technologies with the aim of encouraging citizen participation in decision-making processes, improving information and service delivery, reinforcing transparency, accountability, as well as credibility. Thirteen digital media platforms are surveyed, mostly in cities across countries. These e-platforms raise implementation challenges for both firms and policy makers, and new research opportunities for scientist to build up new research and to experiment with the aim to make the benefits for citizens wider and the participatory dimension stronger.

Implementation of Supply Chain and Logistics for Natural Disaster Management in Indonesia: A Smart Governance Perspective

This research is at the ontological level and sociological level of the implementation of supply chain and logistics equipment for disaster management that are very significant in reducing risk of natural disaster in Indonesia. The problem is very interesting to be analyzed by conducting a descriptive qualitative research. The research used the theory of public policy, smart governance, and supply chain management and logistics. The data were collected using in-depth interview to several key informants, direct observation, and related documentation. The data were analyzed using interactive models, which were data reduction, data display, and data verification, supported by triangulation to obtain validity and reliability. The results were based on ontology, epistemology, and sociology using smart governance perspective by empowering supply chain and logistic to improve disaster management in Indonesia. Vision and mission of public policies related to natural disaster are needed to complete the facilities of prevention, equipment management and logistics supervision, providing information to stakeholders regarding regulations and sanctions in natural disaster that were carried out deliberately and balanced provision of disaster management. Therefore, it will produce a revised and detailed relevant regulation for state agencies as public officials in making regulations on natural disaster and disaster management in Indonesia. The researchers suggest that state institutions must conduct and cover smart governance in making regulations on disaster management.

Practicability Assessment of Smart Village Project: A Case of Sandakpur Rural Municipality, Ilam Nepal

Purpose: Villages are the backbone of the nation and a smart village means such a village that can provide various services needed in day-to-day life to the villagers effectively and efficiently. The overall objective of this research is to assess the practicability of the smart village in the hilly region of Nepal with the case of a Sandakpur Rural Municipality (SRM). Design/Methodology/Approach: The study covered the area within Maipokhari and Sulubung village of Sandakpur Rural Municipality. Ontology and Epistemology philosophy of research was used as positivism. This research was intended to propose the model of smart village examined through a scheduled questionnaire in village sample of SRM, literature reviews related to smart village, and smart rural. This research proposed the smart village with the characteristics as Smart Utilization of Resources, Smart Living, Smart Governance, Smart Village Services, Smart Technology, Smart Tourism, and Gender Equity and Women Equity which can comply with some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Five points Likert scale was used on ranking smart village feature and Chi-Square test is done to determine the significance of respondent’s opinions for the variables from the collected data. After the analysis of data with the Five-Point Likert Scale, ratings on smart features were given as Fair (2.82), Fair (3.02), Fair (2.93), Fair (3.17), Fair (3.2), Good (2.42), and Poor (3.46) respectively. Findings/Result: The chi-square test showed that the majority of respondents supported the perspective toward Smart Village features as fair. Smart villages can only be possible with long-term planning, strategy and investment. With the adoption of features of the smart village, the study area can be converted into a smart village but it may take time to incorporate these features completely The Smart village model is expected to be applied to villages in other regions by adjusting the characteristics of each region as every village has their own characteristics. Originality/Value: It is action research to analyze the practicability of smart village development. It will be a method universal acceptable for assessing the feasibility of smart cities. The new concept will be fruitful for policymakers, Professionals, and nations for systematic development. Paper Type: Ex-Post Facto Research.

Smart Governance: An Investigation into Participatory Budgeting Models

Promoting public participation in urban processes has long been a key issue in discussions about urban governance. However, despite the advantages of more progressive and inclusive city governance, participatory budgeting (PB) often faces challenges to ensure collaboration between different city departments and involved residents. In some cases, residents are unsure about PB models’ transparency, other examples show the way NGOs use the model as a counterforce to central governance and thus local actors lack political and financial support. Moreover, uncertainty and restrictions imposed by the global pandemic in some way also impacted the realization of PB. This research aims to identify stakeholders in the participatory budgeting approach, describing opportunities and challenges of the organizational process and digital technologies as a means of enabling communication and collaboration between actors.

A FRAMEWORK IN DEVELOPING A CITIZEN-CENTERED SMART CITY MOBILE APPLICATION AS A PLATFORM FOR DIGITAL PARTICIPATION IN ILOILO CITY

ICT is one of the technological enablers of a smart city which facilitates the developments in various sectors of the community such as in governance, transportation, education, safety, tourism, and communication. Development of smartphone applications have directly contributed to areas of smart living, smart people, smart governance, and smart mobility as it provides several features catering digital services in the city and flexible utilization of the city services. However, smart city development is not merely the creation of digital services for the citizens but instead involves a two-way communication between the government and citizen’s collaborative processes and digital participation. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for a mobile tool wherein people can easily access the most essential everyday city services and in the same manner provide the city authorities to gather relevant information from the application through review of literature and other relevant documents.