This book is the result of four-year work in the framework of the Ibero-American Research Network TICs4CI funded by the CYTED program. In the following decades, 85% of the world's population is expected to live in cities; hence, urban centers should be prepared to provide smart solutions for problems ranging from video surveillance and intelligent mobility to the solid waste recycling processes, just to mention a few. More specifically, the book describes underlying technologies and practical implementations of several successful case studies of ICTs developed in the following smart city areas: • Urban environment monitoring • Intelligent mobility • Waste recycling processes • Video surveillance • Computer-aided diagnose in healthcare systems • Computer vision-based approaches for efficiency in production processes The book is intended for researchers and engineers in the field of ICTs for smart cities, as well as to anyone who wants to know about state-of-the-art approaches and challenges on this field.

In a rapidly urbanizing world, the concept of “smart cities” represents the future of urban living. These cities aim to harness advanced technologies to create environments that are efficient, sustainable, and responsive to the needs of their inhabitants. But what does it take to build a smart city? And what challenges must be overcome to realize this vision? Smart Cities - Foundations and Perspectives is a comprehensive guide that explores the intricate process of developing smart cities. The book is organized into two key sections. The first section, “Smart Cities Opportunities and Challenges”, takes you through the initial stages of smart city development, with a focus on real-world examples like Saudi Arabia’s ambitious smart city projects. It discusses the critical areas of energy, mobility, and waste management, offering a clear view of the evolution of these cities and the hurdles they face. In the second section, “Smart Cities Technologies”, the book delves into the technological backbone of smart cities. From the Internet of Things (IoT) to renewable energy solutions and cybersecurity measures, it covers the cutting-edge innovations that are essential for creating intelligent urban environments. Written by leading experts in the field, this book provides invaluable insights for policymakers, urban planners, technologists, and anyone interested in the future of cities. Smart Cities - Foundations and Perspectives is not just a blueprint for building smart cities—it is a call to action for creating urban spaces that are secure, sustainable, and inclusive.

It is also essential to study the success of technology use in some of the advanced nations in the Asian region that promote a smarter and well-advanced community. A smarter community in these regions can only be materialized by adopting the latest trends in technology to improve quality of life. Some of these regions need a great emphasis on technology adoption for women empowerment and safety, promoting better health with telemedicine facilities, environment, and disaster prevention with IoT technologies, water treatment and sanitation, and addressing food scarcity issues with smarter precision agriculture. Ultimately, there needs to be more research focused on a smarter and secured community in the Asian region in terms of cultural and socioeconomic factors and technology advancements. ICT Solutions for Improving Smart Communities in Asia explores new possibilities using digital solutions and technologies to create collaborative and smarter communities for advancement in agriculture, the health sector, education centers, human resources, and administrative domains, as well as other areas to improve the overall living standards of people at the community level. This book will cover two main areas: the need for technology development in developing nations, mainly focusing on Asia, and the adoption of some of the advanced regions in Asia as role models for the less developed SAARC regions explicitly. This book is ideally intended for researchers, academicians, IT specialists, regional developers, government officials, practitioners, academicians, and students.

Rapid urbanization poses significant challenges for cities worldwide, demanding sustainable development solutions. However, traditional city management approaches often struggle to address the complex interplay of economic growth, technology, and environmental considerations. The lack of comprehensive guidance and practical strategies hinders the establishment of smart and sustainable cities, putting long-term urban sustainability and the well-being of present and future generations at risk. Management, Technology, and Economic Growth in Smart and Sustainable Cities provides a timely and essential solution to the intricate challenges faced by urban areas. Edited by renowned academic scholar Jorge Ruiz Vanoye, this book features practical contributions from experts across diverse fields. By leveraging mathematical modeling, artificial intelligence, and advanced technologies, it offers tangible strategies and insights for the optimal management of smart and sustainable cities. Ideal for professionals, researchers, and executives involved in smart and sustainable city development, this book covers key topics such as smart governance, energy, healthcare, transportation, education, farming, industry, environment, and society. It equips readers with practical guidance and innovative solutions, empowering them to navigate the complexities of modern urban management, drive efficient resource utilization, enhance the quality of life, and foster sustainable economic growth.

This book is the first attempt to explore the use and application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and related smart technologies in cities and for the sole purpose of reaching positive peace. The everyday usage of digital technologies in cities encourages us to study the benefits, co-benefits, disadvantages, and threats of ICT application in cities and urban environments. The continuous growth of digital technologies and their growing demand in everyday urban practices and systems are already known to scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers. However, this book explores whether or not such applications and usage help us reaching positive peace. This approach is novel in the field of urban studies, allowing us to identify and highlight best practices, successes, and failures of ICT application to meet positive peace pillars. The scope of the book highlights our focus on positive peace and its eight pillars, mainly how they are meant to be achieved in cities and urban areas. With an analytical view on the topic, we aim to reflect on the systematic features of urban systems, using positive peace pillars as the primary targets. We believe ICT application and usage in cities could be more directive and beneficial to reach peace and prosperity to achieve such a goal. Therefore, this book provides a holistic guideline and coverage of ICT use for positive peace pathways and peace-building practices. We hope the findings of the book help researchers and policy-makers to come up with novel and integrated strategies, ensuring that our everyday usage of digital technologies, ICT, and smart tools, are more meaningful and people-oriented.

This book sheds new light on the current and future challenges faced by cities, and presents approaches, options and solutions enabled by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the smart city context. By focusing on sustainability objectives within a rapidly changing social, economic, environmental and technological setting, it explores a variety of planning challenges faced by contemporary cities and the power of smart city developments in terms of providing innovative tools, approaches, methodologies and technologies to help cities cope with these challenges. Key issues addressed include smart city (e-) planning and (e-)participation; smart data management to facilitate decision-making processes in cities and insular communities on a variety of topics; smart and sustainable management aspects of climate change, water scarcity, mobility, energy, infrastructure, tourism, blue growth, risk assessment; etc. The book presents current and potential pathways and applications for the evolution of smart cities and communities, taking into consideration the unique problems and opportunities emanating from their specific geographical location. The case study examples mainly concern small and medium-sized cities and communities as well as insular areas in the Mediterranean region, while also incorporating lessons learned from other parts of the world. Their focus is on the specific opportunities and threats emerging in these urban and insular environments, which are characterized by their role as globally known tourist destinations, their coastal or port character, and unique cultural resources, as well as the high rated vulnerability in very many sustainability respects (social, economic, biodiversity, urbanization, migration, poverty, etc.) to be found in the Mediterranean region at large

As population growth accelerates, researchers and professionals face challenges as they attempt to plan for the future. E-planning is a significant component in addressing the key concerns as the world population moves towards urban environments. E-Planning and Collaboration: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications contains a compendium of the latest academic material on the emerging interdisciplinary areas of e-planning and collaboration. Including innovative studies on data management, urban development, and crowdsourcing, this multi-volume book is an ideal source for planners, policymakers, researchers, and graduate students interested in how recent technological advancements are enhancing the traditional practices in e-planning.

“Smart City” programs and strategies have become one of the most dominant urban agendas for local governments worldwide in the past two decades. The rapid urbanization rate and unprecedented growth of megacities in the 21st century triggered drastic changes in traditional ways of urban policy and planning, leading to an influx of digital technology applications for fast and efficient urban management. With the rising popularity in making our cities “smart”, several domains of urban management, urban infrastructure, and urban quality-of-life have seen increasing dependence on advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) that optimize and control the day-to-day functioning of urban systems. Smart Cities, essentially, act as digital networks that obtain large-scale real-time data on urban systems, process them, and make decisions on how to manage them efficiently. The book presents 26 chapters, which are organized around five topics: (1) Conceptual framework for smart cities and communities; (2) Technical concepts and models for smart city and communities; (3) Civic engagement and citizen participation; (4) Case studies from the Global North; and (5) Case studies from the Global South.

In a series of essays, this book describes and analyzes the concept and theory of the recent smart city phenomenon from a global perspective, with a focus on its implementation around the world. After defining the concept it then elaborates on the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as an enabler for smart cities, and the role of ICT in the interplay with smart mobility. A separate chapter develops the concept of an urban smart dashboard for stakeholders to measure performance as well as the economic and public value. It offers examples of smart cities around the globe, and two detailed case studies on Genoa and Amsterdam exemplify the book’s theoretical and empirical findings, helping readers understand and evaluate the effectiveness and capability of new smart city programs.