Urban sustainability and its environmental dimension are an integral part of smart city projects. In this regard, the role of sustainability is widely analysed in the smart city context, in which the existence of different... [ view full abstract ]
Urban sustainability and its environmental dimension are an integral part of smart city projects. In this regard, the role of sustainability is widely analysed in the smart city context, in which the existence of different definitions often relates to the focus on a specific dimension, as economic, social and environmental. The environmental and governance components are intrinsic to the smart sustainable city concept, which aim to ensure urban utility and service availability, as well as addressing mobility aspects. Estevez and Janowski (2013) define electronic governance for sustainable development (EGOV4SD) as the use of ICT to support public services, public administration, and the interaction between the government and the public by creating possibilities for public participation in government decision-making, promoting social equity and socioeconomic development and protecting natural resources for future generations. According to Portney et al. (2010, p. 132) “searching for a developmental path for sustainability is an interesting and significant problem for scholars of both environmental politics and urban government”. In this regard, it has been noticed that cities enrolled in explicit sustainability policies are more participatory (Portney et al. 2010). This research aims to contribute filling the gap suggested by Estevez, Lopez and Janowski (2015) in their proposed research agenda in Smart Sustainable Cities. According to the authors, firstly, “research problems must be policy relevant, address existing gaps or solve policy demands, apply multiple views to the issues at stake, and rely on available data and evidence to formulate findings”. We propose creating a tool for supporting the decision makers to create policy scenarios through data from social media and open data. Second, research should relate to at least two of the four p’s: people, problems, programs or phenomena. According to Estevez, Lopez and Janowski (2015) “questions should examine whether a given problem affects a group of people, look at how a program solves a given problem, or analyse how a phenomenon produced by a given program affects a group of people”. This research aims at assessing the effectiveness of the waste collection and disposal system (program) for improving the mobility (problem) of citizens (people) and to create safer home-school itineraries for primary school children (program) for improving the mobility and safety (problem) of citizens (people). Third, “research problems should also relate to the intersection of the urbanization, digitization or sustainability”. This research proposes creating a channel for stimulating two-way communication (digitization) that helps citizens (sustainability) to participate in the policy-making processes and urban planning (urbanization). In order to achieve this goal and deliver a higher quality urban environment, we stress the importance of engaging citizens in policy making and supporting policy makers through the use of information and communication technologies and decision support systems, which are in turn fundamental features of a smart sustainable cities. Through the potential and integration of linked open data, social media and Fuzzy Cognitive Maps as a decision support tool, we aim to integrate the ICT dimension of smart cities and smart governance in environmental policy objectives.
C3 - Smart Cities: A Global Comparative Public Management Perspective
