From smart to empathic cities

This paper acknowledges the contemporary neoliberal mode of operation of Smart Cities.The pitfalls of Smart Cities concerning its propensity towards techno-centric and efficiency-focused governance are identified,with diminutive emphasis on social equity and human-centric urban growth.Thus,the paper elaborates upon an alternative mode of person-environment-interaction based approach towards placemaking:Empathic Cities.This approach implies embracing a shift from efficiency to sufficiency and wellbeing embedded regenerative perspective for conceiving the built environment.First,the variable dimensions of urban growth and governance,which gave rise to the smart city,are contextualized.The embedded neoliberal operational agenda of smart cities are established.On this basis,the un-derpinnings of an empathic city are established by acknowledging the shift from techno-centric to human-centric and from product-based to context-based smart city and wellbeing perspectives.Strategies toward urban development are proposed,such as embracing a regen-erative perspective wherein the city and its constituents need to be understood as interdepen-dent systemic elements while embracing a human-centric and ethical approach.Additionally,a transition from efficiency to sufficiency-oriented practices and a shift towards inclusive modes of participatory governance are proposed as fundamental principles for an empathic future of the built environment.     

From smart to empathic cities

This paper acknowledges the contemporary neoliberal mode of operation of Smart Cities. The pitfalls of Smart Cities concerning its propensity towards techno-centric and efficiency-focused governance are identified, with diminutive emphasis on social equity and human-centric urban growth. Thus, the paper elaborates upon an alternative mode of person-environment-interaction based approach towards placemaking: Empathic Cities. This approach implies embracing a shift from efficiency to sufficiency and wellbeing embedded regenerative perspective for conceiving the built environment. First, the variable dimensions of urban growth and governance, which gave rise to the smart city, are contextualized. The embedded neoliberal operational agenda of smart cities are established. On this basis, the underpinnings of an empathic city are established by acknowledging the shift from technocentric to human-centric and from product-based to context-based smart city and wellbeing perspectives. Strategies toward urban development are proposed, such as embracing a regenerative perspective wherein the city and its constituents need to be understood as interdependent systemic elements while embracing a human-centric and ethical approach. Additionally, a transition from efficiency to sufficiency-oriented practices and a shift towards inclusive modes of participatory governance are proposed as fundamental principles for an empathic future of the built environment.     

Sustainable smart city development framework for developing countries

ABSTRACT

Basic requirements of sustainable smart cities in a developing country are the entitlement of facilities. Here, an index named Smart Sustainable City Development Index (SSCDI) has been developed for three Indian Smart Cities. A hierarchical method has been used to construct the index with multiple layers of indicators capturing characteristics of the dimensions such as social, economic, environment, culture and lifestyle. This index is used to assess performances of the three case study cities based on the scores in various indicators. This SSCDI framework provides a conceptual landscape for developing countries for planning their sustainable urban development and evaluation of performances.     

Analysing real world data streams with spatio-temporal correlations: Entropy vs. Pearson correlation

Smart Cities use different Internet of Things (IoT) data sources and rely on big data analytics to obtain information or extract actionable knowledge crucial for urban planners for efficiently use and plan the construction infrastructures. Big data analytics algorithms often consider the correlation of different patterns and various data types. However, the use of different techniques to measure the correlation with smart cities data and the exploitation of correlations to infer new knowledge are still open questions. This paper proposes a methodology to analyse data streams, based on spatio-temporal correlations using different correlation algorithms and provides a discussion on co-occurrence vs. causation. The proposed method is evaluated using traffic data collected from the road sensors in the city of Aarhus in Denmark.     

The prospects for African urban economies

Cities generally function as sources of economic development and human progress. One of the puzzles about Africa's urbanization is that it has not been accompanied by greater economic dynamism. The paper considers the distinctive development trajectory of African urban economies. It considers the applicability of the argument that cities are drivers of economic growth, and the idea that cities develop more complex, higher-value functions over time. It examines the recent revival of African economies, and asks whether the fashionable idea of enhanced international integration through cross-border collaboration might facilitate greater urban prosperity.     

Incorporating a Systemic and Foresight Approach into Smart City Initiatives: The Case of Spanish Cities

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, cities face serious societal, economic, environmental, and governance challenges. Under the term “Smart City,” numerous technology-based initiatives are emerging to help cities face contemporary challenges while the concept itself is evolving towards a more holistic approach. Nevertheless, the capability of smart initiatives to provide an integrated vision of our cities is still very limited. Eventually, many of these initiatives do not fulfill satisfactorily their initial objectives because they fail to understand the complexity, diversity, and uncertainty that characterize contemporary cities. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to display an urban functional system, capable of interpreting the city in a more holistic way, and to incorporate foresight tools so as to formulate Smart City visions in a more participatory way with the involvement of local stakeholders.     

Smart City Planning from an Evolutionary Perspective

ABSTRACT

In the theory of urban development, the evolutionary perspective is becoming dominant. Cities are understood as complex systems shaped by bottom-up processes with outcomes that are hard to foresee and plan for. This perspective is strengthened by the current turn towards smart cities and the intensive use of digital technologies to optimize urban ecosystems. This paper extends the evolutionary thinking and emerging dynamics of cities to smart city planning. It is based on recent efforts for a smart city strategy in Thessaloniki that enhances the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of the city. Taking advantage of opportunities offered by the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge, the Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities, the World Bank, and the EU Horizon 2020 Program, Thessaloniki shaped a strategy for an inclusive economy, resilient infrastructure, participatory governance, and open data. This process, however, does not have the usual features of planning. It reveals the complex dimension of smart city planning as a synthesis of technologies, user engagement, and windows of opportunity, which are fuzzy at the start of the planning process. The evolutionary features of cities, which until now were ascribed to the working of markets, are now shaping the institutional aspects of planning for smart cities.     

寒地低碳城市发展策略探讨——以哈尔滨市为例

在世界建设低碳城市的热潮中,各城市针对自身特点进行的低碳建设取得了积极的进展,而生态敏感度高、气候条件恶劣的城市地区的低碳城市建设面临更加严峻的挑战.哈尔滨市根据自身条件,在分析其低碳城市建设面临的主要问题的基础上,确立了寒地低碳城市建设目标,在城市总体规划层面,提出区域协调、城乡统筹、提升经济实力等对策,以期为寒地城...     

社会恢复性城市主义：社会导向下的城市设计原则与实践

介绍一种社会导向的城市设计框架——社会恢复性城市主义的实际应用原则和方法。聚焦于社会、空间和物质维度在城市领域的整合,为思考城市空间结构与社会过程之间的关系提供了新的方式。从这一点来看,社会恢复性城市主义与越来越多的、倡导能够有效回应城市环境的学科理论产生了共鸣,并作出了自己的贡献。社会恢复性城市主义的特殊性在于它是基于城市领域体验维度的形成性研究,鼓励在城市环境变化过程中的包容性、参与式实践,并强调人境的互动对实现城市环境社会效益的重要性。概述了社会恢复性城市主义发展研究的几项核心内容,包括体验式景观（experiential landscape）、体验学过程（experiemic process）、MYTO（我的、你的、我们的、他们的）以及此项研究在人境研究国际协会（IAPS）的“新时代的老城市：城市设计的综合空间社会性方法”（New-Aging Cities: An Integrated Socio-Spatial Approach to Urban Design）研讨会中发表的成果,并进一步说明了这些成果是如何影响人境一体化概念的发展。这一背景促使社会恢复性城市主义逐渐发展,并在实践中应用在城市街景的社会维度——过渡性边缘和微环境。最后,基于社会空间城市主义研究中心（SsUU）的构建,提出了社会恢复性城市主义进一步发展的前景。     

The role of national identity and tourism in city planning: the case of Valletta

Decisions regarding the design, conservation and regeneration of urban areas are influenced by a number of factors. In cities that function as national monuments, matters of national identity and tourism are inevitably prioritized. While these objectives may be compatible, there are concerns that good planning practice and liveability of cities is compromised. This paper analyses these issues through a detailed analysis of Valletta, the capital city of Malta. The paper concludes that an over-emphasis on tourism and national projects has affected Valletta's liveability and, paradoxically, it has made the city less attractive to tourists and less representative of Malta.     

低碳城市规划建设:成本效益分析

城市是我国二氧化碳排放源头集中区域,城市规划建设是实现控制碳排放的关键政策领域。控制城市化过程中的碳排放,需要采取低碳城市发展模式。在当前我国各地政府都要建设低碳城市之际,对低碳城市规划和建设进行成本效益分析十分必要。城市政策手段必然有其成本,而政策手段带来的效益也需要有科学客观的分析,才能在制定政策及建设项目时提高社会整体资源效率,达到优化社会经济资源的目的。本文提出有必要建立一套低碳城市成本效益理论和方法,评估低碳城市规划建设政策和投资决定。     

Smart City implementation and discourses: An integrated conceptual model. The case of Vienna

In recent years many initiatives have been developed under the Smart City label in a bid to provide a response to challenges facing cities today. The concept has evolved from a sector-based approach to a more comprehensive view that places governance and stakeholders' involvement at the core of strategies. However, Smart City implementation requires lowering the scale from the strategy to the project level. Therefore, the ability of Smart City initiatives to provide an integrated and systematic answer to urban challenges is constantly being called into question. Stakeholder involvement in both the projects and the city strategy is key to developing a governance framework that allows an integrated and comprehensive understanding. This can only be done if Smart City strategies take the stakeholders' opinion into account and seek a compromise between their views and the implementation of the strategy.Multiple attempts have been made to analyse Smart Cities, but tools are needed to understand their complexity and reflect the stakeholders' role in developing Smart City initiatives and their capacity to face urban challenges. This paper pursues two objectives: (A) to develop a conceptual model capable of displaying an overview of (a) the stakeholders taking part in the initiative in relation to (b) the projects developed and (c) the challenges they face; and (B) to use this model to synthesise the opinion of different stakeholders involved in Smart City initiatives and compare their attitudes to the key projects implemented in a corresponding SC strategy. The methodology combines project analysis with surveys and interviews with different groups of key stakeholders (governments, private companies, universities and research centres, and civil society) through text analysis. The conceptual model is developed through discussions with different European stakeholders and is applied to the case of the Vienna Smart City strategy.     

城市:可计算的复杂有机系统——评《创造未来城市》

近年来,随着信息化、数字化技术嵌入人类生产生活的各个方面,城市原有的生产方式、距离感和社会结构都在发生着巨大的改变,自第一次工业革命以来数百年间形成的城市社会组织生产方式与生活范式正在加速奔向一个尚无法确定终极图景的未来。因此,未来城市是什么?它是否可以被预测?又应该被如何创造?这些成为城市研究中的复杂哲学问题。而迈克尔·巴蒂教授的《创造未来城市》一书正是在这样的背景下应运而生。该书首先肯定了城市的复杂性和不可预测性,并以客观且综合的视角研究了城市的过去与当前的情况,进而结合最新的技术和变革趋势探讨了创造未来城市的普适性概念。本文基于著作的主要内容,结合自身对城市的思考和实践,以跨学科和时空维度视角对著作中针对创造城市未来所提出的核心观点和主要结论进行评述,主要包括城市的演变、城市的本质、城市运行机制和城市规划如何介入未来城市创造的过程,以期引起对未来城市以及如何营造未来城市的更多思考。     

Where is the ‘Social’ in Constructions of ‘Liveability’? Exploring Community,Social Interaction and Social Cohesion in Changing Urban Environments

Ongoing changes in the urban environment have renewed interest in the transformation of cities and suburbs as liveable places. This article examines the limitations inherent in a functional (objective) notion of liveability that commonly underpins government policy directions. Through an examination of key debates in the literature we consider how the delivery of the social (subjective) dimension of liveability, linked to community, social interaction and social cohesion, poses unique challenges for policy makers, urban planners and developers. We argue for a deeper understanding of the social constructs of liveability that acknowledges the complexity of changing urban environments in contemporary society.     

Towards Post-Anthropocentric Cities: Reconceptualizing Smart Cities to Evade Urban Ecocide

ABSTRACT

This short piece acts as a coda to this journal’s special issue on “Smart Cities and Innovative Technologies.” First, it provides a retrospective view of the origins of the smart city concept. The paper, secondly, presents the most recent perspectives on the new interpretations of the smart city notion. It then provides a commentary on the potential directions for a better reconceptualization of smart cities to evade a most likely urban ecocide. Lastly, the short communication concludes by asking two critical questions: (a) Will urban scholars, planners, designers, and activists be able to convince urban policymakers and the general public of the need for a post-anthropocentric urban turnaround? (b) How do the public, private, and academic sectors along with communities pave the way for post-anthropocentric cities and more-than-human futures?     

Planning and Construction of Low Carbon Cities:The Relevance of Cost-Benefit Analysis

Cities are the major source of carbon dioxide emissions in China,and are the critical locations where emissions should be effectively managed.Adopting a low carbon urban development model is the pathway towards reducing the emissions.A low carbon city development model means achieving efficient and effective urban growth through low energy consumption and low emissions.While many local authorities in China have started to express the intention to construct low carbon cities,it is important to emphasize the need to apply a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) to low carbon urban policies and development projects.Since all policies and projects will have their costs and benefits to the society,the effects of the policies and projects on reducing emissions should be measured and assessed objectively.Through the setting up of an analysis framework to assess the costs and benefits,one can provide a scientific basis for decision making,and enhance the overall efficiency in the use of resources for the society as a whole.     

Building up resilience in cities worldwide – Rotterdam as participant in the 100 Resilient Cities Programme

Cities worldwide are challenged by a high complexity of acute and chronic problems, including challenges related to economic development, social polarisation and segregation as well as climate change and ecological degradation. While all of these problems are complex in themselves, they are also interrelated. Addressing them in a meaningful way requires governance systems with systemic capacities to deal with complexity. In order to create resilience in urban systems, cities need to be able to learn, adapt and transform across sectors and levels. One definition of urban resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow regardless of the kinds of chronic stress and acute shocks they experience. This is the definition the Rockefeller Foundation adopts in its mission to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world by facilitating the building of resilience in cities worldwide through its 100 Resilient Cities Programme, launched in 2013. Rotterdam is one of the first cities to participate in this programme. The city has been a front-runner in preparing for climate change and striving for urban sustainability. This paper assesses the concept of urban resilience, introduces the Rockefeller Foundation's effort in building city resilience worldwide and illustrates this with the Rotterdam case.     

An investigation of IBM's Smarter Cites Challenge: What do participating cities want?

In 2010, IBM created the Smarter Cites Challenge to address critical issues of the 21st century through its digital expertise, in collaboration with city governments. Despite questions about the origin and intentions of IBM's involvement, 130 cities from all around the world took up the challenge in the first five years. There is limited case study research available on a number of participating cities which has not been able to unpack cities' rationale for working with IBM. This paper provides an index of all participating cities in the Smarter Cities Challenge, to understand the areas of interest in which urban governments have been seeking IBM's consulting service. Findings present the state of smart city thinking in urban governments, and raise questions about the multidimensional integration, if any, across the areas of focus in which digital technologies are shaping contemporary cities.     

城镇、农村和城镇—农村体：三磁体

文章由霍华德的＂三磁体＂图式切入,从霍华德的田园城市思想对英国城市发展的影响进行追溯,扩展至对欧洲城市不同发展前景的探讨,着重阐述了在向新经济转化的过程中当代城市的主要类型与特征;并进一步聚焦于城市宜居性议题,尤其是城市宜居性与创造力的关系;最后特别阐述了欧洲城市的发展经验对于中国城市发展的启示。     

基于边缘城市理论的产业园区规划策略研究——以中国-泰国崇左产业园为例

边缘城市是美国郊区化的产物,产业园区是我国拉动经济和拓展城市空间最重要的载体,两者都是新形势下城市发展演进过程中最引人注目的现象。通过对美国边缘城市的现象观察及其与我国产业园区的比较研究,从城市、区域、网络三视角,提出产城融合化、功能复合化、环境品质化、城镇体系化、数字智慧化等基于边缘城市理论的产业园区规划策略,并以中国-泰国崇左产业园规划进行了实证研究,将边缘城市理论运用于城乡规划实践。同时,立足"边缘城市=边缘+城市"解构,提出边缘城市的核心在于"城市"——立足职住平衡的城市功能中心化;活力在于"边缘"——立足网络协同的多中心城市区域形态格局建构,并指出边缘城市依托规模互借协同效应,促进城市形态沿单中心-多中心-城市群演替、空间结构沿等级化-(扁平化)网络化-一体化演化,已成为城市区域走向多中心网络一体化协同发展的新兴生长点或战略性支点。