[AISWorld] Call for Papers: Special Issue "Building Smart and Sustainable Cities: Emerging Technologies and Innovation for Digital-Era Governance and Long-Term Impacts"

Wed Dec 2 15:34:46 EST 2020

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Special Issue: Building Smart and Sustainable Cities: Emerging Technologies and Innovation for Digital-Era Governance and Long-Term Impacts

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/Digital-Era_Governance

Guest Editors:

J. Ramon Gil-Garcia 1, 2, Mila Gasco-Hernández 1, and Tzuhao Chen 1

1 University at Albany, State University of New York, USA

2 Universidad de las Americas Puebla, Mexico

A Special Issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Current Impact Factor: 2.576

5-year Impact Factor: 2.798

Deadline for manuscript submissions: March 1st, 2021.

Special Issue Description and Focus

Although cities around the world are already implementing an array of initiatives in an attempt to become smarter, there is still no consensus among researchers and practitioners about what should be included or not in the conceptualization of "smartness" (Gil-Garcia, Zhang and Puron-Cid, 2016). Similar to other topics related to digital governance, some definitions draw attention to the technological elements, while others to the development of human capital, environmental sustainability, or physical infrastructure, among other aspects (Gil-Garcia, Pardo, and Nam, 2015). However, it seems to be clear now that smart cities are not only about harnessing the potential of new data and emergent information technologies, but many other components are essential to achieve some of the promises in terms of better services and improved quality of life (Gasco-Hernandez and Gil-Garcia, 2017; Gil-Garcia, Helbig and Ojo, 2014). One of these important components of smart cities is sustainability broadly understood (Gasco-Hernandez, 2009; Webster & Leleux, 2019; Encalada at al., 2017; Errichiello & Micera, 2018).

We argue that no matter what definition scholars and practitioners use, smart city success should involve being sustainable in the medium and long term. Sustainability may be understood as results' duration and persistence over time. In this respect, sustainability may be seen as the ultimate test of a smart city strategy's success, since it evaluates if its positive outcomes will last through time, no matter the technical or environmental changes that may take place (Gasco-Hernandez, 2009). The infrastructure and the technology must be maintained and updated but, more importantly, the benefits of smart cities should persist over time. Therefore, in order to be sustainable, smart cities need to consider many different aspects of the urban context, particularly in terms of long-term results. However, the literature has explored almost exclusively environmental sustainability and we believe that for a city to be really sustainable other dimensions of sustainability need to be further considered.

Indeed, sustainability in this smart city context is not only about the natural environment, but also includes economic, political, and social aspects as well as their results in the long-term. First, economic and financial resources can influence the capability of the government to develop and sustain smart cities (Jiang et al., 2019). Second, in order to achieve social sustainability, smart cities should include not only a focus on service delivery but also on sustainable mechanisms of citizen engagement (Webster & Leleux, 2019) and knowledge sharing among collaborators (Rădulescu et al., 2020). Social sustainability in smart cities could lead to more inclusiveness and a richer appropriation of technology, making the city resilient (Aurigi & Odendaal, 2020) and enabling better management outcomes (Errichiello & Micera, 2018). Lastly, political sustainability matters for smart city initiatives to achieve its intended goals and being viable in the long-term. For instance, Van den Bergh & Viaene (2016) reveal that political willingness, commitment, and smart city leadership play a crucial role in the implementation and endurance of smart city initiatives. Thus, it is clear that there are many dimensions to smart cities' sustainability, but the current literature has not adequately addressed all of them.

Sustainability's Special Issue "Building Smart and Sustainable Cities: Emerging Technologies and Innovation for Digital-Era Governance and Long-Term Impacts" attempts to address the research gap above by focusing on the (ecological, economic, social, and political) sustainability of smart cities. Some of the questions we ask include: what needs to be done to achieve smart city long-term sustainability? How can we better assess these dimensions of sustainability in the context of smart cities? How do these dimensions relate to environmental sustainability? Accordingly, the Special Issue invites original, novel, and high-quality papers that advance our current understanding of smart and sustainable cities, including the role of emerging technologies and innovation in long-term urban governance. It takes a comprehensive perspective and attempts to bridge the gap between sound research and practice expertise in the area of smart and sustainable cities, including innovations in policy, management, technology and data aspects. We welcome manuscripts encompassing conceptual approaches, theoretical frameworks, empirical research, and case studies of cities from all around the globe.

The Special Issue focuses on topics that include, but are not limited to:

*          Smart cities and their sustainability in the long term

*          Importance of (ecological, economic, and social) sustainability for smart cities

*          Theories and analytical frameworks to study smart and sustainable cities

*          Fundamental concepts underlying smart city initiatives, including sustainability aspects

*          Relationships between smartness and sustainability in cities

*          Emergent technologies and their implications for smart cities, including sustainability

*          The role of innovative strategies in smart cities, including sustainability aspects

*          Rigorous empirical studies about smart cities

*          Case studies of smart city initiatives

*          Research-based practical recommendations for making cities smarter

*          Evaluation tools and strategies for smart city initiatives

*          Public value assessment models for smart city initiatives

*          Governance models for smart cities

*          Managerial implications of smart city initiatives

*          Implementation of smart city initiatives

Keywords: smart city, sustainable city, smart community, emergent technologies, innovation, urban context, urban governance, smart city initiative, economic sustainability, social sustainability, political sustainability, environmental sustainability

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com<http://www.mdpi.com> by registering and logging in to the website. Once you are registered, go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published on a continuous basis 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.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts will be 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 1800 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.

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/Digital-Era_Governance

If you have any questions or need more information about the Special Issue, please, contact the Editors:

J. Ramon Gil-Garcia

Center for Technology in Government and Rockefeller College of Public Affaris and Policy, University at Albany, State University of New York & Universidad de las Americas Puebla

www.ctg.albany.edu<http://www.ctg.albany.edu>

www.albany.edu/rockefeller<http://www.albany.edu/rockefeller>

E-Mail: jgil-garcia at ctg.albany.edu<mailto:jgil-garcia at ctg.albany.edu>

Mila Gasco-Hernandez

Center for Technology in Government and Rockefeller College of Public Affaris and Policy, University at Albany, State University of New York

www.ctg.albany.edu<http://www.ctg.albany.edu>

www.albany.edu/rockefeller<http://www.albany.edu/rockefeller>

E-Mail: mgasco at ctg.albany.edu<mailto:mgasco at ctg.albany.edu>

Tzuhao Chen

Rockefeller College of Public Affaris and Policy, University at Albany, State University of New York

www.albany.edu/rockefeller<http://www.albany.edu/rockefeller>

E-Mail: tchen9 at albany.edu<mailto:tchen9 at albany.edu>

References

Aurigi, Alessandro and Nancy Odendaal (2020). From "Smart in the Box" to "Smart in the City": Rethinking the Socially Sustainable Smart City in Context, Journal of Urban Technology, DOI: 10.1080/10630732.2019.1704203

Encalada L, Boavida-Portugal I, Cardoso Ferreira C, Rocha J. Identifying Tourist Places of Interest Based on Digital Imprints: Towards a Sustainable Smart City. Sustainability. 2017; 9(12):2317.

Errichiello, L., & Micera, R. (2018). Leveraging Smart Open Innovation for Achieving Cultural Sustainability: Learning from a New City Museum Project. Sustainability, 10(6), 1964.

Gasco-Hernandez, M. (2009). Criterios para evaluación de buenas prácticas en el ámbito del uso de las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones (Criteria to assess good practices related to the use of information and communication technologies). Barcelona: Fundació Pi i Sunyer.

Gasco, Mila and J. Ramon Gil-Garcia. (2017). Is It More than Using Data and Technology in Local Governments? Identifying Opportunities and Challenges for Cities to Become Smarter. UMKC Law Review, 85(4): 915-924.

Gil-Garcia, J. Ramon, Jing Zhang, and Gabriel Puron-Cid. (2016). Conceptualizing Smartness in Government: An Integrative and Multi-Dimensional View. Government Information Quarterly, 33 (3): 524-534.

Gil-Garcia, J. Ramon, Natalie Helbig and Adegboyega Ojo. (2014). Being smart: Emerging Technologies and Innovation in the Public Sector. Government Information Quarterly, 31 (Supplement 1): I1-I8.

Gil-Garcia, J. Ramon, Theresa A. Pardo and Taewoo Nam. (2015). What Makes a City Smart? Identifying Core Components and Proposing an Integrative and Comprehensive Conceptualization. Information Polity, 20 (1): 61-87.

Jiang, H., Geertman, S., & Witte, P. (2019). Smart urban governance: An urgent symbiosis? Information Polity, 24(3), 245-269.

Rădulescu, C. M., Slava, S., Rădulescu, A. T., Toader, R., Toader, D.-C., & Boca, G. D. (2020). A Pattern of Collaborative Networking for Enhancing Sustainability of Smart Cities. Sustainability, 12(3), 1042.

Van den Bergh, J., & Viaene, S. (2016). Unveiling smart city implementation challenges: The case of Ghent. Information Polity, 21(1), 5-19.

Webster, C. W. R and Leleux, C. (2019) Searching for the Real Sustainable Smart City?. Information Polity, 24 (3): 229-244.

=
Dr. J. Ramon Gil-Garcia, MPA
Research Director
Center for Technology in Government, University at Albany, SUNY
187 Wolf Road, Suite 301, Albany, NY 12205
Tel.: (518) 442-3892
E-mail: jgil-garcia at ctg.albany.edu<mailto:jgil-garcia at ctg.albany.edu>
www.ctg.albany.edu<http://www.ctg.albany.edu>

Author of the book "Enacting Electronic Government Success: An Integrative Study of
Government-wide Websites, Organizational Capabilities and Institutions"
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2015-6

Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration and Policy
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
University at Albany, State University of New York
135 Western Avenue, Milne Hall 317, Albany, NY 12203
Tel.: (518) 442-5282
E-mail: jgil-garcia at albany.edu<mailto:jgil-garcia at albany.edu>
www.albany.edu/rockefeller<http://www.albany.edu/rockefeller>
[cid:image001.png at 01D0EBCA.9E08EA90]<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rockefeller-College-of-Public-Affairs-Policy/161758067934?ref=ts>  [cid:image002.png at 01D0EBCA.9E08EA90] <https://twitter.com/RockefellerColl>  [cid:image003.png at 01D0EBCA.9E08EA90] <https://www.youtube.com/uarockefellercollege>  [cid:image004.png at 01D0EBCA.9E08EA90] <http://instagram.com/rockefellercollege>  [cid:image005.png at 01D0EBCA.9E08EA90] <http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Rockefeller-College-Public-Affairs-Policy-4523586?home=&gid=4523586&trk=anet_ug_hm>

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