Smart CitiesPub Date : 2023-05-09DOI: 10.3390/smartcities6030062
Bethy Merchán-Sanmartín, P. Carrión-Mero, Sebastián Suárez-Zamora, Maribel Aguilar-Aguilar, Omar Cruz-Cabrera, Katherine Hidalgo-Calva, Fernando Morante-Carballo
{"title":"Stormwater Sewerage Masterplan for Flood Control Applied to a University Campus","authors":"Bethy Merchán-Sanmartín, P. Carrión-Mero, Sebastián Suárez-Zamora, Maribel Aguilar-Aguilar, Omar Cruz-Cabrera, Katherine Hidalgo-Calva, Fernando Morante-Carballo","doi":"10.3390/smartcities6030062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6030062","url":null,"abstract":"Floods generated by rain cause significant economic and human losses. The campus of the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL) has a drainage system that conducts stormwater to two discharge points outside the campus. The system works effectively at the macro-drainage level. However, a very crowded area is deficient at the micro-drainage level, which has registered flooding and the proliferation of vectors that affect people’s health. This work aimed to design a masterplan for stormwater sewerage by analyzing the existing situation and applying technical criteria that allow the establishment of solutions and strategies to control floods at the university campus. The methodology consisted of: (i) data collection and processing for the stormwater drainage system diagnosis; (ii) a design proposal for micro-drainage and (iii) a SWOT analysis to propose improvement strategies in water management. The resulting flows for return periods of 5 years, 10 years, and 25 years are 9.67 m3/s, 11.85 m3/s, and 15.85 m3/s, respectively. In the latter, as the most critical area (presence of flooding), the implementation of a trapezoidal channel 80.20 m long, with a capacity of 1.00 m3/s, for a return period of 25 years was proposed. The stormwater masterplan will contribute to the execution of activities within the campus and prevent accidents and the proliferation of diseases, constituting a water-management model that can be replicated locally, regionally, and internationally.","PeriodicalId":34482,"journal":{"name":"Smart Cities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45826823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Smart CitiesPub Date : 2023-05-03DOI: 10.3390/smartcities6030061
B. Molnár, G. Pisoni, Meriem Kherbouche, Yossra Zghal
{"title":"Blockchain-Based Business Process Management (BPM) for Finance: The Case of Credit and Claim Requests","authors":"B. Molnár, G. Pisoni, Meriem Kherbouche, Yossra Zghal","doi":"10.3390/smartcities6030061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6030061","url":null,"abstract":"Because of the competitive economy, organizations today seek to rationalize, innovate, and adapt to changing environments and circumstances as part of business process improvement efforts. The strength of blockchain technology lies in its usage as an apt technology to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes; furthermore, it prevents the use of erroneous or obsolete data and allows sharing of confidential data securely. The use of superior technology in the execution and automation of business processes brings opportunities to rethink the specific process itself as well. Business processes modeling and verification are essential to control and assure organizational evolution, therefore, the aim of this paper is three-fold: firstly, to provide business process management patterns in finance, based on blockchain, specifically for the loan-application process in the banking industry and claim process in the insurance industry that could be used and customized by companies; secondly, to critically analyze challenges and opportunities from the introduction of such approach for companies, and thirdly, to outline how companies can implement the loan business process as a web service. Partner companies (a bank and an insurance company) formulated the potential requirements for M2P along with the application of blockchain technology. An experimental design framework was established that gave the necessary services to model the requirements, check the models, and operationalize the models. The applied research methodologies are as follows: design science research paradigm and software case study, model-to-programming (M2P) of business processes, and utilization of patterns of workflow and blockchain.","PeriodicalId":34482,"journal":{"name":"Smart Cities","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41355364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Smart CitiesPub Date : 2023-04-30DOI: 10.3390/smartcities6030060
Santhanakrishnan Narayanan, Nikita Makarov, Evripidis Magkos, Josep Maria Salanova Grau, G. Aifadopoulou, C. Antoniou
{"title":"Can Bike-Sharing Reduce Car Use in Alexandroupolis? An Exploration through the Comparison of Discrete Choice and Machine Learning Models","authors":"Santhanakrishnan Narayanan, Nikita Makarov, Evripidis Magkos, Josep Maria Salanova Grau, G. Aifadopoulou, C. Antoniou","doi":"10.3390/smartcities6030060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6030060","url":null,"abstract":"The implementation of bike-sharing systems (BSSs) is expected to lead to modifications in the travel habits of transport users, one of which is the choice of travel mode. Therefore, this research focuses on the identification of factors influencing the shift of private car users to BSSs based on stated preference survey data from the city of Alexandroupolis, Greece. A binary logit model is employed for this purpose. The estimation results indicate the impacts of gender, income, travel time, travel cost and safety-related aspects on the mode shift, through which behavioural insights are derived. For example, car users are found to be twice as sensitive to the cost of BSSs than to that of car. Similarly, they are highly sensitive to BSS travel time. Based on the behavioural findings, policy measures are suggested under the following categories: (i) finance, (ii) regulation, (iii) infrastructure, (iv) campaigns and (v) customer targeting. In addition, a secondary objective of this research is to obtain insights from the comparison of the specified logit model with a machine learning approach, as the latter is slowly gaining prominence in the field of transport. For the comparison, a random forest classifier is also developed. This comparison shows a coherence between the two approaches, although a discrepancy in the feature importance for gender and travel time is observed. A deeper exploration of this discrepancy highlights the hurdles that often occur when using mathematically more powerful models, such as the random forest classifier.","PeriodicalId":34482,"journal":{"name":"Smart Cities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43534654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Smart CitiesPub Date : 2023-04-29DOI: 10.3390/smartcities6030059
R. Zari, A. Graich, K. Abdelouahdi, M. Monkade, A. Laghzizil, J. Nunzi
{"title":"Mechanical, Structural, and Environmental Properties of Building Cements from Valorized Sewage Sludges","authors":"R. Zari, A. Graich, K. Abdelouahdi, M. Monkade, A. Laghzizil, J. Nunzi","doi":"10.3390/smartcities6030059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6030059","url":null,"abstract":"Building materials can enable the recycling of sewage sludge from tannery wastewater treatment by infiltration/percolation over coal and clay waste. The process avoids energy-intensive operations and yields a stable and environmentally friendly product. The sludge under study is mainly composed of SiO2, CaO, Al2O3, and Fe2O3, which is convenient to replace the mortar in cement. Different mortars were made by substituting a variable amount of sludge, from 0 to 30%, into the standard cement. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the mortar specimens were characterized after curing for 7 days and 28 days. The best properties were obtained with 15% sludge. Above 15%, the strength decreases at an early stage, as confirmed by SEM and XRD analysis, with more voids and ettringites at larger sludge content. The leaching tests of the mortar confirm that the cumulative values of heavy metals are far below the Deutsch regulatory limits (NEN 7043), justifying retention of the metals in the matrix. Radiological assessment of the sludge mortars also confirms their safety with the values of naturally occurring radioactive materials, surface radon exhalation and annual effective dose far below the required limits. The study suggests that 15% sludge can be used to sustainably replace cement and meet building safety requirement standards.","PeriodicalId":34482,"journal":{"name":"Smart Cities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46528187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Smart CitiesPub Date : 2023-04-21DOI: 10.3390/smartcities6020058
A. Janik, Adam Ryszko, Marek Szafraniec
{"title":"Intelligent and Environmentally Friendly Solutions in Smart Cities’ Development—Empirical Evidence from Poland","authors":"A. Janik, Adam Ryszko, Marek Szafraniec","doi":"10.3390/smartcities6020058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6020058","url":null,"abstract":"This study presents a comprehensive analysis aiming to identify the implementation level of intelligent and environmentally friendly solutions (IEFS) in cities in Poland, and barriers impeding their development. Based on a representative sample of 280 cities, it was evident that the implementation level of IEFS in Poland is relatively very low. The most common barriers to IEFS implementation as indicated by representatives of city authorities were high costs, lack of adequate funds, and lack of awareness of benefits resulting from applying IEFS. Nevertheless, regression analyses showed that the IEFS implementation level was mostly affected by cities’ population size and perception of individual IEFS as integral elements of the smart city concept. It was also revealed that the high costs of implementing IEFS, the lack of their inclusion in local development strategies, the lack of appropriate legal regulations, the lack of widespread good practices, and the resistance of inhabitants to change and to new technologies perceived as impediments had significant negative effects on the implementation level of specific IEFS. Furthermore, the analyses demonstrated that perceiving certain issues as barriers did not hinder the implementation of such solutions. Based on a discussion of the results, relevant recommendations and directions for future research are proposed.","PeriodicalId":34482,"journal":{"name":"Smart Cities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42340611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Smart CitiesPub Date : 2023-04-20DOI: 10.3390/smartcities6020057
K. Turoń
{"title":"Factors Affecting Car-Sharing Services","authors":"K. Turoń","doi":"10.3390/smartcities6020057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6020057","url":null,"abstract":"Car-sharing systems, i.e., short-term car rental services, are solutions indicated as an alternative to individual motorization; they can be used in an increasing number of cities around the world. These services, along with their intensive development, are becoming more and more complex. Due to their complexity, they involve not only an increasing number of stakeholders or infrastructure elements, but also indicate numerous links with the functioning of cities, especially smart cities. To properly implement or improve the car-sharing system, both in terms of operational issues regarding the system’s functioning or changes in the vehicle fleet, it is important to be familiar with the elements that make up car-sharing, as well as the factors that affect it. This work aims to present the factors affecting car-sharing, as well as the transport model of car-sharing services. This work fills the research gap stemming from the lack of comprehensive studies and knowledge on car-sharing. A detailed analysis of the literature shows that there are six main groups of factors affecting car-sharing: economic and technical, transport, social, environmental, organizational, and other issues; among these factors, more than 150 quantitative and qualitative criteria can be distinguished. Furthermore, the work also showed factors that are a niche in the literature and can be the basis for further research on car-sharing. Detailed familiarity with these factors could translate into increased profitability and, above all, success in the functioning of on-the-market services. This article supports the implementation and improvement of car-sharing services. In addition, it supports scientists in the preparation of scientific papers and mathematical models in the field of car-sharing and the factors that affect it.","PeriodicalId":34482,"journal":{"name":"Smart Cities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48969492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Smart CitiesPub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.3390/smartcities6020056
Bowie Liu, Hawking Lai, Stanley Kan, Calana Chan
{"title":"Camera-Based Smart Parking System Using Perspective Transformation","authors":"Bowie Liu, Hawking Lai, Stanley Kan, Calana Chan","doi":"10.3390/smartcities6020056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6020056","url":null,"abstract":"The concept of the “smart city” has emerged with the advancement of technology, but some facilities are not sufficiently intelligent, such as parking lots. Hence, this paper proposes an inexpensive and plug-to-play camera-based smart parking system for airports. The system utilizes inverse perspective mapping (IPM) to provide an aerial view image of the parking lot, which is then processed to extract parking space information. The system also includes a guidance system to assist drivers in finding available parking spaces. The system is simulated on a 3D scene based on the parking lot of Macao International Airport. In the experiment, our system achieved an accuracy rate of 97.03% and a mean distance error of 8.59 pixels. This research study shows the potential of enhancing parking lots using only cameras as data collectors, and the results show that the system is capable of providing accurate and useful information. It performs well in parking lots with open space, in particular. Moreover, it is an economical solution for implementing a smart parking lot.","PeriodicalId":34482,"journal":{"name":"Smart Cities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46668158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Smart CitiesPub Date : 2023-04-17DOI: 10.3390/smartcities6020055
D. Pac-Salas, Leandro Sepúlveda, Juan Miguel Baez Melian, Jaime Minguijon
{"title":"Understanding the Links between Diversity and Creativity as Assessed in the Boroughs of London","authors":"D. Pac-Salas, Leandro Sepúlveda, Juan Miguel Baez Melian, Jaime Minguijon","doi":"10.3390/smartcities6020055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6020055","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyses the links between creativity and diversity in the different boroughs of London. Based on rich data from the UK Census of Population of 2011 and other sources, we specifically analysed the correlations between creativity and diversity within the London boroughs. The main results of this study indicate that there is no direct correlation between creativity and diversity. Some significant correlations have been observed, however, between variables that shape such indices. Namely, the “creative class” tend to live in more diverse, more heterogeneous neighbourhoods (alongside people from many different countries) and they are more prepared to tolerate such diverse environments. The study also shows that diversity of geographical origin (measured by country of origin) is a more relevant factor for boosting creativity than variables such as religious diversity. This article contributes to the theoretical field of research exploring the impact of diversity on creative people and cities.","PeriodicalId":34482,"journal":{"name":"Smart Cities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46340767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Smart CitiesPub Date : 2023-04-13DOI: 10.3390/smartcities6020054
B. Szczucka-Lasota, T. Wȩgrzyn, Abílio P. Silva, A. Jurek
{"title":"AHSS—Construction Material Used in Smart Cities","authors":"B. Szczucka-Lasota, T. Wȩgrzyn, Abílio P. Silva, A. Jurek","doi":"10.3390/smartcities6020054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6020054","url":null,"abstract":"With the level of development of the smart city, there are more and more research sub-areas in which the latest material and technological solutions are used, enabling the proper management and functioning of these cities. On the one hand, the introduced materials and technologies are designed to facilitate the functioning of residents both in the urban space and at home; on the other hand, the implemented solutions strive to be consistent with the principles of sustainable development. As shown in this article, reports on new technical and technological solutions and their positive and negative effects are strongly emphasized in publications on the development of smart cities. The most highlighted materials research in the smart city area concerns smart materials and their characteristics and applications. A research gap in this area is in the presentation of material solutions, particularly materials intended for the load-bearing structures of vehicles (electric vehicles, flying vehicles) or infrastructure elements (buildings, shelters, etc.) designed to increase the durability of the structure while reducing its weight. This paper aims to comprehensively present the most important research areas related to the functioning of smart cities in light of previous research, with particular emphasis on new material solutions used for thin-walled load-bearing structures in smart cities made of AHSS (advanced high-strength steel). These solutions are very essential for smart cities because their use allows for the installation of additional devices, sensors, transmitters, antennas, etc., without increasing the total weight of the structure; they reduce the number of raw materials used for production (lighter and durable thin structures), ensure lower energy consumption (e.g., lighter vehicles), and also increase the passive safety of systems or increase their lifting capacity (e.g., the possibility of transporting more people using transports at the same time; the possibility of designing and arranging, e.g., green gardens on buildings; etc.). AHSS-welded joints are usually characterized by too-low strength in the base material or a tendency to crack. Thus, the research problem is producing a light and durable AHSS structure using welding processes. The research presented in this article concerns the possibility of producing welded joints using the Metal Active Gas (MAG) process. The test methods include the assessment of the quality of joints, such as through visual examination (VT); according to the requirements of PN-EN ISO 17638; magnetic particle testing (MT); according to PN-EN ISO 17638; and the assessment of the selected mechanical properties, such as tensile strength tests, bending tests, and fatigue strength checks. These methods enable the selection of the correct joints, without welding defects. The results have a practical implication; advanced production technology for obtaining AHSS joints can be used in the construction of the load-bear","PeriodicalId":34482,"journal":{"name":"Smart Cities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47941558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Smart CitiesPub Date : 2023-04-12DOI: 10.3390/smartcities6020053
Yelena Popova, S. Popovs
{"title":"Effects and Externalities of Smart Governance","authors":"Yelena Popova, S. Popovs","doi":"10.3390/smartcities6020053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6020053","url":null,"abstract":"The concept of a smart city is widely implemented all over the world, and this fact creates both possibilities and new challenges for all participants and stakeholders of the process. This study examines the implementation of smart governance in the context of smart cities. The goal of the research is to distinguish between the effects and externalities of the smart governance domain, both positive and negative ones; the effects and externalities are elicited from the outcomes of smart governance implementation revealed from a review of scientific publications devoted to the results, barriers, and facilitators of smart governance functioning. The publications were selected according to a systematic review methodology, then the selected articles were analyzed and the factors that foster the processes of smart governance implementation (facilitators) or vice versa hamper the acquisition of results (barriers), as well as the outcomes of smart governance, were extracted. The extracted factors were attributed to six areas: Information, Efficiency, Citizen-Centricity, Transparency, Digital Divide, and Regulation. Further, the outcomes of smart governance implementation were distinguished as effects and externalities, which were both positive and negative.","PeriodicalId":34482,"journal":{"name":"Smart Cities","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41672531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}