Smart Cities for Sustainable Development

Dear Colleagues,

The Smart Cities concept is evolving toward Sustainable and Resilience Cities in response to the challenges resulting from increasing energy costs and the overpopulation of cities; for example,  half of the global population now live in cities—a figure that is expected to rise to 80% by 2050— and > 7 billion people are projected to be living in urban areas, extreme weather events driven by climate change, the mobility of new ecosystems, post-COVID-19 lifestyles and the promotion of remote work, and all of the new investments in the co-existence of digital, virtual, and physical ecosystems.

The development of sustainable infrastructure, with a strong awareness of its impact, is crucial; current buildings account for 30% of global energy consumption and 28% of energy-related carbon emissions. City leaders must act with urgency against a worldwide pandemic, climate crisis, economic uncertainty, and budget constraints to make urban infrastructure more resilient. Markets are increasingly pressuring cities to reduce carbon emissions, respond to extreme weather events, reduce waste, and preserve natural resources while still providing critical infrastructure and resources. Citizens expect this as well, increasingly demanding greater transparency.

Digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things, are enablers for cities and public facilities seeking to transform into more sustainable operations while continuing to ensure functionality, comfort, safety, and efficiency. Five trends are underpinning the need for digital transformation, each of which can be met with a sustainable solution that can generate significant savings on time and cost, improve the reliability of core assets, and reduce response times and energy use:

1. Connectivity with introducing service networks requires greater operational agility and resiliency as LoRa, 5G, 6G and beyond.
2. Resilience funds and green deal funds to overcome this crisis with improved operational efficiency
3. Digital and remote workforces, also including the automation of tasks.
4. Infrastructure regeneration for mobility, urban development, waste, environment, etc., to improve reliability and safety
5. Sustainability focus, making net zero emissions more achievable and cost-effective.

To understand the challenges of the economic model vs. social impact and environment, we can use the “doughnut effect” as a reference. Cities such as Cartagena, Murcia, Amsterdam, Brussels, Melbourne, and Berlin are examples of cities using these models to pave the way toward social and environmental sustainability.

The theory of the doughnut formula relates to changing the economic model within the means of the planet's limited natural resources. The one at the center is the social foundation, including basic fundamental rights, and the outer ring is the ecological ceiling, which cannot be exceeded if we are to guarantee the prosperity of humanity.

This Special Issue aims to collect all the innovations based on technologies such as platforms, digital twins, the Internet of Things, and innovative sensors related to policies, ussssssss, best practices, experiences, and resilience solutions.

Dr. Antonio J. Jara
Guest Editor

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