Smart Cities and Urban Design

Globally, cities are experiencing an unprecedented socio-economic, demographic, and environmental transition that brings with it negative environmental externalities, such as climate change and environmental degradation. Smart energy city (SEC) has emerged as the latest urban development strategy in European countries. It can vastly accelerate cities’ decarbonisation efforts, which can have several co-benefits. Capitalising on advances in information and communication technologies (ICT), various SEC projects have been initiated and seek to integrate ICT into the urban system. Although there are a significant number of SEC demonstration projects, there has been a scant examination of the performance and overall effect of these projects in addressing core sustainability endogenous principles. This research provides an in-depth analysis of the components of the SEC projects, highlighting the strengths and shortcomings. By highlighting the “Smart INitiative of cities Fully cOmmitted to iNvest In Advanced large-scale energy solutions” (SINFONIA) project in Bolzano, we aimed to determine the extent to which the current practical processes are achieved in reality. Our methodology entailed a structured literature review of the different components of SEC projects, followed by a content analysis based on the 5W1H (why, what, who, how, where, and when) conceptual framework. The data collection methods adopted included a review of specific open-access sources and project deliverables of each of the selected SEC projects, personal observation of the case study city, and interviews with SEC project experts. We analysed the SEC projects components against fundamental sustainability principles of integration, implementation, equity (intra-generational, procedural, and inter-generational), and scalability and replicability to assess their potential for creating sustainable urban settlements. The study found that the critical components of SEC projects are strategically aligned with sustainability dimensions. However, although ICT integration in urban planning and development provides the core determinants of the components, stakeholder engagement and dynamic business models are critical for successful implementation. Furthermore, through scalability and replicability of SEC projects, diversification of sustainability principles can be actualised throughout the entire city and in other geographical regions to ensure long-term intra-generational and inter-generational equity. Full article

As China increases its pace of urbanization, urban areas achieve rapid development by snatching resources from small towns that suffer persistent outflow of resources and anemic growth. Consequently, this trend is likely to destroy the foundation of urbanization and structural equilibrium of sustainable development. Based on the theory of complex adaptive systems (CAS), this paper held that the changes above were results of the small towns’ making adaptive adjustments to their internal structures according to external environments. To assess the fitness values of the small towns around major cities in China, this study analyzed Wuhan city and its peripheral towns from the ‘fitness’ perspective using the NK model. Meanwhile, the “space-function” coupled mode was introduced to analyze the development features of these small towns at different fitness levels. On this basis, spatial autocorrelation was employed to reveal the spatial patterns of the small towns around Wuhan according to their fitness values. Besides, the locally optimal paths of eight different types of combinations to evolve fitness were identified based on the NK computation results. The findings indicate positive correlations between the fitness values of small towns around major cities and the number of dominant factors. Apart from this, there exists a hierarchical clustering structure in the region of the major city which is bounded by urban growth boundary based on the fitness values of small towns. Also, spatial restructuring, the path to closer interaction with peripheral adaptive agents and effective resource integration in a greater scope, should be given priority to improve the adaptability of small towns. Additionally, the small towns should shift toward the function-oriented pattern that emphasizes specialization from the conventional centralized clustering structure to go with the tide of regional specialization and transformation in urban areas and realize their regional value. Full article