Breaking Down Silos in Urban Services

Dear Colleagues,

Urban services often operate in isolation, each functioning independently with minimal coordination or integration. These silos have developed due to historical practices, bureaucratic structures, and specialized expertise, resulting in the fragmented delivery of services such as transportation, waste management, and street lighting. Each service typically operates within its own department or agency, focusing solely on its specific mandate and objectives, without considering the broader urban context or potential synergies with other services. Overcoming these silos is essential for creating more efficient, resilient, and sustainable urban environments. This Special Issue seeks to gather researchers, industry experts, urban planners, and policymakers to discuss the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in integrating urban services.

We invite submissions of original research papers, review articles, and case studies addressing the following topics, but not limited to them:

• Standards, protocols, and data models for integrated urban services;
• IoT platforms facilitating interservice coordination;
• Communication technologies enabling seamless service integration;
• Cross-service applications and interoperability frameworks;
• Case studies on real-world implementations of integrated urban solutions;
• Enabling technologies driving the convergence of urban services;
• Data sharing and privacy concerns in integrated urban environments;
• Policy and governance models promoting inter-service collaboration;
• Innovative business models for integrated service delivery;
• Role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in urban service integration;
• Impact of integrated services on urban sustainability and resilience;
• Citizen engagement and participatory approaches in urban service integration.

Dr. Guillermo del Campo Jiménez
Prof. Dr. Asun Santamaria
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously 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. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are 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. Smart Cities 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 2000 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.

• urban services integration
• smart cities
• Internet of Things
• IoT platforms
• Iot communication technologies
• cross-service interoperability
• urban data spaces