A Methodology for Designing Smart Urban Living Labs from the University for the Cities of the Future

Abstract

Cities have high demand and limited availability of water and energy, so it is necessary to have adequate technologies to make efficient use of these resources and to be able to generate them. This research focuses on developing and executing a methodology for an urban living lab vocation identification for a new water and energy self-sufficient university building. The methods employed were constructing a technological roadmap to identify global trends and select the technologies and practices to be implemented in the building. Among the chosen technologies were those for capturing and using rain and residual water, the generation of solar energy, and water and energy generation and consumption monitoring. This building works as a living laboratory since the operation and monitoring generate knowledge and innovation through students and research groups that develop projects. The insights gained from this study may help other efforts to avoid pitfalls and better design smart living labs and off-grid buildings.

The Making of Smart Campus: A Review and Conceptual Framework

“…Again, there has only been a few discrete smart technology developments, such as a trading platform for efficient resource control [73]. Innovation ecosystem has so far been limited to sustainability and smart campus solutions where an urban living lab (ULL) [64] has been propagated predominantly to test for sustainability and green campus. Moreover, there has been limited studies focused on resource efficiency [57] and smart grid innovations [61] for optimizing energy management [69], blockchain technology [56], smart parking [74] and human-centered learning [24].…”

“…Moreover, there has been limited studies focused on resource efficiency [57] and smart grid innovations [61] for optimizing energy management [69], blockchain technology [56], smart parking [74] and human-centered learning [24]. Finally, utility cost reduction research so far is limited and have only begun with electrical energy reduction [70] and cost reductions through smart buildings [64], and smart parking [75].…”

“…Innovative ecosystem comprises two main areas of sustainability and smart campus solutions. Sustainability innovations explored campuses as urban living labs (ULL) [64] for prototyping an open architecture for sustainable evolution [59]. These included the following developments: a platform for promoting sustainable campus [65], smart green campus [66] to reduce carbon footprint using solar photovoltaic (PV) power [67], mobility for promoting decarbonization and credit trading [68], and finally, a smart waste bin [54].…”

“…These were achieved through the application of smart technology in green energy production [66] where the hybrid renewable power distribution is supported through IoT [62]. In addition, there was reduction of operation cost, including electricity [60], water and energy in a self-sufficient university building [64]. Finally, a parking management system was developed to reduce management costs and save energy consumption [74].…”

“…Environmental specific factors were among the issues considered in the pursuit of IoT-based smart campus [77]. Smart campuses provide urban living labs (ULL) [64] and a testbed [107] designed to facilitate experimentation on sustainability solutions in energy production, water utilization and cleanliness, meeting the global SDGs [58].…”