Environmentally data-driven smart sustainable cities: applied innovative solutions for energy efficiency, pollution reduction, and urban metabolism

Abstract

The IoT and big data technologies have become essential to the functioning of both smart cities and sustainable cities, and thus, urban operational functioning and planning are becoming highly responsive to a form of data-driven urbanism. This offers the prospect of building models of smart sustainable cities functioning in real time from routinely sensed data. This in turn allows to monitor, understand, analyze, and plan such cities to improve their energy efficiency and environmental health in real time thanks to new urban intelligence functions as an advanced form of decision support. However, prior studies tend to deal largely with data-driven technologies and solutions in the realm of smart cities, mostly in relation to economic and social aspects, leaving important questions involving the underlying substantive and synergistic effects on environmental sustainability barely explored to date. These issues also apply to sustainable cities, especially eco-cities. Therefore, this paper investigates the potential and role of data-driven smart solutions in improving and advancing environmental sustainability in the context of smart cities as well as sustainable cities, under what can be labeled “environmentally data-driven smart sustainable cities.” To illuminate this emerging urban phenomenon, a descriptive/illustrative case study is adopted as a qualitative research methodology§ to examine and compare Stockholm and Barcelona as the ecologically and technologically leading cities in Europe respectively. The results show that smart grids, smart meters, smart buildings, smart environmental monitoring, and smart urban metabolism are the main data-driven smart solutions applied for improving and advancing environmental sustainability in both eco-cities and smart cities. There is a clear synergy between such solutions in terms of their interaction or cooperation to produce combined effects greater than the sum of their separate effects—with respect to the environment. This involves energy efficiency improvement, environmental pollution reduction, renewable energy adoption, and real-time feedback on energy flows, with high temporal and spatial resolutions. Stockholm takes the lead over Barcelona as regards the best practices for environmental sustainability given its long history of environmental work, strong environmental policy, progressive environmental performance, high environmental standards, and ambitious goals. It also has, like Barcelona, a high level of the implementation of applied data-driven technology solutions in the areas of energy and environment. However, the two cities differ in the nature of such implementation. We conclude that city governments do not have a unified agenda as a form of strategic planning, and data-driven decisions are unique to each city, so are environmental challenges. Big data are the answer, but each city sets its own questions based on what characterize it in terms of visions, policies, strategies, pathways, and priorities.

The core academic and scientific disciplines underlying data-driven smart sustainable urbanism: an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary framework

“…This is illustrated in Fig. 1 based on the outcomes of the case study done on environmentally data-driven smart sustainable cities (Bibri & Krogstie, 2020c). Through investments in smart eco-city initiatives, planners, ICT experts, and policymakers intend to promote and develop innovative solutions to confront the significant challenges posed by the escalating trend of urbanization and the alarming rate of climate change.…”

“…This study aims to analyze, investigate, and develop a novel model for data-driven smart sustainable cities of the future as a strategic planning process of transformative change towards sustainability. This is grounded in the amalgamation of the four case studies conducted on (1) compact cities (Bibri, Krogstie, & Kärrholm, 2020), (2) eco-cities (Bibri & Krogstie, 2020a), (3) data-driven smart cities (Bibri & Krogstie, 2020b), and (4) environmentally data-driven smart sustainable cities (Bibri & Krogstie, 2020c) in terms of their dimensions, strategies, and solutions. These have been integrated into a framework for strategic sustainable urban development planning to guide the process of building the novel model for data-driven smart sustainable cities of the future (Bibri & Krogstie, 2020d).…”

Data-driven environmental solutions for smart sustainable cities: strategies and pathways for energy efficiency and pollution reduction

“…For smart cities and sustainable cities to have the best air quality, they must significantly reduce GHG emissions from their energy and transport domains and become zero-carbon. One of the significant objectives of smart sustainable cities is to achieve a healthy and hyperconnected cities with zero emissions where urban planning, the environment, and ICT infrastructures are fully integrated and chracterized by productive neighborhoods (Bibri and Krogstie 2020a). Many recent studies address the impacts of energy consumption on the environment and on control over transport flows and their effects on the noise level (e.g., Angelidou et al 2017;Bibri 2020a;Bibri and Krogstie 2020b;Nikitin et al 2016).…”

“…2014;Shahrokni et al 2015a; in the endeavor to optimize and enhance their performance with respect to environmental sustainability. This relates to what has recently been termed "environmentally data-driven smart sustainable cities" (Bibri and Krogstie 2020a) where the vision of smart energy and smart environment has spurred the development of new approaches to smart energy systems and environmental control and monitoring systems.…”

Blockchain and Building Information Management (BIM) for Sustainable Building Development within the Context of Smart Cities

“…The formulation of the plan requires the establishment of a knowledge management framework based on different city characteristics, capabilities, and limitations. Cities can learn knowledge and expertise from each other; develop innovative solutions and sustainable strategies; and develop green, open, inclusive and sustainable cities [17].…”