Towards Smart City Governance. Case Study: Improving the Interpretation of Quantitative Traffic Measurement Data through Citizen Participation

Abstract

Citizens play a core role in sustainable cities as users of the services delivered by cities and as active participants in initiatives aimed at making cities more sustainable. This paper considers the role of citizens as information providers and discusses the conditions under which citizens can participate in the development of sustainable cities. The objective of this study is to document the sustainability of an urban transit system and evaluate its compliance, with citizen participation as a major contributor. The methodology used is intensive field visits, interviews, and a mixed analysis of Sant Andreu de Palomar District in Barcelona city. The circulating vehicles are quantitatively monitored, qualitative problems are detected, and the typology of vehicles and other aspects identified and detailed in the study are indicated. All this information is contrasted with that of the technological sensors in the sectors. The results indicate that vehicles in the current pattern of urban density planned under incorrect sensor operation influence sustainable behavior through agglomerative clustering. This paper provides recommendations for future urban sustainability assessment research, including the employment of mixed-methods research, among other strategies. This article is intended to assist policymakers and traffic engineers in evaluating the sustainability of urban transportation infrastructure projects considering citizens as sensors.

Sensors on Internet of Things Systems for the Sustainable Development of Smart Cities: A Systematic Literature Review

“…In smart transportation IoT systems, scholars generally use presence sensors (e.g., GPS [77], Bluetooth sensor [78], and infrared laser light sensor [79]) to detect passing people or vehicles and speed sensors (e.g., inductive loop detector [77], optical/Laser sensors [80]) to detect their speed. Cellular data transmission (e.g., GSM [77], 3G [79]) is the most commonly used technology for data transmission.…”

“…Multiple modal data can complement and reinforce each other [83]. For example, Fonseca et al [80] combine the quantitative transportation data and the qualitative transportation data from citizen engagement to obtain more accurate data. Social media can be a useful way to access citizen engagement data.…”

Defining a Digital System for the Pedestrian Network as a Conceptual Implementation Framework

“…In the 1990s, the term "smart city" was used to describe the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and modern infrastructure in cities [17][18][19]. The construction of smart cities has become a popular urban development plan.…”