Search Results (11)

Accurate wind speed and power forecasting are key to optimizing renewable wind station management, which is essential for smart and zero-energy cities. This paper presents a novel integrated wind speed–power forecasting system (WSPFS) that operates across various time horizons, demonstrated through a case study in a high-wind area within the Middle East. The WSPFS leverages 12 AI algorithms both individual and ensemble models to forecast wind speed (WSF) and wind power (WPF) at intervals of 10 min to 36 h. A multi-horizon prediction approach is proposed, using WSF model outputs as inputs for WPF modeling. Predictive accuracy was evaluated using mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and mean square error (MSE). Additionally, WSPFS advances the smart wind energy deep decarbonization (SWEDD) framework by calculating the carbon city index (CCI) to define the carbon-city transformation curve (CCTC). Findings from this study have broad implications, from enabling zero-energy urban projects and mega-developments like NEOM and the Suez Canal to advancing global energy trading and supply management. Full article

Finding a parking space is a major concern in megacities, causing drivers to lose time and money while contributing to atmospheric pollution and global warming. This study proposes a method to predict parking slot availability by comparing Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Multi-Head Attention (MHA) methods using the CityPulse Smart City Datasets. The initial experiments assessed the impact of pollution and time features on prediction accuracy. In a subsequent experiment, the dataset was expanded by incorporating weather-related features and a broader time range while excluding pollution and time features, as informed by the initial results. Various experiments were conducted with different parameters, such as model depth and activation functions. The results demonstrated that MHA outperformed LSTM in predicting occupancy rates, achieving a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) score of 0.0589 on the extended dataset. This study marks a pioneering effort in using MHA for real-time parking occupancy prediction, showcasing significant success with fewer parameters and a smaller model size. Full article

The deployment of fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks has already laid the ground-work for futuristic smart cities but along with this, it has also triggered the rapid growth of a wide range of applications, for example, the Internet of Everything (IoE), online gaming, extended/virtual reality (XR/VR), telemedicine, cloud computing, and others, which require ultra-low latency, ubiquitous coverage, higher data rates, extreme device density, ultra-high capacity, energy efficiency, and better reliability. Moreover, the predicted explosive surge in mobile traffic until 2030 along with envisioned potential use-cases/scenarios in a smart city context will far exceed the capabilities for which 5G was designed. Therefore, there is a need to harness the 6th Generation (6G) capabilities, which will not only meet the stringent requirements of smart megacities but can also open up a new range of potential applications. Other crucial concerns that need to be addressed are related to network security, data privacy, interoperability, the digital divide, and other integration issues. In this article, we examine current and emerging trends for the implementation of 6G in the smart city arena. Firstly, we give an inclusive and comprehensive review of potential 6th Generation (6G) mobile communication technologies that can find potential use in smart cities. The discussion of each technology also covers its potential benefits, challenges and future research direction. Secondly, we also explore promising smart city applications that will use these 6G technologies, such as, smart grids, smart healthcare, smart waste management, etc. In the conclusion part, we have also highlighted challenges and suggestions for possible future research directions. So, in a single paper, we have attempted to provide a wider perspective on 6G-enabled smart cities by including both the potential 6G technologies and their smart city applications. This paper will help readers gain a holistic view to ascertain the benefits, opportunities and applications that 6G technology can bring to meet the diverse, massive and futuristic requirements of smart cities. Full article

The cyberphysical systems of smart cities are facing increasingly severe attack situations, and traditional separate protection methods are difficult to effectively respond to. It is urgent to coordinate public safety and cybersecurity protection. However, the integration of the two faces many challenges and is a very promising research field. The aim of this study is to investigate technical approaches for the synergy between public safety and cybersecurity. This paper proposes a smart city safety protection model inspired by the human immune mechanism. It was found that through a three-line defense architecture similar to the human immune mechanism, and with the help of certain algorithms and functional middleware modules, public safety and cybersecurity protection components can be dynamically combined to achieve collaboration. This work has verified through experiments a valuable path to effectively resist complicated attack threats intertwined with public safety and cybersecurity factors. Full article

The infrastructure demands for mega cities, urbanization and environmental concerns are pushing for smart and sustainable solutions. Structural lightweight concrete is gaining popularity in the concrete industry because of its intrinsic properties of resisting the load and being lighter in weight. Therefore, in this study, a green structural lightweight concrete was targeted by fabricating a plastic-based aggregate incorporating different industrial by-products to reduce the carbon tracks along with an alternate lightweight structural material. Thus, the compatibility of the different industrially by-products (dune dust, fly ash, and quarry dust) with plastic to produce a sustainable structural lightweight aggregate was evaluated in this study. The major physical characteristics of manufactured aggregates along with fresh, hardened, and durability properties of concretes were studied. Results revealed that altering the filler type had altered the texture and size of the developed aggregate. The aggregates developed with dune dust showed the largest particle size, bulk specific gravity, and strength while the ones with fly ash had the smallest size and water absorption. The decrease in the strength was found to be 24.7, 43.6, and 29% for dune dust, fly ash, and quarry dust respectively, once the filler percentage was increased from 50 to 70%. Additionally, all the concretes incorporating developed aggregates have evidently demonstrated their likely usage in structural lightweight applications by complying with ASTM C330/C330M-14 for compressive, flexural, and splitting tensile strength values, in addition to the improved durability behavior. Full article

As Shanghai is a megacity and pioneer in smart city development in China, this paper used Shanghai as a megacity example to investigate smart city development over the past ten years. By collecting data from multiple sources, a case study methodology was utilized to explore Shanghai’s smart megacity development in practice. Based on the key events and phases of Shanghai’s smart city development, the practical contents were systematically investigated. The main conclusions of this research included four aspects, consisting of information infrastructure, information technology and industrial development, information perception and smart applications, and a security assurance system. Moreover, a conceptual framework for Shanghai’s smart city development was constructed by integrating the phases and contents. Furthermore, the implications of Shanghai’s smart city development are critically discussed and identified from five aspects, including the development pathway, the government’s role, the financing channel, information and communication technology (ICT)-driven development, and a people-oriented concept. This study benefits academia, governments, and practitioners by providing useful insights and valuable implications for other cities to develop smart cities. Full article

Smart cities can be complemented by fusing various components and incorporating recent emerging technologies. IoT communications are crucial to smart city operations, which are designed to support the concept of a “Smart City” by utilising the most cutting-edge communication technologies to enhance city administration and resident services. Smart cities have been outfitted with numerous IoT-based gadgets; the Internet of Things is a modular method to integrate various sensors with all ICT technologies. This paper provides an overview of smart cities’ concepts, characteristics, and applications. We thoroughly investigate smart city applications, challenges, and possibilities with solutions in recent technological trends and perspectives, such as machine learning and blockchain. We discuss cloud and fog IoT ecosystems in the in capacity of IoT devices, architectures, and machine learning approaches. In addition we integrate security and privacy aspects, including blockchain applications, towards more trustworthy and resilient smart cities. We also highlight the concepts, characteristics, and applications of smart cities and provide a conceptual model of the smart city mega-events framework. Finally, we outline the impact of recent emerging technologies’ implications on challenges, applications, and solutions for futuristic smart cities. Full article

In recent years, research into autonomous vehicles (AVs) has become highly popular in industrialized nations due to their importance in the future success of smart cities. Research on this mobility technology and the critical elements affecting its development in developing countries, however, has been rather limited. This paper aims to shed light on the most influential elements of AV adoption in developing nations. A structural analysis approach is used, based on the primary qualitative data—that was gathered via an expert-opinion poll utilizing the fuzzy Delphi with a snowballing method and engaging 25 experts in the field in two rounds—, in accordance with the tradition of futurist research. The analysis has led to the identification of 11 key factors, from the initial factor pool of 54, affecting AV adoption in the case study context of Iran. The results of the analysis revealed the following conclusions, that fall under the policy and legislation domain, and present the most significant issues impacting AV adoption: (a) Future orientation of government—consistency and of accountability of policies, the long-term vision of the government for developing AVs industry; (b) Managing the international sanctions for foreign investment, and; (c) Funding mega projects to enable AVs. The results indicate that the establishment of legislation and the formulation of government policy regarding the provision of infrastructure, investment, and credit allocation are crucial for the development of AVs in Iran and other developing nations with comparable characteristics. Full article

Frontier research primarily focuses on the effect of urban development models on land use efficiency, while ignoring the effect of new-type urban development on the green land use efficiency. Accordingly, this paper employs a super efficiency slacks-based measure (super-SBM) model with undesirable outputs to measure the green land use efficiency based on panel data from 152 prefecture-level cities for the period 2004–2017. We construct a difference-in-differences (DID) model in this paper to test the impact of smart city construction on the green utilization efficiency of urban land and its transmission mechanism. The results showed that: (1) The smart city construction significantly improved the green utilization efficiency of urban land, increasing the general efficiency by 15%. (2) There is significant city-size heterogeneity in the effect of smart city construction on improving green utilization efficiency of urban land. The policy effect is more obvious in mega cities and above than in very-large-sized cities. (3) The city-feature heterogeneity results reveal that, in cities with a higher level of human capital, financial development, and information infrastructure, the effectiveness of smart city construction in improving the green utilization efficiency of urban land are more obvious, and in cities with a higher level of financial development, the effects of the urban policy were more optimal. (4) The smart city construction promotes the green utilization efficiency of urban land through by the information industry development and the regional innovation capabilities. Full article

The emerging paradigm of the cognitive city, which augments smart cities with learning and behavioral change capabilities, is gaining increasing attention as a promising solution to the challenges of future mega-cities. Cognitive cities are built upon artificial learning and behavioral analysis techniques founded on the exploitation of human-machine collective intelligence. Hence, cognitive cities rely on the sharing of citizens’ daily-life data, which might be considered sensitive personal data. In this context, privacy and security of the shared information become critical issues that have to be addressed to guarantee the proper deployment of cognitive cities and the fundamental rights of people. This article provides a thorough literature review using the recommendations for systematic reviews proposed by Vom Brocke et al. and the PRISMA statement. We analyze peer-reviewed publications indexed in ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, and Web of Science until July 2020. We identify the main challenges on privacy and information security within cognitive cities, and the proposals described in the literature to address them. We conclude that many challenges remain open and we suggest several research lines that will require further examination in the years to come. Full article

In this study, the spatio-temporal changes of urban heat island (UHI) in a mega city located in a semi-arid region and the relationships with normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalized difference built-up index (NDBI) are appraised using Landsat TM/OLI images with the help of ENVI and ArcGIS software. The results reveal that the relationships between NDBI, NDVI and land surface temperature (LST) varied by year in the study area and they are not suitable indices to study the land surface temperature in arid and semi-arid regions. The study also highlights the importance of weather conditions when appraising the relationship of these indices with land surface temperature. Overall, it can be concluded that LST in arid and steppe regions is most influenced by barren soil. As a result, built-up areas surrounded by soil or bituminous asphalt experience higher land surface temperatures compared to densely built-up areas. Therefore, apart from setting-up more green areas, an effective way to reduce the intensity of UHI in these regions is to develop the use of cool and smart pavements. The experiences from this paper may be of use to cities, many of which are struggling to adapt to a changing climate. Full article