Track 8: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Communities, Cities and Regions

The term ‘smart city’ has become synonymous with innovation in urban areas. Over the past decades, scholars, the private sector, and international institutions have explored the potential of implementing digital technologies in urban spaces to deliver services, boost the economy, and make cities better places to work and live. Despite significant developments, many implemented solutions are technology-driven, while the human-centric approach continues to receive insufficient attention. In this regard, some challenges must be overcome to put the people at the centre of smart city development, prioritising humanity, inclusivity, resilience, and sustainability to leave no one behind in the digital transformation.

It is also necessary to connect the smart cities’ approach to the New Urban Agenda and the climate emergency to develop concrete recommendations for regional and local governments. Moreover, contextualised and adaptive solutions must be created, as cities vary significantly across countries and regions. This Track calls for papers that discuss how human-centric, secure, and resilient solutions can be integrated into smart city efforts, including local e-governance, digital infrastructure, local innovation systems, rural domains, traditional governance, and indigenous knowledge systems.

Contributions examining sustainability-oriented and environmentally responsible digital solutions are particularly welcome. Furthermore, it addresses the development of smart city and regional policy models and technological innovations in energy, transportation, health, education, public safety, infrastructure, the natural environment, business, and community-based infrastructure resilience, as well as urban informatics. This Track includes smart grids, sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Big Data Analytics, as well as smart devices, and their novel use in public management and cybersecurity measures to protect critical infrastructure and ensure safe and reliable urban management. Papers presenting real-world implementations, applied case studies, and governance lessons learned from smart and sustainable urban and regional initiatives are encouraged.