[EGOV LIST] Smart Cities Track. EGOV-CeDEM-EPart2024 Call for Proposals/Papers

[Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar]

Dear colleagues,

IFIP EGOV2024 - Joint conference EGOV-CeDEM-EPart2024 at Ghent University and KU Leuven, Belgium, 1-5 September 2024 The IFIP EGOV2024 represents the merging of the IFIP WG 8.5 Electronic Government (EGOV), the IFIP WG 8.5 IFIP Electronic Participation (ePart) and the Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government Conference (CeDEM). The conference is held annually and will be hosted 1-5 September 2024 in Ghent University and KU Leuven in Belgium. See https://dgsociety.org/egov-2024/

Smart Cities (Government, Districts, Communities & Regions) Track

Urban growth and natural and health disasters have introduced important challenges in the urban context, pushing cities towards a mandatory digital transition to a smart environment. The transformation of these communities has become a top priority for city governments and communities and offers great promise for improved wellbeing and prosperity. However, significant challenges have arisen at the complex intersection of technology and society. Prior research has demonstrated that cities with greater digital maturity allow them to develop more resilient service management systems and supply chains, resulting in the emergence of cities that are more agile and adaptable.

In addition, smart communities, smart districts, smart cities and regions are needed to be proactive in adopting a citizen-centric lens to serve the needs of their residents and improve city resilience and wellbeing of denizens. Although the literature is rich in references to smart cities and communities, it is less developed on the topic of why smart districts and regions need to become smart. Further, the existing literature is fragmented and dispersed among several areas of knowledge, resulting in a lack of a multi-domain holistic view and a lack of critical analysis about the strategies that different cities, districts, and communities follow to become smarter.

Although there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to become smart because it is context-dependent, mainly due to different levels of pressures exerted on housing, energy, transportation, infrastructure, and healthcare due to rapid urbanisation and ageing populations, having a holistic and common approach for achieving could be considered fundamental to guide decision-makers in the digital transformation of societies.

Emergent and disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, digital twins, open data, Internet of Things, or clean technologies are opening new avenues to become smart and are at the forefront of smart initiatives to improve city sustainability and resilience. All of them are being integrated into city administration and community management, information integration, data quality, privacy and security, institutional arrangements, and citizen participation – which are just some of the issues that need greater attention to make a community smarter today and in the near future. Smart services can also make our cities better, but as digital technology and transformation evolve there are challenges as well as opportunities for both citizens and stakeholders. At the same time, these new technologies also bring big challenges with their adoption such as the digital divide, privacy, and security issues.

This track aims at exploring these issues, paying particular attention to the challenges faced by smart cities, smart districts, and smart communities as well as to the impact of these initiatives on sustainable living and governance. It also aims at focusing on the orchestrated interplay and balance of smart governance practices, smart public administration, smart communities, smart districts, smart resources, and talent leverage in urban, rural, and regional spaces facilitated by novel uses of ICT and other technologies.

As a result, areas of focus and interest to this track include, but are not limited, to the following topics:

Smart governance as the foundation to both creating smart urban and regional spaces (elements, prerequisites, and principles of smart governance) and coordinating smart public policies at different levels of public administrations.
Smart government (focal areas, current practices, cases, and potential pitfalls)
Smart partnerships and smart communities (triple/quadruple helix, public-private partnerships, and citizen participation)
Smart cities, smart districts, smart communities and regions (cases, indicators, assessment, rankings, comparisons, and critical success factors)
Collective intelligence for smart cities and communities (smart ideas and solutions for smart cities)
Emerging and disruptive technologies in smart communities (big data, open data, data analytics, social media, and networks, Blockchain technologies, etc.)
AI, IoT and Digital Twins as enablers for Smart Communities/Smart Cities (infrastructure, transportation, citizen participation, education, governance, environment, health care, safety, security, and energy)
AI in smart city design, urban planning, and intelligent infrastructure operation
Integrative research that addresses the technological and social dimensions of smart and connected communities
Smart homes, intelligent home automation systems, domotics pros and cons
Smart grids, smart energy distribution systems, intelligent energy monitoring, implications for climate change
Smart environment, traffic management, and transportation (carbonless and clean individual and public mobility)
Smart law enforcement theory and practice
Smart devices and their novel use in public management and public service delivery
Smart (technology-facilitated) practices such as payment systems, identification systems, etc.
New cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities in smart technologies
SMART as a public-sector planning and management principle (Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Results-based, and Time-bound)
Smart university, smart classrooms, and smart delivery of education-related services
Quality of life issues in smart cities and smart communities
Urban-rural gaps in smart communities, digital divides, and socio-economic disparities
Citizen participation in smart cities using emerging technologies as chatbots or blockchain.
Innovation and creativity in smart society development
Emerging technologies implementation in cities to face and manage natural disasters and health pandemics.
Sustainable policy developments for smart cities
 IMPORTANT DATES

(Hard) deadline for submissions (anonymous- camera ready): 15 March 2024
Notification of acceptance: 1 May 2024
PhD Colloquium deadline for submissions: 1 May 2024
Poster submission deadline (non-anonymous-camera ready): 15 May 2024
Poster acceptance 31 May 2024
Camera-ready paper submission and author registration: 15 June 2024
PhD Colloquium notification of acceptance: 1 June 2024
Junior Faculty School deadline for application: 1 June 2024
PhD Colloquium final version: 1 July 2024
PhD Colloquium: 1 September 2024 (in Ghent)
Junior Faculty School: 2 September 2024 (in Ghent)
Conference Sessions: 3-5 September 2024 (in Leuven)

 HOW TO SUBMIT
 Submissions can be made through easychair system here: https://easychair.org/account/signin

TRACK CHAIRS

Prof. Joep Crompvoets, KU Leuven, Belgium
Prof. Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar (lead), University of Granada, Spain.
Dr. Shefali Virkar, Donau-Universität Krems, Austria