About this Research Topic
The field of urban development is increasingly focusing on the creation of smart and sustainable cities, particularly in the Global South. Rapid urbanization has led to numerous challenges, including social inequality, traffic congestion, water contamination, and associated health issues. Cities are responsible for over 70% of global carbon emissions and 60-80% of energy consumption. Governments and municipalities are now looking towards information and communication technologies (ICTs) combined with renewable energy to build smarter, more sustainable urban environments. Despite the progress in some regions, many countries in the Global South are still lagging in this transformation. Recent initiatives and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11, which aims to create sustainable cities and communities, have spurred interest in this area. However, research on smart cities in the Global South remains limited, particularly studies employing advanced quantitative methods like Applied System Analyses (ASA), Agent-Based Modelling (ABM), Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
This Research Topic aims to examine the challenges faced by cities in the Global South and explore innovative paradigms for creating smart and sustainable urban environments through advanced methodological approaches. The research will address questions such as defining a smart city in the context of the Global South, understanding the interplay between smartness and sustainability, retrofitting existing infrastructure, and assessing the impact of smart city development on people's lives and ecological sustainability. The goal is to provide deeper insights into these challenges and propose innovative solutions.
To gather further insights into the scope of smart and sustainable cities in the Global South, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
• Smart mobility systems;
• Smart water and wastewater management system governance;
• Solid waste management system governance;
• Energy consumption management system governance;
• Environmental and ecological challenges such as air quality and noise pollution management system governance;
• Case studies and success stories or plausible implications of advanced technology (ICT), IoT, and 4IR;
• Smart local governance systems;
• Nexus between economy, transportation, and environment; and
• Comparative analyses between Global South and Global North contexts
Submissions contextualized to address urban challenges in the Global South with the use of novel quantitative and qualitative methods, although not limited to, are encouraged.
This Research Topic aims to examine the challenges faced by cities in the Global South and explore innovative paradigms for creating smart and sustainable urban environments through advanced methodological approaches. The research will address questions such as defining a smart city in the context of the Global South, understanding the interplay between smartness and sustainability, retrofitting existing infrastructure, and assessing the impact of smart city development on people's lives and ecological sustainability. The goal is to provide deeper insights into these challenges and propose innovative solutions.
To gather further insights into the scope of smart and sustainable cities in the Global South, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
• Smart mobility systems;
• Smart water and wastewater management system governance;
• Solid waste management system governance;
• Energy consumption management system governance;
• Environmental and ecological challenges such as air quality and noise pollution management system governance;
• Case studies and success stories or plausible implications of advanced technology (ICT), IoT, and 4IR;
• Smart local governance systems;
• Nexus between economy, transportation, and environment; and
• Comparative analyses between Global South and Global North contexts
Submissions contextualized to address urban challenges in the Global South with the use of novel quantitative and qualitative methods, although not limited to, are encouraged.
Keywords: sustainable governance, city-wide nexus, smart cities, sustainability, technology for decision support
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
