Abstract
Introduction
Welcome to a new issue of the Journal of Smart Cities and Society. Here we include three contributions to the field, considering: assistive technology, smart traffic management, and smart energy management.
“A study of the role of AI to favour the well-being of people in smart cities,” by L. Burzaglia and P. L. Emiliani, focuses on the increasingly sophisticated relationship between society and technology, with a focus on individuals with special needs. This work proposes a methodological approach toward the design of assistive technologies and advocates for a stronger emphasis on personalization and adaptability of services through time.
“Evaluation of traffic signals for daily traffic pattern,” by M. Shirazi and H. Chang, reports on the use of traffic cameras to estimate the Turning Movement Count, as this has an important impact on traffic flow and the efficiency of the traffic system. They describe a case study based on six intersections in Las Vegas and explain how the results affect signal design for city planning.
“Positive energy district evolution: A test case for Winterthur’s Hard Community,” by A. Conte, V. Carabias-Hutter, P. Kienast, M. Delogu, and L. Berzi, considers Positive Energy Districts, exploring the design of tools which can support energy management, and hence sustainability, by a community. The study includes social analysis and stakeholder engagement, in this case exemplified with a case study based on a real community, which provides evidence that the process has significant potential to reduce external energy dependency, reduce costs, and improve consumption patterns.
We are grateful to our Editorial Board Members (in alphabetical order): Peggy James and Edna Tamariz Flores, who managed the review process of these articles.
The Editorial Team of this journal expects the contributions included in this issue will provide new tools to address some of the many challenges ahead to realize this societal paradigm shift and inspire and guide other colleagues in this developing community to further innovate in this sector.
We encourage all sectors of society to engage in this technical conversation as our view of this area as a multidisciplinary one, which will require the input of various different professions and different levels of involvement within urban environments to produce effective innovation.