Recently, the ‘Smart City’ label has emerged as a popular umbrella term for numerous projects around the world that claim to offer an enhanced urban experience, often provided in collaboration with international companies through private-public partnerships. As smart cities pledge to create long-term economic sustainability and progressive form of urban entrepreneurialism, it is getting important to highlight risks such as the reduced role of the public sector, technological dominance and data privacy.In contrast to more a conventional, long-term, holistic master planning, a technologically pre-determined form of Smart City endangers the emancipator usage of public spaces as spaces of diversity, creativity, inclusive citizen participation and urban sustainability.This research approaches the concept of Smart Cities as a future category and, thus, targets to develop a comprehensive visual analysis based on architectural representations in the form of computer-generated images (CGI’s). The Quayside project, a notable and widely criticized urban development project, by Sidewalk Toronto, a cooperation between Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs which is a sister subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., has been selected as Smart City case study as. Visual analysis was conducted by using the theoretical frame advocating ‘Coordinating Smart Cities’ in contrast to ‘Prescriptive Smart Cities’ by Richard Sennett. In addition to Sennett’s concept of ‘Incomplete Form’, Jan Gehl’s ‘Twelve Quality Criteria’ was used as coding categories to elaborate the content analysis which was followed by semiological and compositional interpretations. Visuals have been investigated in three sequential sets and analyzed focusing on time-based comparative frequency counts for sets of visuals. Concentrating on how future public spaces are illustrated, the study aims to uncover and to discuss how Smart Cities are being imagined and advertised.

With the exponential growth of vehicles on our streets, the need for finding an unoccupied parking spot today could most of the time be problematic, but even more in the coming future. Smart parking solutions have proved to be a helpful approach to facilitate the localization of unoccupied parking spots. In many smart parking solutions, sensors are used to determine the vacancy of a parking spot. The use of sensors can provide a highly accurate solution in terms of determining the status of parking lots. However, this is not ideal from a scalability point of view, since the need for installing and maintaining each of the sensors is not considered cost-effective. In the latest years vision based solutions have been considered more when building a smart parking solution, since cameras can easily be installed and used on a large parking area. Furthermore, the use of cameras can be developed to provide a more advanced solution for checking in at a parking spot and also for providing the information about whether a vehicle is placed unlawfully. In our thesis, we developed a dynamic vision-based smart parking prototype with the aim to detect vacant parking spots and illegally parked vehicles.

In this research, the “Smart City-edifice” of Lisbon has been examined through qualitative field work carried out in the city. The concept of the Smart City- edifice has been designed by the author in an attempt to grasp the ambiguous Smart City ambition as an assemblage of (i) specific techniques incorporated into the urban environment (ii) the modes of governance which these techniques allow for, particularly real time data collection & (iii) issues of city branding, placemaking and urban, Smart regeneration. The highlighted empirical material has been produced in collaboration with interlocutors from three different projects, and relate to the three different facets of the Smart Cityedifice: A developer of a gamification scheme (e-governance), a sustainable neighbourhood project (Tech-driven sustainability and governance/civic participation) and lastly a creative hub (branding, creativity & regeneration). These facets are being examined in the context of Lisbon, a city which has gone through a re-formulation of urban agendas in the capitalist restructuring of the economy in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The post-crisis strategy in Lisbon is interpreted as a sort of “attraction hysteria” (Anttiroiko, 2014), as much effort has been placed on attracting global capital and tourism, incentivised not least by a liberalized, profitable housing market. This attraction hysteria is understood by the author as producing specific implications for the development of the Smart Cityedifice. Main findings include the hinderances that said politics have produced for ambitions of civic participation and other democratic visions of the Smart City. These findings are understood in the light of the Lefebvrian framework of the “right to the city” and critical understandings of the touristified city. The field work itself has been guided by two key research questions, these being: a) How are Smart City narratives being operationalized locally by actors in Lisbon? B) What possible tensions could arise between Smart aims of global urban competitiveness and aims of civic participation, in the context of Lisbon?

Urbanization has been a growing trend in the past fifty years. Cities are now transforming into smart cities, spaces whose infrastructure comprises an embedded digital layer. Hardware collects real-time data in the urban environment and software elaborates it to improve all types of services, from traffic to waste management to well-being. One technology that is expected to use this digital layer to further change the urban environment is the autonomous car. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore what key design attributes future autonomous cars should possess if they have not only to co-exist with and be accepted by people in the landscape of tomorrow’s smart cities, but also what they should not possess in order not to cause any harm. In this sense, the dissertation recognizes calm technology to be necessary in the design of a future autonomous car to support a human-centered, as opposed to a car- or technology-centered, environment. A socio-technical and systemic lens is applied to the phenomenological investigation of nine companies carried out by means of twelve in-depth semi-structured interviews with experts working within the automotive sector, the smart city industry, and calm technology. Eight attributes (safety, on-demand, geo-tracking, sharing, multiple purposes, communication through smart devices, electrical care and IoT/connectedness) are identified as necessary for future autonomous cars to implement in order to take advantage of the smart city infrastructure and provide a human-centered experience. Additionally, six out of the eight calm technology principles recognized in literature are considered necessary when designing future autonomous cars.

In 2018, the City Architect's Office prepared an idea urban design competition that outlined the direction of the overall solution of Mendl Square. The winning proposal is based on an overall change in transport organisation. The intention was therefore to plan the revitalization at the same time as the planned repair of the steam pipe, which will take place from April to September 2021. And as if fate wanted it 2021 is the anniversary of 200 years since J. G. Mendel – the founder of genetics, after whom the square is named. The aim of revitalization is to minimize the unattractiveness and dysfunction of the space. In this way, significantly change the comfortable conditions of the transfer node. The aim of this thesis is to break down critical points from the point of view of pedestrian traffic and subsequently to establish effective steps leading to their optimisation. The thesis also deals with the new Smart City field and its use for the collection of experimental data that could be used to improve input data in the creation of numerical models of public spaces.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly developing technology which in this project refers to software that given objectives generate content, predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing their environment. Using literature reviews and semi-structured interviews, the current and future uses, sentiments, regulations, and risks of AI in urban planning and governance are gathered. While current uses are few, the potential capabilities range from highly complex and large-scale, to small-scale and routine tasks. These tasks include smart resource management, predictive analysis, digital personal assistance, intelligent data processing, and visualization and recommendation. The general goal is to better reinvest human time and effort, for instance in providing meaningful citizen interactions. A lack of good governance and regulation of AI could permit profit-driven technology companies to control the discourse, possibly contributing to issues of public trust, lack of transparency and accountability, inequality, and public participation. Organisations and nations including the UN, EU, and Sweden have formulated strategies for AI, and the EU is currently developing the first regulatory framework for AI facilitating the protection of good operation, design, inclusivity, and privacy of the systems. Further research and debate on this topic is needed to ensure that AI is developed, implemented, and used ethically and responsibly. / Artificiell intelligens (AI) är en snabbt utvecklande teknologi som i detta projekt avser programvara som med givna mål genererar innehåll, förutsägelser, rekommendationer eller beslut som påverkar dess omgivning. Genom litteraturöversikter och semistrukturerade intervjuer har de aktuella och framtida användningsområdena, åsikterna, regleringarna och riskerna med AI inom stadsplanering och styrning samlats in. Trots att de nuvarande användningsområdena är få sträcker sig de potentiella förmågorna från mycket komplexa och storskaliga till småskaliga rutinuppgifter. Dessa uppgifter inkluderar smart resurshantering, prediktiv analys, digital personlig assistans, intelligent databehandling samt visualisering och rekommendation. Det övergripande målet är att investera mänsklig tid och ansträngning på ett bättre sätt, exempelvis genom att erbjuda meningsfulla interaktioner med medborgare. En brist på god styrning och reglering av AI skulle kunna tillåta vinstdrivna teknikföretag att kontrollera diskursen, vilket kan leda till problem med allmänhetens förtroende, brist på transparens och ansvar, ojämlikhet och offentlig delaktighet. Organisationer och nationer inklusive FN, EU och Sverige har formulerat strategier för AI, och EU utvecklar för närvarande det första regelverket för AI för att underlätta god drift, utformning, inkludering och integritet hos systemen. Ytterligare forskning och debatt om detta ämne behövs för att säkerställa att AI utvecklas, implementeras och används på ett etiskt och ansvarsfullt sätt

The last decade has seen a substantial rise in smart cities across Africa (Aghimien et al., 2020:29). This research presents a case study on the Team Europe Initiative ‘Green and Smart Cities SASA!’ in Tanzania, a development initiative aiming to introduce smart city technologies in Mwanza, Tanga and Pemba. Semi-structured interviews and participatory observations have been utilised, with respondents including stakeholders of the programme as well as outside key informants. The research aims to get an insight into the intersection of gender mainstreaming and ownership in smart city developments in a developing context. Thus far, few researchers have looked at the intersection of smart city developments with gender, particularly in a developing context. As the SASA programme aims to prioritise women in its interventions, the research further aims to understand the ways in which gender mainstreaming is currently being implemented, and how it could/should be improved in the future. The research makes use of Castel Branco’s (2008) Critical View on Ownership, as well as Mehra and Gupta’s (2006) Alternate Approach to Gender Mainstreaming.  The research found that gender is currently prioritised by all stakeholders. However, gender mainstreaming in the SASA programme is mainly implemented through individual strategies. As such, the collaborative initiatives have up until now been sporadic rather than systematic, indicating a lack of synergy between the  implementing partners. This has created a vague and undefined concept of responsibility of the claimed gender prioritisation. With this said, the SASA programme could benefit from a more strategic implementation of gender mainstreaming. This, as will be argued, could be achieved through a strengthening of leadership, accountability-mechanisms as well as more tangible project objectives and indicators. In addition, a further integration of coherent gender strategies and gender expertise is recommended.

The main topics of the thesis are open data, open data initiatives and sustainable mobility. Current state of open data made available by the Prague city administration is explored. Successful open data initiatives from abroad, that use open data to contribute to sustainable mobility, are examined. Results of the study of open data in driving sustainable mobility in nine smart cities are partially replicated and extended using the state of open data in Prague. Results of the author's own research aimed at Prague are compared with results of this study and complement them. Interviews with representatives of foreign open data initiatives in the field of sustainable mobility are used to examine the inception, day-to-day activities, roles they play and key aspects of operations of these initiatives. Results from both parts of the thesis are combined with an overview of literature on the topic. Possibilities of further development of both the open data in Prague in general and the sustainable mobility initiatives in Prague working with open data are presented.

The purpose of this research is to study the advantages of 5G technological innovation in the development of smart cities, i.e., to find out in what way this technology plays the main driving force of other relevant technologies essential to developing smart cities. In addition, this study explores the potential consequences of developing smart cities using 5G technology. Main Research Question How does 5G technological innovation influence the development of smart cities?  Sub-Research Questions 1.1 What are the advantages of smart city development using 5G technology?  1.2 What are the hindrances to smart city development using 5G technology? The methodology of this study includes bibliometric data analysis and a systematic literature review. The journal databases have been searched with appropriate keywords to get published articles on 5G technological innovation, its advantages, and potential consequences on the development of smart cities, technological hindrances, and sustainability threats to the development of smart cities. The relevant literature was then analyzed precisely. In the development of smart cities, the 5G technological innovation is to act as the backbone of smart cities. There are different types of technologies contributing to the development of smart cities. Among them, the Internet of Things, Information and Communication Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Sensors, Geospatial Technology, Blockchain, Robotics, and Industry 4.0 are fundamental technologies. 5G technological innovations are strategic. Therefore, whether this innovation has a strategic impact has been found in this analysis.  Recommendations We must welcome and utilize the advantages of new technological innovation. We still need more practical studies of using 5G in smart cities. Telecom operators, relevant service providers, and vendors can collaborate with public health and environmental researchers to clearly disclose the 5G advantages and potential consequences.  Further research is required to finalize the unknown facts of EMF pollution, and other controversial areas like privacy, safety, and security could be studied to determine whether the 5G wireless technology is secure and adds real value for the users.

Without decarbonizing cities energy and climate objectives cannot be achieved as cities account for approximately two thirds of energy consumption and emissions. This goal of decarbonizing cities has to be facilitated by promoting net-zero/positive energy buildings and districts and replicating them, driving cities towards sustainability goals. Many projects in smart cities demonstrate novel and groundbreaking low-carbon solutions in demonstration and lighthouse projects. However, as the historical, geographic, political, social and economic context of urban areas vary greatly, it is not always easy to repeat the solution in another city or even district. It is therefore important to look for the opportunities to scale up or repeat successful pilots. The purpose of this paper is to explore common trends in technologies and replication strategies for positive energy buildings or districts in smart city projects, based on the practical experience from a case study in Leipzig—one of the lighthouse cities in the project SPARCS. One of the key findings the paper has proven is the necessity of a profound replication modelling to deepen the understanding of upscaling processes. Three models analyzed in this article are able to provide a multidimensional representation of the solution to be replicated.