Implementing Smart City Strategies and Projects at National and Municipality Levels

Dear Colleagues,

Smart cities appear as a top priority item in governmental agendas worldwide, related to digital transformation and urban planning. Most of the time, research on smart cities is also anchored to strategic plans for digital transformation at the national, regional and local levels. The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide insights into the complementary approaches related to smart city strategies, encompassing issues such as strategy formulation, road mapping, case selection and strategy implementation.

We are also aiming to discuss the sophisticated computational agenda of smart cities, including the diverse and integrated technologies that promote the vision and unique value proposition of smart cities, such as: artificial intelligence, blockchain, metaverse, cloud computing, data mining, Internet of Things, cyber physical systems, fog and edge computing, analytics and dashboards.

Our coverage also includes a wide range of smart city thematic agendas, including the digitization of public administration, municipality services, business, education, culture, tourism, health, transportation and mobility for the benefit of citizens, businesses and the public.

Moreover, our Special Issue is interested in original works that analyze the lessons learnt, the benchmarks and the best practices in smart city strategies and projects at the national and municipality levels.

In this context, our Special Issue invites original research works that investigate the strategic and operational facets for the utilization of smart cities in the government agenda worldwide, including sustainable development, citizen engagement, quality of life, digitally transformed citizen experience, social impact and value.

Last but not least, this Special Issue brings forward the social, economic and sustainability agenda of smart cities, covering issues such as well-being, quality of life, well-being, social inclusion, active engagement of citizens, etc.

Indicative topics include:

• Smart city strategies, (strategy formulation, road mapping, case selection and strategy implementation);
• The sophisticated computational agenda of smart cities (including: artificial intelligence, blockchain, metaverse, cloud computing, data mining, Internet of Things, cyber physical systems, fog and edge computing, analytics and dashboards, etc.);
• The social, economic and sustainability agenda of smart cities (e.g., quality of life, well-being, social inclusion, active engagement of citizens, etc.);
• The smart city operational agenda (smart living, smart government services, smart municipality service, digital transformation, smart tourism, smart business, smart education, smart healthcare, smart entertainment and culture, etc.);
• Smart cities as a social good;
• National and municipal smart city strategies;
• The urban, economic and social agenda of smart cities research in the national and municipal contexts;
• Translating smart city strategies to information system strategy and action plans;
• Studies on human factors of smart cities research: attitudes and perceptions of citizens for smart city services at the national and municipal levels;
• Innovative smart city services and applications in the national and municipal contexts;
• Case studies and project stories of smart city research;
• Research on the data and service ecosystem of smart city research at the national and municipal levels;
• Data governance, privacy and security. 

Prof. Dr. Miltiadis D. Lytras
Dr. Afnan Alkhaldi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Smart Cities is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• smart cities
• smart city strategies
• e-government
• digital transformation
• innovation
• sustainable development
• artificial intelligence
• national and municipality levels