In recent years, intelligent cities, also known as smart cities or cognitive cities, have become a perceived solution for improving the quality of life of citizens while boosting the efficiency of city services and processes. This new vision involves the integration of various sectors of society through the use of the internet of things. By continuing to enhance research for the better development of the smart environments needed to sustain intelligent cities, citizens will be empowered to provision the e-services provided by the city, city officials will have the ability to interact directly with the community as well as monitor digital environments, and smart communities will be developed where citizens can enjoy improved quality of life. Developing and Monitoring Smart Environments for Intelligent Cities compiles the latest research on the development, management, and monitoring of digital cities and intelligent environments into one complete reference source. The book contains chapters that examine current technologies and the future use of internet of things frameworks as well as device connectivity approaches, communication protocols, security challenges, and their inherent issues and limitations. Including unique coverage on topics such as connected vehicles for smart transportation, security issues for smart homes, and building smart cities for the blind, this reference is ideal for practitioners, urban developers, urban planners, academicians, researchers, and students.

This book discusses the design and practice of environmental resources management for smart cities. Presenting numerous city case studies, it focuses on one specific environmental resource in each city. Environmental resources are commonly owned properties that require active inputs from the government and the people, and in any smart city their management calls for a synchronous combination of e-democracy, e-governance and IOT (Internet of Things) systems in a 24/7 framework. Smart environmental resources management uses information and communication technologies, the Internet of Things, internet of governance (e-governance) and internet of people (e-democracy) along with conventional resource management tools to achieve coordinated, effective and efficient management, development, and conservation that equitably improves ecological and economic welfare, without compromising the sustainability of development ecosystems and stakeholders.

Smart cities are experiencing a rapid evolution. The integration of technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and blockchain has ushered in transformative applications, enhancing the quality of urban life. However, this evolution comes with its own challenges, most notably in security and privacy. Secure and Intelligent IoT-Enabled Smart Cities addresses these concerns, exploring theoretical frameworks and empirical research findings. The book embarks on the foundational elements of the Internet of Things, delving into the convergence of IoT and smart city applications, elucidating the layered architecture of IoT, and highlighting the security issues inherent in IoT-enabled Smart Cities. This book pinpoints the challenges smart city infrastructures face and offers innovative and pragmatic solutions to fortify their security. This book targets professionals and researchers immersed in the dynamic field of secure and intelligent environments within IoT-enabled smart city applications. It is a valuable resource for executives grappling with the strategic implications of emerging technologies in smart healthcare, smart parking, smart manufacturing, smart transportation, and beyond.

Intelligent Environments (IEs) aims to empower users by enriching their experience, raising their awareness and enhancing their management of their surroundings. The term IE is used to describe the physical spaces where ICT and pervasive technologies are used to achieve specific objectives for the user and/or the environment. The growing IE community, from academia and practitioners, is working on the materialization of IEs driven by the latest technological developments and innovative ideas. This book presents the proceedings of the workshops held in conjunction with the 16th International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE2020), Madrid, Spain, 20-23 July 2020. The conference focused on the development of advance intelligent environments, as well as newly emerging and rapidly evolving topics. The workshops included here emphasize multi-disciplinary and transverse aspects of IE, as well as cutting-edge topics: 10th International Workshop on Intelligent Environments Supporting Healthcare and Well-being (WISHWell’20); 9th International Workshop on the Reliability of Intelligent Environments (WoRIE2020); 4th International Workshop on Legal Issues in Intelligent Environments (LIIE’20); 4th International Workshop on Intelligent Systems for Agriculture Production and Environment Protection (ISAPEP’20); 4th International Workshop on Citizen-Centric Smart Cities Services (CCSCS’20); 2nd International Workshop on Intelligent Environments and Buildings (IEB’20); 1st International Workshop on Research on Smart Grids and Related Applications (SGRA'20); 1st International Workshop on Open and Crowdsourced Location Data (ISOCLoD’20); 1st International Workshop on Social Media Analysis for Intelligent Environment (SMAIE’20). The proceedings contain contributions reflecting the latest research developments in IEs and related areas, focusing on stretching the borders of the current state of the art and contributing to an ever-increasing establishment of IEs in the real world. It will be of interest to all those whose work involves the design or application of Intelligent Environments.

Blockchain technology presents numerous advantages that include increased transparency, reduced transaction costs, faster transaction settlement, automation of information, increased traceability, improved customer experience, improved digital identity, better cyber security, and user-controlled networks. These potential applications are widespread and diverse including funds transfer, smart contracts, e-voting, efficient supply chain, and more in nearly every sector of society including finance, healthcare, law, trade, real estate, and other important areas. However, there are challenges and limitations that exist such as high energy consumption, limited scalability, complexity, security, network size, lack of regulations, and other critical issues. Nevertheless, blockchain is an attractive technology and has much to offer to the modern-day industry. Industry Use Cases on Blockchain Technology Applications in IoT and the Financial Sector investigates blockchain technology’s adoption and effectiveness in multiple industries and for the internet of things (IoT)-based applications, presents use cases from industrial and financial sectors as well as from other transaction-based services, and fills a gap in this respect by extending the existing body of knowledge in the suggested field. While highlighting topics such as cybersecurity, use cases, and models for blockchain implementation, this book is ideal for business managers, financial accountants, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in blockchain technology’s role and implementation in IoT and the financial sector.

The emergence of cloud computing, internet of things, mobile technologies, and social networking have created better-connected members of the public who are digitally linked with each other in real time. Establishing this two-way interaction between citizens and governments has thus become attractive and an expected feature of governments worldwide. Previously, federal and local governments relied on first-generation technologies to provide basic levels of automation and digitization. Now, because of their desire to become more open, transparent, accountable, and connected, newer technologies including cloud computing, mobile networking, big data analytics, Web 2.0, and social media must be developed and utilized. Web 2.0 and Cloud Technologies for Implementing Connected Government is an essential reference source that presents various dimensions of connected government and connected e-governance visions as well as the latest emerging technologies. Offering development methodologies, practical examples, best practices, case studies, and the latest research, this book covers new strategies for implementing better-connected government models and the technologies that serve to establish these frameworks, including in-depth examinations of mobile technologies, automation, business intelligence, etc. as well as the various ethical and security issues surrounding the use and protection of data. This book is essential for federal, state, and local government officials; policymakers; civil servants; IT specialists; security analysts; academicians; researchers; and students.

Are pandemics the end of cities? Or, do they present an opportunity for us to reshape cities in ways making us even more innovative, successful and sustainable? Pandemics such as COVID-19 (and comparable disruptions) have caused intense debates over the future of cities. Through a series of investigative studies, Designing Smart and Resilient Cities for a Post-Pandemic World: Metropandemic Revolution seeks to critically discuss and compare different cases, innovations and approaches as to how cities can utilise nascent and future digital technology and/or new strategies in order to build stronger resilience to better tackle comparable large-scale pandemics and/or disruptions in the future. The authors identify ten separate societal areas where future digital technology can impact resilience. These are discussed in individual chapters. Each chapter concludes with a set of proposed "action points" based on the conclusions of each respective study. These serve as solid policy recommendations of what courses of action to take, to help increase the resilience in smart cities for each designated area. Securing resilience and cohesion between each area will bring about the metropandemic revolution. This book features a foreword by Nobel laureate Peter C. Doherty and an afterword by Professor of Urban Technologies, Carlo Ratti. It provides fresh and unique insights on smart cities and futures studies in a pandemic context, offers profound reflections on contemporary societal functions and the needs to build resilience and combines lessons learned from historical pandemics with possibilities offered by future technology.