Pub Date : 2025-03-03DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00207-z
Cities are known for improving quality of life, yet they also face numerous challenges as they evolve. In this issue of Nature Cities, which includes a Focus on smart cities, we delve into how cities generate opportunities to fulfill fundamental human needs such as food and shelter, all the while encountering obstacles in adopting new services, promoting equity and implementing policies.
{"title":"Better cities, better lives","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00207-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00207-z","url":null,"abstract":"Cities are known for improving quality of life, yet they also face numerous challenges as they evolve. In this issue of Nature Cities, which includes a Focus on smart cities, we delve into how cities generate opportunities to fulfill fundamental human needs such as food and shelter, all the while encountering obstacles in adopting new services, promoting equity and implementing policies.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 2","pages":"105-105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-025-00207-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-03DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00206-0
The digital revolution has brought with it the promise of smart cities, harnessing big data to address complex urban issues. This Focus explores how the smart city concept can move beyond its technological foundations to encompass socially just and person-centric solutions that improve urban life.
{"title":"Smart cities beyond technology","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00206-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00206-0","url":null,"abstract":"The digital revolution has brought with it the promise of smart cities, harnessing big data to address complex urban issues. This Focus explores how the smart city concept can move beyond its technological foundations to encompass socially just and person-centric solutions that improve urban life.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 2","pages":"106-106"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-025-00206-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper offers a systematic review of literature on smart cities in the Southern African Development Community countries, with a focus on the complexities of urban dynamics and governance within the region. The novelty of this qualitative systematic review is that it includes policy documents and reports as well as academic papers to interrogate the state of both smart city knowledge and smart city practice in the region. The review identified five research themes, namely, (1) the social development promises of the smart city, (2) institutionalizing smart city governance, (3) smart cities and digital citizenship, (4) smart city (as) infrastructure and (5) approaches to ‘smarting’ the city. The study shows that, for a comprehensive agenda on smart city research, more attention should be given to smart city projects and the impacts of digitalization and datafication, but it also finds that more considered local and governance-oriented lenses for such agendas are necessary if they are to be relevant to the Southern African Development Community region. This study is a systematic review that combines both academic and policy sources to assess the state of smart cities in the Southern African Development Community. It found five major themes that call for a more nuanced approach to smart city governance that accounts for local variations.
{"title":"A systematic review of smart city governance in the Southern African Development Community","authors":"Federica Duca, Amy Mutua, Lucille Tetley-Brown, Geci Karuri-Sebina, Judy Backhouse","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00199-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00199-w","url":null,"abstract":"This paper offers a systematic review of literature on smart cities in the Southern African Development Community countries, with a focus on the complexities of urban dynamics and governance within the region. The novelty of this qualitative systematic review is that it includes policy documents and reports as well as academic papers to interrogate the state of both smart city knowledge and smart city practice in the region. The review identified five research themes, namely, (1) the social development promises of the smart city, (2) institutionalizing smart city governance, (3) smart cities and digital citizenship, (4) smart city (as) infrastructure and (5) approaches to ‘smarting’ the city. The study shows that, for a comprehensive agenda on smart city research, more attention should be given to smart city projects and the impacts of digitalization and datafication, but it also finds that more considered local and governance-oriented lenses for such agendas are necessary if they are to be relevant to the Southern African Development Community region. This study is a systematic review that combines both academic and policy sources to assess the state of smart cities in the Southern African Development Community. It found five major themes that call for a more nuanced approach to smart city governance that accounts for local variations.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 2","pages":"149-156"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555220","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00168-9
Luca Mora, Paolo Gerli, Michael Batty, Emily Binet Royall, Natalia Carfi, Karl-Filip Coenegrachts, Martin de Jong, Marcelo Facchina, Marijn Janssen, Albert Meijer, Giulio Pasi, Massimo Perrino, Rob Raven, Abdinassir Sagar, Alessandro Sancino, Paolo Santi, Darren Sharp, Gregory Trencher, Liesbet van Zoonen, Pontus Westerberg, Orlando Woods, Xiaoling Zhang, Gesa Ziemer
Governance inefficiencies threaten the potential of smart city projects to deliver equitable urban transformations. Current strategies often hinder implementation, and risk harmful technological effects on communities. Tackling this challenge demands urgent reforms to better integrate scientific insights into smarter governance practices.
{"title":"Confronting the smart city governance challenge","authors":"Luca Mora, Paolo Gerli, Michael Batty, Emily Binet Royall, Natalia Carfi, Karl-Filip Coenegrachts, Martin de Jong, Marcelo Facchina, Marijn Janssen, Albert Meijer, Giulio Pasi, Massimo Perrino, Rob Raven, Abdinassir Sagar, Alessandro Sancino, Paolo Santi, Darren Sharp, Gregory Trencher, Liesbet van Zoonen, Pontus Westerberg, Orlando Woods, Xiaoling Zhang, Gesa Ziemer","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00168-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00168-9","url":null,"abstract":"Governance inefficiencies threaten the potential of smart city projects to deliver equitable urban transformations. Current strategies often hinder implementation, and risk harmful technological effects on communities. Tackling this challenge demands urgent reforms to better integrate scientific insights into smarter governance practices.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 2","pages":"110-113"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00171-0
Chaewon Ahn, Farzin Lotfi-Jam, Connor Graham, Tim Bunnell, Simon Marvin
The global proliferation of urban digital twin models compels a research agenda that investigates the intertwined social, political, and technical dimensions of their development, from design to use in planning and governance.
{"title":"Critical urban informatics for urban digital twin models","authors":"Chaewon Ahn, Farzin Lotfi-Jam, Connor Graham, Tim Bunnell, Simon Marvin","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00171-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00171-0","url":null,"abstract":"The global proliferation of urban digital twin models compels a research agenda that investigates the intertwined social, political, and technical dimensions of their development, from design to use in planning and governance.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 2","pages":"114-116"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00196-5
Ahana Sarkar, Arnab Jana
For cities in the Global South, energy policy must reduce energy use without further punishing urban poor communities. Field trials have established that economic insufficiency-driven restrained behavior is detrimental to wellbeing. The voices of urban poor communities must be heard for healthier living: ignoring their needs could come at a cost.
{"title":"Exploring the limits of energy use in urban poor communities","authors":"Ahana Sarkar, Arnab Jana","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00196-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00196-5","url":null,"abstract":"For cities in the Global South, energy policy must reduce energy use without further punishing urban poor communities. Field trials have established that economic insufficiency-driven restrained behavior is detrimental to wellbeing. The voices of urban poor communities must be heard for healthier living: ignoring their needs could come at a cost.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 2","pages":"117-119"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00136-3
Sebastián Villamizar Santamaría
Isabel Wetzel, a special advisor at UN-Habitat, discusses the goal of the upcoming smart city guidelines. She says that cities should not be guided by technology; rather, the purpose of technology is to address people’s needs and make city systems more efficient.
{"title":"Interview with Isabel Wetzel, UN-Habitat","authors":"Sebastián Villamizar Santamaría","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00136-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00136-3","url":null,"abstract":"Isabel Wetzel, a special advisor at UN-Habitat, discusses the goal of the upcoming smart city guidelines. She says that cities should not be guided by technology; rather, the purpose of technology is to address people’s needs and make city systems more efficient.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 2","pages":"122-123"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00132-7
Sebastián Villamizar Santamaría
In this interview with Victoria Itskovych, the Chief Information Officer of the Kyiv City Council, we discuss the importance of robust digital ecosystems for several city services. These include mental health and financial education, and also services around threats in the context of the ongoing war.
{"title":"Interview with Victoria Itskovych, CIO of the city of Kyiv","authors":"Sebastián Villamizar Santamaría","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00132-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00132-7","url":null,"abstract":"In this interview with Victoria Itskovych, the Chief Information Officer of the Kyiv City Council, we discuss the importance of robust digital ecosystems for several city services. These include mental health and financial education, and also services around threats in the context of the ongoing war.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 2","pages":"120-121"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1038/s44284-025-00200-6
Na Cong
From a small village in China to Beijing and then to Hong Kong, researcher Na Cong demonstrates the differences in food environments across cities and highlights the necessity of reshaping a food environment that balances accessibility, affordability, convenience and nutrition for diverse populations.
{"title":"Perceptions of city foodscapes","authors":"Na Cong","doi":"10.1038/s44284-025-00200-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-025-00200-6","url":null,"abstract":"From a small village in China to Beijing and then to Hong Kong, researcher Na Cong demonstrates the differences in food environments across cities and highlights the necessity of reshaping a food environment that balances accessibility, affordability, convenience and nutrition for diverse populations.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 2","pages":"180-180"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143555251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-23DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00189-4
Arzi Adbi, Sumit Agarwal, Pulak Ghosh
Many cities in the developing world are witnessing high noise pollution due to infrastructure development and growing traffic. Urban planning interventions may be necessary to mitigate potential adverse effect of noise pollution on the learning outcomes of young residents in developing economies.
{"title":"Urban noise pollution and learning in developing economies","authors":"Arzi Adbi, Sumit Agarwal, Pulak Ghosh","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00189-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00189-4","url":null,"abstract":"Many cities in the developing world are witnessing high noise pollution due to infrastructure development and growing traffic. Urban planning interventions may be necessary to mitigate potential adverse effect of noise pollution on the learning outcomes of young residents in developing economies.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"2 1","pages":"6-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143110222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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