Journal of Urban TechnologyPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:ABSTRACT At present, sustainable urban development constitutes a major planning goal for many urban environments coping with contemporary challenges and problems confronted by world cities. Towards this end, the concept of smart cities emerges as a promising policy option for effectively dealing with sustainability objectives. In this respect, the focus of the present paper is on the development of an ICT-enabled participatory planning framework for guiding policy-making towards the planning of smart cities. This framework is in alignment with the argument that smart-city solutions must start with the "city" not with the "smart," shifting from a technology-pushed to an application-pulled smart-city planning approach, matching different types of "smartness" (technologies, tools, and applications) with different types of urban functions and contexts. It is also built upon a digital platform, integrating tools and technologies for data management and e-participatory planning that can support city-and citizen-specific decision making, capable of dealing with objectives for urban sustainability.

Abstract:The term "crowdsourcing" was initially introduced by Howe in his article "The Rise of Crowdsourcing" [1]. During the last few years, crowdsourcing has become popular among companies, institutions and universities, as a crowd-centered modern "tool" for problem solving. Crowdsourcing is mainly based on the idea of an open-call publication of a problem, requesting the response of the crowd for reaching the most appropriate solution. The focus of this paper is on the role of crowdsourcing in knowledge acquisition for planning applications. The first part provides an introduction to the origins of crowdsourcing in knowledge generation. The second part elaborates on the concept of crowdsourcing, while some indicative platforms supporting the development of crowdsourcing applications are also described. The third part focuses on the integration of crowdsourcing with certain web technologies and GIS (Geographic Information Systems), for spatial planning applications, while in the fourth part, a general framework of the rationale behind crowdsourcing applications is presented. Finally, the fifth part focuses on a range of case studies that adopted several crowdsourcing techniques.

In 2015 the updated Agenda 2030, outlining the new priorities towards future sustainability, was published by the United Nations reflecting the general directions towards a fairer and more sustainable pattern of socio-economic development. The specialisation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and indicators into local contexts constitutes a basic prerequisite as particular characteristics, needs and peculiarities should be considered. This paper focuses on the exploration of local-oriented indicators and policy recommendations that have the potential to boost the successful implementation of SDGs in Greece. A nexus approach is adopted underlining the need to analyse complexities, motivate systemic thinking and develop integrated policies targeting at the sustainable and efficient use of resources. It also highlights the need for designing local-specific indicators and policy initiatives, encapsulating particular characteristics and conditions and boosting the advancement of SDGs. Such an approach has the potential to be implemented not only at national but also at an operational level in local scale (e.g., River Basin Scale). The outcomes indicate that emphasis should be given on smart water management and precision agriculture, extensive use of technologies capturing Greenhouse Gases (GHGs), dynamic penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in gross final energy production/consumption and protection of terrestrial ecosystems.

Smart cities and communities constitute urban environments where cities' potential, ICTs, and human capital are intelligently interconnected under the framework of sustainability. Citizens form a city's identity while ICTs support the smart management of citizens' needs. ‘Smart people' is among the main dimensions of a smart city, something that entails the active role of citizens during the development of infrastructures and decision-making processes. This paper focuses on the smart exploration of possible residential areas in the island of Mykonos (Greece). Emphasis is placed on the effective management of land, the protection of natural resources, and the establishment of a sustainable pattern of housing development. The problem is analysed with the support of a methodological approach that incorporates crowdsourcing, living labs, and participatory evaluation as the main components of its backbone. Geographical Information Systems and multi-criteria decision analysis are also utilized as an integrated Spatial Decision Support System.

The concept of ‘smart cities' has quite recently stimulated an alternative way of approaching urban sustainability through the extensive adoption of ICTs, harmoniously combined with human capital and city's potential in order new patterns of urban development to be generated. Crowdsourcing and living labs serve the goal of being ‘smart' by promoting the establishment of broad cooperative schemes for prototypical ideas generation and innovation production. The present paper focuses on exploring the contribution of crowdsourcing and living labs to smart cities' development. In the first part, the backbone of a smart city is presented; in the second part, a methodological approach integrating smart cities' development with crowdsourcing and living labs is elaborated; in the third part, the role of crowdsourcing in generating prototypical ideas is described; in the fourth part, the potential evaluation and implementation of such ideas in a living lab environment is examined; and finally, some conclusions are drawn.