Knowledge city research and practice under the microscope: a review of empirical findings

Application of Open Government Data to Sustainable City Indicators: A Megacity Case Study

The access to open government data has been a relevant topic for societies around the world, especially over the last ten years. This paper aims to analyze the indicators of the São Paulo City Observatory (ObservaSampa), confronting them with the ISO 3712x series (sustainable, smart, and resilient cities) standards, to assess if the former meet both open data principles and the ISO prescriptions. Bibliometric analysis, comparative analysis, cluster analysis, and principal component analysis (PCA) were the methods used in this research. From the comparative analysis, 18 indicators were identified as conforming and 41 as partially conforming. Thus, 20% of the ObservaSampa indicators adhere to the ISO standards. The PCA applied to the conforming indicators shows component 1 is related to socioeconomic dimensions, while component 2 refers to social policy, with both appraisals confirmed by cluster analysis. Measuring and presenting city data in compliance with indicator standards is relevant because they open the possibility of comparing different cities. However, there is still a lack of consensus on a common set of indicators to be accommodated within the current ISO standards system.

Could a Retail-Less City Be Sustainable? The Digitalization of the Urban Economy against the City

This article tries to imagine the possible future retail-less city and its sustainability, combining some theoretical approaches with the initial data obtained from an analysis of Barcelona and Catalonia. The retail-less city is based on the idea of a city in which all the brick-and-mortar stores have closed as a consequence of the growing virtualization of retail. The hypothesis is based on the contemporary theory of planetary urbanization and its implications for the popular relationship between retail and the city. First, the study analyzes the relative weakness of the current retail theories and the spread of certain terms that have not succeeded in becoming real concepts. Second, the research attempt to find a possible definition of the retail-less city based on the increase of brick-and-mortar store and bank branch closures in Barcelona and Catalonia. Then, it explores some alternatives in urban policies and planning, using examples from Barcelona. Finally, the conclusion returns to the contemporary theories on globalization and planetary urbanization.

Exposing Emerging Trends in Smart Sustainable City Research Using Deep Autoencoders-Based Fuzzy C-Means

The literature discussing the concepts, technologies, and ICT-based urban innovation approaches of smart cities has been growing, along with initiatives from cities all over the world that are competing to improve their services and become smart and sustainable. However, current studies that provide a comprehensive understanding and reveal smart and sustainable city research trends and characteristics are still lacking. Meanwhile, policymakers and practitioners alike need to pursue progressive development. In response to this shortcoming, this research offers content analysis studies based on topic modeling approaches to capture the evolution and characteristics of topics in the scientific literature on smart and sustainable city research. More importantly, a novel topic-detecting algorithm based on the deep learning and clustering techniques, namely deep autoencoders-based fuzzy C-means (DFCM), is introduced for analyzing the research topic trend. The topics generated by this proposed algorithm have relatively higher coherence values than those generated by previously used topic detection methods, namely non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), and eigenspace-based fuzzy C-means (EFCM). The 30 main topics that appeared in topic modeling with the DFCM algorithm were classified into six groups (technology, energy, environment, transportation, e-governance, and human capital and welfare) that characterize the six dimensions of smart, sustainable city research.

A structured literature review of scientometric research of the knowledge management discipline: a 2021 update

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to conduct a structured literature review of scientometric research of the knowledge management (KM) discipline for the 2012–2019 time period.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 175 scientometric studies of the KM discipline were identified and analyzed.

Findings

Scientometric KM research has entered the maturity stage: its volume has been growing, reaching six publications per month in 2019. Scientometric KM research has become highly specialized, which explains many inconsistent findings, and the interests of scientometric KM researchers and their preferred inquiry methods have changed over time. There is a dangerous trend toward a monopoly of the scholarly publishing market which affects researchers’ behavior. To create a list of keywords for database searches, scientometric KM scholars should rely on the formal KM keyword classification schemes, and KM-centric peer-reviewed journals should continue welcoming manuscripts on scientometric topics.

Practical implications

Stakeholders should realize that the KM discipline may successfully exist as a cluster of divergent schools of thought under an overarching KM umbrella and that the notion of intradisciplinary cohesion and consistency should be abandoned. Journal of Knowledge Management is unanimously recognized as a leading KM journal, but KM researchers should not limit their focus to the body of knowledge documented in the KM-centric publication forums. The top six most productive countries are the USA, the UK, Taiwan, Canada, Australia and China. There is a need for knowledge brokers that may deliver the KM academic body of knowledge to practitioners.

Originality/value

This is the most comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of the KM discipline.

How does a (Smart) Age-Friendly Ecosystem Look in a Post-Pandemic Society?

COVID-19 has impacted not only the health of citizens, but also the various factors that make up our society, living environments, and ecosystems. This pandemic has shown that future living will need to be agile and flexible to adapt to the various changes in needs of societal populations. Digital technology has played an integral role during COVID-19, assisting various sectors of the community, and demonstrating that smart cities can provide opportunities to respond to many future societal challenges. In the decades ahead, the rise in aging populations will be one of these challenges, and one in which the needs and requirements between demographic cohorts will vary greatly. Although we need to create future smart age-friendly ecosystems to meet these needs, technology still does not feature in the WHO eight domains of an age-friendly city. This paper extends upon Marston and van Hoof's 'Smart Age-friendly Ecosystem' (SAfE) framework, and explores how digital technology, design hacking, and research approaches can be used to understand a smart age-friendly ecosystem in a post-pandemic society. By exploring a series of case studies and using real-life scenarios from the standpoint of COVID-19, we propose the 'Concept of Age-friendly Smart Ecologies (CASE)' framework. We provide an insight into a myriad of contemporary multi-disciplinary research, which are capable to initiate discussions and bring various actors together with a positive impact on future planning and development of age-friendly ecosystems. The strengths and limitations of this framework are outlined, with advantages evident in the opportunity for towns, regions/counties, provinces, and states to take an agile approach and work together in adopting and implement improvements for the greater benefits of residents and citizens.