Facilitating data-intensive approaches to innovation for sustainability: opportunities and challenges in building smart cities

Abstract

Sustainability concerns reducing air and water pollution, improving energy efficiency while securing energy supply, and maintaining resilience to disasters. Interconnected in complex and dynamic ways, these challenges pose formidable difficulties and obstacles in designing and implementing sustainable smart cities. As various types of data are increasingly available on diverse dimensions of cities, it is critical to assemble and integrate them in creating innovation. Sustainability science communities can play an important crucial role in facilitating the exchange and sharing of data accumulated through research activities. Institutional arrangements need to be aligned with incentives to stakeholders in promoting open data for innovation.