This paper provides an overview of the current state of research on the evaluation methods of participatory processes in smart cities. Specifically, it aims to identify and analyze existing evaluation methods and frameworks for public participation (PP) in smart city development. The study focuses on the evaluation of participatory processes to find key indicators and enable an assessment of PP from multiple perspectives. A scoping literature review was conducted to analyze the past ten years of scientific literature on the topic. Relevant literature was retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, and articles were selected based on a set of criteria to ensure quality and relevance. We found that digital participation, also known as “e-participation”, is the most used method either exclusively or mixed with in-person methods. The level of participation achieved was mostly limited to the first two degrees of PP (i.e., information and consultation), and only a few papers addressed the highest degrees (i.e., agenda-setting and co-management). The impact on participants was mostly related to knowledge and skills, awareness raising, and satisfaction with the process and method. This paper highlights the potential to upskill citizens and enhance their understanding of sustainable urban development, fostering their commitment to achieving the United Nations’ sustainability goals for climate change mitigation in the urban context.

Objective: This scoping review aims to investigate the complex interplay between the built environment, health, and well-being and to provide a comprehensive overview of the knowledge needed for crucial health and well-being enhancement in cities. Method: A scoping review method has been chosen using four databases. The first sample was reduced from 2819 papers to 71 papers by implementing exclusion criteria, snowballing, and direct searches to find a relevant final sample. Results: Built environmental elements such as the neighborhood, urban architecture, activities, public spaces, greenery, lights, safety, aesthetics, and amenities were identified to be impactful on health and well-being outcomes. The two-way association of each environmental factor and its criteria with specific types of health and well-being issues such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, stress, etc. was determined to identify solutions and ways for improvement. Conclusions: This scoping review provides a comprehensive overview of the intricate interplay between the built environment, health, and well-being. By synthesizing existing knowledge of the built environmental factors, it explores the basis for evidence-based strategies to enhance health and well-being. By illuminating theoretical knowledge of the built environment on health and well-being, our findings will provide a deeper foundation of sources and practical insights for related fields.

As pointed out by Venkataraman and Pinto (2010), the importance of estimating project costs arises as the estimates become the benchmarks of which future costs are compared and evaluated. Although estimates become more accurate as decisions are made and uncertainties resolved, they are also chief means for assessing project feasibility, as a comparison of cost estimates with estimates of revenues and other benefits that are crucial in determining whether the project is worthwhile to carry out or not. In this paper we will discuss whether or not the uncertainty analysis is a reliable tool for supporting the cost estimation process. We present 5 challenges in connection with the way uncertainty analyses of cost estimates are done today and present findings that indicate a need to rethink the uncertainty analyses of the projects that have a high degree of uncertainty. This paper is a product of collective reflection, experience and the knowledge of the authors. It is of a qualitative nature as we do not present any quantitative or statistical evidence or methods in our approach. It is understood, due to the diverse contextual backgrounds of the projects involved, that the explanations for differences may be equally diverse. The paper is divided into five parts; The introduction – explaining the importance of the topic; part two provides a short introduction to the applied research methods; part three explain what we mean by cost estimation under uncertainty; part four presents the five identified challenges in cost estimat*ion under uncertainty; part five presents a conclusion and proposes potential areas of further research

Opportunity management and Target Value Delivery (TVD) have both been studied extensively but separately. The two approaches have been presented as solutions for increasing value in a project for the owner and users. However, it seems there has not been much research that addresses the link between the two approaches. The purpose of this study is to increase knowledge of how TVD can facilitate opportunity management. The results from a literature review are compared with the practice in two cases: TVD in a large infrastructure project and opportunity management in a large building project. The results from the building project showed a lack of inherent motivation for change and innovation in the project organization. The identified opportunities were aimed mainly at maximizing the project’s operational value and keeping costs within the approved budget. TVD seems to handle this with extensive attention to maintain value for the end-users. Besides, the target cost element of TVD seems to complement opportunity management by creating incentives to be flexible about change and innovation. This paper’s originality is to combine two well-established approaches that have many similarities but have yet to be explored in relation to each other.

To achieve sustainability, more economic and environmental initiatives, projects, and policies must have a positive impact on society, advance social justice, and enhance the general well-being of people and communities. This study proposes a quantitative and qualitative framework to assess social sustainability in different urban regions. A multi-category approach is used to determine what categories and indicators of social sustainability city governments and academia should consider to ensure that their policies and projects align with community values. The next step involves assessing residents’ satisfaction through citizen participation. This framework, entitled the “Integrated Social Sustainability Assessment (ISSA)”, was applied in three zones of the Furuset area in Oslo. The results of the three diagrams show how community strengths and weaknesses can be identified, allowing projects to be prioritized in a way that benefits citizens in the long term and provides a comparative score. This framework provides policymakers with useful tools and guidelines for creating policies and projects that are sustainable, equitable, and capable of meeting the needs of their communities in a measurable manner.

Projects are today widely used as a business model for private and public sectors and they constitute the preferred model for developing changes in construction, oil and gas, chemical processes, aerospace, defence, etc