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We report on a novel evaluation framework to globally assess the footprint of smart cities and communities (SCC) projects, being also expandable to the case of smart grid related projects. The uniform smart city evaluation (USE) framework is constructed upon three complementary evaluation axes: the first one aims to weigh up the success of a SCC project based on performance metrics against pre-defined project-specific target values. The second axis focuses on the project’s impact towards the sustainability of a city and it is bench-marked against national and international key objectives arising from strategic plans. This bench-marking feeds the third axis which provides a more inclusive evaluation against four pre-defined and widely acclaimed sectors of interest. The steps to be followed for the uniform evaluation of each axis and corresponding index are presented in detail, including necessary key performance indicator (KPI) normalization, weighting, and aggregation methods. The resulting indices’ scores for each axis (namely project performance index, sustainability impact index, and sustainability performance index) can be post-processed with adequate data processing and visualization tools to extract important information on the extent to which the range of success of a SCC project contributes to the city sustainability progress. Illustrative examples from an on-going SCC project are provided to highlight the strengths of the approach. The proposed framework can be used to compare multiple projects within a city and sustainability and project performance in different cities, evaluate the interventions chosen per project against city needs, benchmark and design future projects (with, e.g., reverse engineering, projections), as well as evaluate various spatial and temporal scales.
Konstantinos Kourtzanidis; Komninos Angelakoglou; Vasilis Apostolopoulos; Paraskevi Giourka; Nikolaos Nikolopoulos. Assessing Impact, Performance and Sustainability Potential of Smart City Projects: Towards a Case Agnostic Evaluation Framework. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7395 .
AMA StyleKonstantinos Kourtzanidis, Komninos Angelakoglou, Vasilis Apostolopoulos, Paraskevi Giourka, Nikolaos Nikolopoulos. Assessing Impact, Performance and Sustainability Potential of Smart City Projects: Towards a Case Agnostic Evaluation Framework. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (13):7395.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKonstantinos Kourtzanidis; Komninos Angelakoglou; Vasilis Apostolopoulos; Paraskevi Giourka; Nikolaos Nikolopoulos. 2021. "Assessing Impact, Performance and Sustainability Potential of Smart City Projects: Towards a Case Agnostic Evaluation Framework." Sustainability 13, no. 13: 7395.
As cities grow rapidly and energy needs increase, shaping an effective energy transition is a top priority towards urban sustainability and smart development. This study attempts to answer three key research questions that can help city authorities, planners and interested agents simplify and increase the transparency of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) selection for smart city and communities (SCC) projects focusing on energy transition and creation of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs): Question 1: “What resources are available for extracting such KPIs?”; Question 2: “Which of those KPIs are the most suitable for assessing the energy transition of smart city projects and PED-related developments?” and Question 3: “How can a project-specific shortlist of KPIs be developed?”. Answering these questions can also serve as a major first step towards a “universal” KPI selection procedure. In line with this purpose, an experiential approach is presented, capitalizing on knowledge and lessons learned from an ongoing smart city project in Europe (POCITYF) that focuses on PED deployment. Under this framework, a) a review of smart city KPI frameworks has been conducted, resulting in a pool of 258 indicators that can potentially be adopted by smart city projects; b) eight key dimensions of evaluations were extracted, setting a holistic performance framework relevant to SCCs; c) a detailed evaluation process including pre-determined criteria and city-needs feedback was applied to shortlist the KPI pool, leading to a ready-to-be-used, project-specific list of 63 KPIs and d) KPIs were sorted and analyzed in different granularity levels to further facilitate the monitoring procedure. The experiential procedure presented in this study can be easily adapted to the needs of every smart city project, serving as a recommendation guide.
Komninos Angelakoglou; Konstantinos Kourtzanidis; Paraskevi Giourka; Vasilis Apostolopoulos; Nikos Nikolopoulos; Julia Kantorovitch. From a Comprehensive Pool to a Project-Specific List of Key Performance Indicators for Monitoring the Positive Energy Transition of Smart Cities—An Experience-Based Approach. Smart Cities 2020, 3, 705 -735.
AMA StyleKomninos Angelakoglou, Konstantinos Kourtzanidis, Paraskevi Giourka, Vasilis Apostolopoulos, Nikos Nikolopoulos, Julia Kantorovitch. From a Comprehensive Pool to a Project-Specific List of Key Performance Indicators for Monitoring the Positive Energy Transition of Smart Cities—An Experience-Based Approach. Smart Cities. 2020; 3 (3):705-735.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKomninos Angelakoglou; Konstantinos Kourtzanidis; Paraskevi Giourka; Vasilis Apostolopoulos; Nikos Nikolopoulos; Julia Kantorovitch. 2020. "From a Comprehensive Pool to a Project-Specific List of Key Performance Indicators for Monitoring the Positive Energy Transition of Smart Cities—An Experience-Based Approach." Smart Cities 3, no. 3: 705-735.
This study presents an experiential process and a market-oriented approach for realizing cities’ energy transition through smart solutions. The aim of this study is twofold: (a) present a process for defining a repository of innovative solutions that can be applied at building, district, or city level, for two European Union cities, Evora and Alkmaar, and support the deployment of positive energy districts enabling a sustainable energy transition, and (b) understand in a systematic way the attributes of value offered by energy-related smart city solutions, in order to facilitate the development of sustainable value propositions that can successfully address city needs. The repository is assessed against four elements of value, which include social impact, life-changing, emotional, and functional attributes, according to the value pyramid of Maslow. Results show that the value attributes of quality, motivation, integration, cost reduction, information, and organization are highly relevant to the proposed smart solutions. The results presented in this study are useful for city planners, decision-makers, public bodies, citizens, and businesses interested in designing their energy transition strategy and defining novel technologies that promote urban energy sustainability.
Paraskevi Giourka; Vasilis Apostolopoulos; Komninos Angelakoglou; Konstantinos Kourtzanidis; Nikos Nikolopoulos; Vasileios Sougkakis; Federica Fuligni; Stefano Barberis; Karin Verbeek; José Miguel Costa; João Formiga. The Nexus between Market Needs and Value Attributes of Smart City Solutions towards Energy Transition. An Empirical Evidence of Two European Union (EU) Smart Cities, Evora and Alkmaar. Smart Cities 2020, 3, 604 -641.
AMA StyleParaskevi Giourka, Vasilis Apostolopoulos, Komninos Angelakoglou, Konstantinos Kourtzanidis, Nikos Nikolopoulos, Vasileios Sougkakis, Federica Fuligni, Stefano Barberis, Karin Verbeek, José Miguel Costa, João Formiga. The Nexus between Market Needs and Value Attributes of Smart City Solutions towards Energy Transition. An Empirical Evidence of Two European Union (EU) Smart Cities, Evora and Alkmaar. Smart Cities. 2020; 3 (3):604-641.
Chicago/Turabian StyleParaskevi Giourka; Vasilis Apostolopoulos; Komninos Angelakoglou; Konstantinos Kourtzanidis; Nikos Nikolopoulos; Vasileios Sougkakis; Federica Fuligni; Stefano Barberis; Karin Verbeek; José Miguel Costa; João Formiga. 2020. "The Nexus between Market Needs and Value Attributes of Smart City Solutions towards Energy Transition. An Empirical Evidence of Two European Union (EU) Smart Cities, Evora and Alkmaar." Smart Cities 3, no. 3: 604-641.