Digital, information and communication technologies, together with Big Data, the Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence, are reshaping almost every aspect of our societies. From traffic to logistics, from mobility to smart cities and societies, much of this gears towards more predictability, controllability, and automation, using digital twins and many other approaches. Optimizing performance, sustainability, resilience, and health are often stated goals. But what roles will complexity and collective intelligence, democracy and human rights, ethics, agency and freedom, co-creation and co-evolution play? And how can scientific disciplines – from data science and complexity theory to computational social science, network analysis, transportation modeling, game theory, and agent-based as well as AI-driven models – contribute to understanding these challenges and to shaping future solutions?
This special collection seeks to reflect on recent advances in these fields and explore visions for the future. It will provide a platform for critical reflection on the scientific methodologies and technological strategies currently driving our world. We invite inspiring contributions that provoke innovative thoughts and stimulate rigorous debate on the future trajectory of these technologies and the socio-technical systems that are expected to result from them.
Submission Information: Submissions to this collection are by invitation only. Authors should select the appropriate collection “Smarter Cities and Societies: What We Can and Cannot Optimize For” under the “Details” tab during the submission stage.
This collection supports United Nations SDG 9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure, United Nations SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, United Nations SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and United Nations SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals