Anastasia Stratigea

Tools and Technologies for Planning the Development of Smart Cities

Abstract At present, sustainable urban development constitutes a major planning goal for many urban environments coping with contemporary challenges and problems confronted by world cities. Towards this end, the concept of smart cities emerges as a promising policy option for effectively dealing with sustainability objectives. In this respect, the focus of the present paper is on the development of an ICT-enabled participatory planning framework for guiding policy-making towards the planning of smart cities. This framework is in alignment with the argument that smart-city solutions must start with the “city” not with the “smart,” shifting from a technology-pushed to an application-pulled smart-city planning approach, matching different types of “smartness” (technologies, tools, and applications) with different types of urban functions and contexts. It is also built upon a digital platform, integrating tools and technologies for data management and e-participatory planning that can support city- and citizen-specific decision making, capable of dealing with objectives for urban sustainability.

ICTs and Tourism Marketing for Regional Development

Tourism marketing has become the cornerstone for strengthening the position of regions in the global tourism market. ICTs have enhanced the marketing potential of remote and peripheral regions as tourist destinations. The scope of this chapter relates to the impacts of the new economy, enabled by ICTs, on tourism marketing for regional development. In the first part of the chapter, the context of the new economy is presented, with emphasis on the role and nature of the new actors in the tourist sector. In the second part, the evolving context of marketing possibilities for remote and peripheral regions is explored in the light of the new economy. In this context, a promotion/marketing framework is developed, based on the specific assets of tourist destinations as tourist products, that is aimed at enhancing their potential within the tourist market. More specifically, an e-Marketplace platform is developed, aimed at marketing peripheral regions as tourist destinations serving regional development goals.

How to approach narratives in foresight studies: qualitative data analysis

Gathering of intelligence and knowledge, based on stakeholders’ participation, is at the core of foresight studies. Participatory approaches in foresight studies, though, generate a large amount of qualitative data. In order to deal with this issue, there is a need for tools and techniques capable of handling qualitative data, so that the input to a foresight exercise can be enriched and value can be added to the outcome of the decision making process. The focus of the paper is on the introduction of qualitative data analysis tools for the processing of qualitative data that are gathered by use of participatory approaches in foresight exercises. In the first part it attempts to shed light on the intriguing issue of integrating ‘narratives and numbers’ in a participatory foresight context. In the second part it presents the application of the ATLAS-ti model – a qualitative data analysis tool – on the data obtained from the stakeholders’ validation workshop, carried out in the context of the AG2020 project on the future of agriculture in Europe.

Public Involvement in Taking Legislative Action as to the Spatial Development of the Tourist Sector in Greece—The “OpenGov” Platform Experience

By the Aarhus Convention (1998) it is recognized the right of citizens to get access to and influence decision-making in respect to issues affecting the state of the environment. More specifically, in Article 8 it is stated that public authorities are forced to engage public participation when preparing regulations or legally binding rules that have a significant environmental impact. Towards this end, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their applications have considerably expanded the potential of planners and decision makers to interact with stakeholders and the public and engage them in participatory processes through ICTs-enabled platforms. The focus of the present paper is on the context of public consultation in taking legislative action as to the spatial development of the tourist sector in Greece. It consists of three parts: the first part, where the context of engaging the public in governmental decision-making in Greece is discussed, following the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative; the second part, presenting the steps of the “OpenGov” online platform, designed for gathering public knowledge to further improve legislative efforts and policy; and the third part, elaborating on the experience gained by the use of the “OpenGov” platform for decision-making on the spatial development of the tourist sector in Greece.

The Impact of New Information Technologies on Spatial Inequalities

New Information Technology (NIST) may be regarded as a pervasive, radical and innovative technology, which may potentially trigger off a systemic transformation in our economies.

Scenario Planning as a Tool in Foresight Exercises: The LIPSOR Approach

Foresight is a future-oriented activity that supports decision-making processes by focusing on the management of the complexity involved within a turbulent environment in a long-term planning context (Giaoutzi et al. 2012). Scenario planning, as a strategic and effective planning and learning tool, should constitute an integral part of any foresight exercise.

Engaging Citizens in Planning Open Public Space Regeneration: Pedio Agora Framework

AbstractThe focus of the paper is on the development of an innovative participatory planning framework, Pedio Agora, supporting the regeneration of an open public space. It emphasizes the participa...

In Search of Participatory Sustainable Cultural Paths at the Local Level—The Case of Kissamos Province-Crete

Sustainable cultural heritage management is nowadays considered as a key driver for regions’ development and flourish, lying at the heart of planning and decision-making exercises in many peripheral and insular communities around the globe. These planning efforts and related policies are focusing on building integrated cultural development paths by taking advantage of local natural and cultural resources’ availability; while engaging citizens and stakeholders in order for local views, visions, perceptions, expectations etc. to be effectively embedded in the final planning outcome. Along these lines, the present paper focuses on the development and implementation of a participatory methodological framework for setting strategic guidelines for the sustainable cultural development of a specific area, the Province of Kissamos-Crete. The particular framework is actively engaging local stakeholders’ groups throughout the steps of the planning process. GIS-mapping of natural and cultural resources sets the ground of this participatory planning exercise, upon which the structuring of two scenarios, regarding the sustainable exploitation of cultural reserve, is based, presenting discrete options for successfully linking cultural preservation and alternative tourism development. Stakeholders’ analysis reveals potential conflicts between local views and planning objectives as well as opposing interests among local groups that need to be properly managed through the planning process; while engagement of various interest groups strengthens insight into the value and diversity of this heritage; and properly directs the process of scenario building and evaluation towards widely acceptable cultural management outcomes.

Smartening-Up Communities in Less-Privileged Urban Areas—The DemoCU Participatory Cultural Planning Experience in Korydallos—Greece Municipality

Coping with contemporary urban challenges and smart city developments actually implies a conscious effort to engage a range of actors of local ecosystems and transform ways of implementing things in a significant, fundamental and structural rather than incremental manner, which results in more qualitative outcomes and cooperative, highly inclusive, decision-making processes that affect current and future quality of local communities’ living perspectives. Citizens and stakeholders’ participation in such an effort is growing in importance, in alignment with the currently prevailing shift from a top-down to a bottom-up planning paradigm. Along these lines, the focus of this paper is on smartening up local communities, considered as the heart of smart cities’ development. More specifically, the paper targets citizens and stakeholders’ empowerment and engagement in a specific cultural planning exercise in a less privileged suburb of Athens metropolitan area, the Municipality of Korydallos. This is accomplished by the development of an innovative stepwise participatory planning framework, effectively combining classical and Web-based participatory tools for establishing face-to-face and online interaction at the different steps of the participatory process; and broadening substantial participation of various citizens and stakeholders’ groups in this exercise.

Barriers in Network Performance in Border Areas

In the last two decades a great diversity of scientific and technological developments have taken place which have had a considerable impact upon the dynamics of the world economy. The patterns of competition have been dramatically altered, while the internationalization of competition has forced countries to participate in broader economic entities in order to strengthen their position in the emerging new economic order.