Towards 2030: The politics and technology of smart cities and communities [Research Topic]

Building on the Millennium Development Goals, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the cornerstone of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, billed by the UN as “An Agenda of unprecedented scope and significance.” The seventeen ambitious goals, which are intended to be reached by 2030, are conceived as integrated, indivisible, and as balancing the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. They are organized around five core pillars: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership. As a member of the SDGs Publishers Compact, Frontiers is committed to promoting and advocating for the themes represented by the SDGs, such as equality, sustainability, and justice. SDG 11 has 10 targets to be achieved, and this is being measured with 15 indicators. The seven "outcome targets" include safe and affordable housing, affordable and sustainable transport systems, inclusive and sustainable urbanization, protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage, reduction of the adverse effects of natural disasters, reduction of the environmental impacts of cities and to provide access to safe and inclusive green and public spaces. The three "means of achieving" targets include strong national and regional development planning, implementing policies for inclusion, resource efficiency, and disaster risk reduction in supporting the least developed countries in sustainable and resilient building (United Nations, 2017). Target 11.1: Safe and affordable housing Target 11.2: Affordable and sustainable transport systems Target 11.3: Inclusive and sustainable urbanization Target 11.4: Protect the world's cultural and natural heritage Target 11.5: Reduce the adverse effects of natural disasters Target 11.6: Reduce the environmental impacts of cities Target 11.7: Provide access to safe and inclusive green and public spaces Target 11.a: Strong national and regional development planning Target 11.b: Implement policies for inclusion, resource efficiency and disaster risk reduction Target 11.c: Support least developed countries in sustainable and resilient building Several cities are pursuing a long-term agenda focused on environmental sustainability, social innovation, and digital transformation. Specifically, they plan to develop data platforms to analyze and predict urban, social, and economic impacts of green transformation initiatives. Such agglomerations are defined as smart cities, i.e. a technologically modern urban areas that use different types of electronic methods, voice activation methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data are used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in return, that data is used to improve the operations across the city. This includes data collected from citizens, devices, buildings and assets that is then processed and analyzed to monitor and manage traffic and transportation systems, power plants, utilities, water supply networks, waste, crime detection, information systems, schools, libraries, hospitals, and other community services. A core element of smart city policies is to enable and encourage Public Authorities to use appropriate infrastructures, services, data and methodologies to apply a more evidenced informed approach to policies. This Research Topic seeks to bring together multidisciplinary and diverse viewpoints and welcomes manuscripts exploring themes including, but not limited to, the following: - Development of technologies and governance frameworks for the collection, processing and sharing of data within smart cities and with central government - Policies, action plans and KPIs for social innovation and digital transformation leading to sustainabilit