Swarm Intelligence Applications for the Cities of the Future

This book explores the transformative power of swarm intelligence and digital innovations in shaping the cities of the future. It presents a comprehensive analysis of how social learning, citizen engagement, advanced technology, design, construction, planning and public policies converge to create cities that are sustainable, resilient, and inclusive.

The initial chapters stress the importance of collective intelligence in urban development, using technologies like Virtual Reality to increase citizen participation and democratise decision-making. Public policies play a key role in driving the digital transformation needed for greener cities, with frameworks and tools to enhance transparency and accountability. Digital technologies in policymaking ensure that policies are adaptive, data-driven, and responsive to real-time challenges. Internet of Things systems are explored for their role in improving public safety, urban resilience, and energy efficiency through digital twins, blockchain, and sensor networks. Swarm intelligence is highlighted for optimising energy management, reducing consumption, and promoting renewable resources. Healthcare integration into urban planning and sustainability is also discussed, with a comparative analysis of cities showing how tech innovation enhances resilience against climate change. Swarm intelligence beyond cities is also explored, such as for disaster response, healthcare, environmental conservation, and agriculture. Autonomous systems like drones and nanobots are shown to improve efficiency across various sectors.

Overall, this book advocates for a holistic approach to urban development, integrating digital technologies and collective intelligence to create cities that are technologically advanced, socially equitable, and environmentally sustainable.

Leonor Domingos is a PhD Arch (specialized in Digital Architecture since 2022), guest professor at the Department of Applied Digital Technologies of ISCTE Sintra and integrated researcher at ISTAR - Research Center for Information Sciences, Technology and Architecture. She’s the deputy coordinator of the research group Digital Living Spaces. Her research is focused on building sustainability assessment, energy efficiency, resilient cities, building adaptability for climate change, visual programming and digital transformation and education. She started working as an architect in Lisbon in 2017 and has recently been focused on research and education. She has worked on three Erasmus+ projects (already finished), two Horizon Europe (ongoing) and one Digital Skills programme (ongoing) as a team member. She has published in conferences and journals about design and construction for climate resilience, smart buildings, smart cities, and digital learning environments. She’s also a journal reviewer for Emerald Group publishing and part of the scientific committee for conferences focused on digital architecture and construction.

Maria José Sousa has a PhD in Management with Habilitation in Management and Public Management. She was Pro-Rector for the Development of Distance Learning and is a professor and a research fellow at ISCTE/Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal. She has assumed a postdoc position from 2016-2018, researching that field, with several publications in journals with high impact factor and has worked as an expert in a project of the European Commission for the creation of a new category regarding digital skills to be integrated with the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS). Her research interests currently are public policies of Innovation and Education. She is a bestselling author in Research Methods, ICT and People Management and has co-authored over 180 articles and book chapters in high-level journals (such as the Journal of Business Research, Management Decision, European Planning Studies, Information Systems Frontiers, Systems Research, and Behavioral Science, Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Future Generation Computer Systems, and others), and she is the guest-editor of several Special Issues from reputed publishing houses as Springer and Elsevier. She was/is the coordinator of several European projects of innovation (funded by programs as Erasmus +, Horizon Europe, and ICMPD) and is also External Expert of COST Association - European Cooperation in Science and Technology.