Big Data Science and Analytics for Smart Sustainable Urbanism

We are living at the dawn of what has been termed ‘the fourth paradigm of science,’ a scientific revolution that is marked by both the emergence of big data science and analytics, and by the increasing adoption of the underlying technologies in scientific and scholarly research practices. Everything about science development or knowledge production is fundamentally changing thanks to the ever-increasing deluge of data. This is the primary fuel of the new age, which powerful computational processes or analytics algorithms are using to generate valuable knowledge for enhanced decision-making, and deep insights pertaining to a wide variety of practical uses and applications.

This book addresses the complex interplay of the scientific, technological, and social dimensions of the city, and what it entails in terms of the systemic implications for smart sustainable urbanism. In concrete terms, it explores the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field of smart sustainable urbanism and the unprecedented paradigmatic shifts and practical advances it is undergoing in light of big data science and analytics. This new era of science and technology embodies an unprecedentedly transformative and constitutive power—manifested not only in the form of revolutionizing science and transforming knowledge, but also in advancing social practices, producing new discourses, catalyzing major shifts, and fostering societal transitions. Of particular relevance, it is instigating a massive change in the way both smart cities and sustainable cities are studied and understood, and in how they are planned, designed, operated, managed, and governed in the face of urbanization. This relates to what has been dubbed data-driven smart sustainable urbanism, an emerging approach based on a computational understanding of city systems and processes that reduces urban life to logical and algorithmic rules and procedures, while also harnessing urban big data to provide a more holisticand integrated view or synoptic intelligence of the city. This is increasingly being directed towards improving, advancing, and maintaining the contribution of both sustainable cities and smart cities to the goals of sustainable development.

This timely and multifaceted book is aimed at a broad readership. As such, it will appeal to urban scientists, data scientists, urbanists, planners, engineers, designers, policymakers, philosophers of science, and futurists, as well as all readers interested in an overview of the pivotal role of big data science and analytics in advancing every academic discipline and social practice concerned with data–intensive science and its application, particularly in relation to sustainability.

Dr. Simon Elias Bibri is Assistant Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Computer Science and Department of Architecture and Planning, Trondheim, Norway. His intellectual pursuits and endeavors have resulted in an educational background encompassing knowledge from, and meta–knowledge about, different academic disciplines. He holds the following degrees:

1. Bachelor of Science in computer engineering with a major in software development and computer networks

2. Master of Science–research focused–in computer science with a major in Ambient Intelligence

4. Master of Science in computer and systems sciences with a major in decision support and risk analysis

5. Master of Science in entrepreneurship and innovation with a major in new venture creation

6. Master of Science in strategic leadership toward sustainability

7. Master of Science in sustainable urban development

8. Master of Science in environmental science with a major in ecotechnology and sustainable development

9. Master of Social Science with a major in business administration (MBA)

10. Master of Arts in communication and media for social change

11. Master of Science with a major in economics and management

12.  Ph.D. in computer science and urban planning with a focus on data–driven smart sustainable cities of the future

Bibri has earned all his Master’s degrees from different Swedish universities,namely Lund University, West University, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Malmö University, Stockholm University, and Mid–Sweden University.

Before embarking on his long academic journey, Bibri had served as a sustainability and ICT strategist, business IT engineer, project manager, researcher, and consultant. Over the past years and in parallel with his academic studies, he has been involved in a number of research and consulting projects pertaining to smart sustainable cities, sustainable cities, green innovation, sustainable business model innovation, and green ICT strategies.

Bibri's current research interests include smart sustainable urbanism, sustainable urbanism, data–driven smart urbanism, scientific urbanism, urban science, and data–intensive science, as well as big data computing and its core enabling and driving technologies, namely sensor networks, data processing platforms, cloud and fog computing  infrastructures, and wireless communication networks.

Bibri has a genuine interest in the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. His general research interests fall within the following areas:

•    ICT of ubiquitous computing (i.e., Ambient Intelligence, the IoT, and Sentient Computing)

•    Big data science and analytics

•    Sustainable cities (e.g., compact city, eco–city,  green city, environmental city, symbiocity)

•    Smart cities (e.g., real–time city, data–driven city, ambient city, ubiquitous city, sentient city)

•    Sustainability transitions and socio–technical shifts

•    Philosophy of science and scientific and epistemological paradigm shifts

•    Science, technology, and society (STS)

•    Technological innovation systems

•    Industrial ecology (e.g., industrial symbiosis, eco–industrial parks, smart urban metabolism)

•    Environmental and technology policies

Bibri has authored five academic books whose titles are as follows:

1.      The Human Face of Ambient Intelligence: Cognitive, Emotional, Affective, Behavioral and Conversational Aspects, Springer, 07/2015

2.      The Shaping of Ambient Intelligence and the Internet of Things: Historico–epistemic, Socio–cultural, Politico–institutional and Eco–environmental Dimensions, 11/2015

4.      Big Data Science and Analytics for Smart Sustainable Urbanism: Unprecedented Paradigmatic Shifts and Practical Advancements, Springer, 05/2019

5.      Advances in the Leading Paradigms of Urbanism and their Amalgamation: Compact Cities, Eco–cities, and Data–Driven Smart Cities, Springer, 06/2020