Academic Press Shaping Smart for Better Cities: Rethinking and Shaping Relationships between Urban Space and Digital Technologies (Smart Cities)

Shaping Smart for Better Cities powerfully demonstrates the range of theoretical and practical challenges, opportunities and success factors involved in successfully deploying digital technologies in cities, focusing on the importance of recognizing local context and multi-layered urban relationships in designing successful urban interventions. The first section, ‘Rethinking Smart (in) Places’ interrogates the smart city from a theoretical vantage point. The second part, ‘Shaping Smart Places’ examines various case studies critically. Hence the volume offers an intellectual resource that expands on the current literature, but also provides a pedagogical resource to universities as well as a reflective opportunity for practitioners. The cases allow for an examination of the practical implications of smart interventions in space, whilst the theoretical reflections enable expansion of the literature. Students are encouraged to learn from case studies and apply that learning in design. Academics will gain from the learning embedded in the documentation of the case studies in different geographic contexts, while practitioners can apply their learning to the conceptualisation of new forms of technology use. Review Establishes the importance of local context in shaping effective ‘smart’ interventions From the Back Cover With the increasing concerns over greenhouse gas emissions and climate changes, the world is moving towards the utilisation of renewable energy resources. Lignin, a by-product from pulp and paper industry and ethanol manufacturers, is a storehouse of high value chemicals. These are now produced from a non-renewable fossil resource called crude oil after several steps of refining and functionalization. If lignin is used to obtain the same chemicals, twin benefit from economic and environment perspective is obtained. Lignin Biorefinery discusses scientific and technical information relating to the structure and physico-chemical characteristics of lignin. The lignin obtained in various 2G ethanol plants across the globe and also pulp & paper industries are quite different. Due to lack of understanding of structural information along with the technologies/processes to be adopted for production of high value chemicals, the material is being utilized for low value applications including energy. The book covers the different processes (biological, thermal and catalytic routes) that are available for lignin conversion into specialty chemicals or fuels will be delved upon in detail with references and links to the detailed along with literature available till date. The structure activity relationships and the optimised process parameters help in establishing the feasible size of the commercial plant in a centralised or decentralised model. In addition, the advantages and limitations of different technologies are also discussed by considering the local energy/chemicals/biopolymers/drug intermediates/activated carbons/speciality carbons etc., demand, government policies, environmental impacts, and education in bioenergy. About the Author Alessandro Aurigi is Professor of Urban Design and Associate Dean: Research at the University of Plymouth, UK. He was previously Head of the School of Architecture, Design and Environment at Plymouth. He also worked at Newcastle University where he was Director (Head of Department) of Architecture, and as a lecturer at UCL (UK). His research focuses on the relationships between our increasingly digital society and the ways we conceive, design, and manage urban space, to enhance and support place quality. Alex is a member of the Peer-Review College of the AHRC, and has published widely on the topic of digital technology and urban space. Nancy Odendaal is Associate Professor in City and Regional Planning at the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses on three interconnected areas of enquiry: infrastructure development, technology