Speaker
Description
Humankind is currently living in a hyper-dynamic and constant transforming environment- in the so called convergence era and 4rth industrial revolution. This level of development requires a complexity-led approach and transformations of our political, societal, economic and technological framework: the way we are living and being educated, creating new jobs and generating sustainable growth, providing security, managing hyper mobility, as well as other developement aspects related with living quality and human values.
"SMART Cities" and its applications represent a high level of complexity, including the skills required for urban solutions based on new models of education, research and policy framework design.
This paper elaborates a specific model named "UBT SMART City" (Small Scale Smart Sustain System) which represents a concept of Entrepreneurial Innovation Ecosystem which could also be used as a TESTBAD for Future and Innovative Urban Planning with a particular focus in education, future planning concepts and emerging technologies.
UBT "SMART City" is the state-of-art Development Program, designed and developed by Edmond Hajrizi in Kosovo at University for Business and Technology (UBT), with the aim to modernize the sustainable and SMART planning, community living standards, advanced technologies, education, innovation, economic and social impact.
UBT Smart "SMART City" is located in an Area of 30.000 m2 and is part of "UBT Innovation Campus" made from different SMART Buildings, Laboratories, Spin Offs, HUBs, Institutes, Research Centers, Clinics, Factories, Schools, Libraries, University and Further Education Structures, Advanced Technologies (5G, ISP, AI, XR, Cyber Technology, Robotics, IoT, Cloud, Laser Technology, Drones, Multimedia, 3D Printing, Super Computer, Big Data Center) etc. The model aims to demonstrate how the essential services related to education, healthcare, infrastructure (energy, water, green-garden, ICT, parking), food, research, trade, community living, administration, sport, mobility, business, media, art and culture can co-live and co-generate in a small and compact area, similar to “15 minutes cities”.
It is to emphasize that "UBT Smart City" was created by applying innovative design concepts and approaches while as a model it could serve as a testbed of how these concepts, practices and impact could be implemented in large-scale city areas. In this regard, it could provide planning professionals and academic staff a new way of thinking, new tools as well as data-driven decision making options when they teach and practice innovative urban planning. The model itself integrates education, smart Infrastructure, integrated advanced technologies, sustainability practices, experimentation HUBs, Community-Centric Design practices, Future Urban Planning (Scalability, Resilience, Public Private Partnership, Place-based Innovation Ecosystem, Adaptive urbanism) and Emerging Urban Planning (Digital Twins, Dynamic Land use, Circular Economy, Mobility innovation).
In this model, different methods have been used, including the "Life Cycle based Design" approach which was used to develop the framework of a Small-Scale- Smart and Self-Sustained Systems that guides to the design and evaluation of the UBT SMART City, ensuring it aligns with established system design principles and best practices.
Additionally, the "Design Based Methodology" was used in cases of developing different applications. Though creating/developing the prototypes one can visualize, test and experience different functional systems before their full implementation. "UBT SMART City" also allows making a real time and regular feedback from users and stakeholders. This system also provides possibility to collaborate with users (user-centered design) to ensure that the system meets their needs and expectations. For defining each problem statements, mixed (quantitative and qualitative) methodology approach was applied.
The paper presents the "UBT SMART City" as an advanced model that could serve as a testbed for innovative pedagogical approaches, knowledge integration, and skill development in urban planning, equipping learners with future competencies to address social, economic, and environmental challenges through smart infrastructure and emerging technologies.
References
Hajrizi, E., Somerville, M.M. and Mirijamdotter, A., 2017. The UBT Knowledge Center: A collaborative design approach.
Hajrizi, E., 2022, June. UBT 5S (Small Scale Smart Sustainable System). In 2022 29th International Conference on Systems, Signals and Image Processing (IWSSIP) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.
Hajrizi, E. and Berisha, D., 2019. Application of discrete events simulation for the department of emergency at peja regional hospital case study kosovo. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 52(25), pp.376-381.
Limani, Y., Hajrizi, E., Stapleton, L. and Retkoceri, M., 2019. Digital transformation readiness in higher education institutions (HEI): The case of Kosovo. Ifac-papersonline, 52(25), pp.52-57.
Nagy, K., Hajrizi, E. and Gërvalla, M., 2023, July. Some Specifics of the Management of Responsible Innovation. In 2023 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Hajrizi, E., 2005. The role of Quality Management in European fast Changes Countries. In European Quality Congress, Antalya, Turkey.
Sokoli, D., Koren, A. and Hajrizi, E., UBT Knowledge Center.
| Keywords | Smart Cities; Emerging Technologies; Urban Planning; Sustainable Development; Innovation Ecosystem |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
