Governance and community engagement are essential to facilitating prosperous and sustainable cities, but can also become politicised.
This theme will examine how governance can be improved within the smart cities context. It will focus on issues of accountability and transparency regarding government, industry and community partnerships. In particular, this theme will explore new forms of community participation in decision-making about urban issues.
Data can be obtained from existing and new data sources that are yet to be developed and used to provide information for decision-making.
The scope is immense and covers areas such as research, planning, economic development, intelligent city services, comprehensive asset management, targeted service delivery and more responsive community safety.
Research
We are eager to work with people and organisations on research that fits this theme. Some possible research examples might be:
- how can new technologies be used to collect, share and analyse data for better decision-making amongst different government agencies? And how should these processes be regulated, managed and costed?
- how do institutional structures, systems, and cultures affect the introduction, development and implementation of E-governance? And who benefits or is excluded from these digital processes?
- to what extent do new technologies change who, when, how and why citizens engage on local, regional and national issues, and the level of influence they can have?
- how can co-design processes of e-governance tools and services improve outcomes for agencies delivering services, and for different cohorts of citizens?
If you have an idea for research and want to be a part of our network, contact us with your ideas.
Engagement
We are able to undertake work for organisations and governments. Talk to us about how we can help you. Some examples include:
- identifying opportunities for co-design and co-development of digital tools in e-governance
- testing the extent and effectiveness of new types of digital service delivery
- using digital technologies to trial different forms of community engagement
- evaluation of participatory forms of governance in decision making with regards to smart technologies
- audits of citizen engagement in smart cities programs.
Current research projects
Smart Cities, Platformization and Circuits of Capital: An Ethnograpic study of Data and Digital Monies in India
Investigators:
PhD candidate:
Project ID: 6-EOI-IITK
Citizens’ E-Collaboration : Collective Intelligence for Community Socio-Economic Upliftment in Smart Cities
This research aims to investigate how citizens e-collaborate to exploit smart technologies for shared value in the service economy. Although the smart technologies create a unique and connected information-based ecosystem, citizens have little understanding of what problems smart technologies will solve, and how smart technologies function. Consequently, the uptake of smart technologies has been limited or not been utilised.
Investigators:
Project ID: 12-EOI-IITK
REmote Sensing enabled Public policy analysis of aIR-pollutants in peri-urban Environments: An Indo-
Australian case study - RESPIRE
This project aims to understand the nature of air pollution in peri-urban areas in the context of agriculture, the relative effectiveness of existing policy controls and opportunities for development of new evidence-based policy frameworks to support urban planning decisions.
As city boundaries and urban populations expand, urban and rural actors in the peri-urban environment will necessarily come into conflict. A key challenge for the government is to provide effective and efficient policy measures to mitigate the conflict.
Investigators:
PhD candidate:
Project ID: 28-EOI-BITSP
Building Multi-source knowledge base for AI-driven public health explainable chatbots
A common problem in public health is the ability to answer health related questions at scale. One solution is to use Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence to learn the questions and answers so a machine can provide this service 24x7 to many people. However current techniques lack the capabilities to ensure answers are medically sound, so new algorithms need to be found to overcome these kinds of issues.
Investigators:
Project ID: 33-EOI-BITSP
Building Actionable and Smart Information Systems for Migrant Workers in Smart Cities
This project aims to test sustainable models of digital communication that support migrant workers’ welfare in urban spaces. Targeting information gaps, ethnographic research methods will be used to identify migrant capabilities for handling digital platforms. This data will guide design and construction of an appropriate information system to be deployed and tested with the communities studied, that caters to their capabilities and information needs.
Investigators:
PhD candidate:
Project ID: 41-EOI-BITSP
Future of India-Australia Agribusiness Trade in an Era of Reglobalization: A Supply Chain Management Perspective
This research aims to explore how supply chain collaboration among groups of importers and/or exporters can successfully reduce production/logistical costs along with work for new trade agreements. We will combine national input output data along with trade statistics to identify the global value chains in various sectors and decipher value added in bilateral trade flows. The study will generate innovative supply chain solutions and promote collaboration among multiple clusters of Indian and Australian exporters and importers, with special focus on micro, small and medium enterprises and low-income consumers.
Investigators:
Project ID: 47-EOI-IITK
Women Entrepreneurs & Green Entrepreneurship: A strategic approach towards implementation of circular economy model
Investigators:
Project ID: EOI 2-2-IITK
Blockchain and small firms: Financing Framework, Application and adoption
Investigators:
PhD candidate:
Project ID: SEOI-4-IITK
Corporate governance over the startup life cycle: Evolution & Impact
Investigators:
PhD candidate:
- Mr Mrigang Saurabh Dwivedi
Project ID: SEOI-5-IITK
Three Essays on Economic Policy Uncertainty
Investigators:
PhD candidate:
Project ID: SEOI-6-IITK
The Nexus among Firm efficiency, Corporate Decision (Strategic) and Capital Structure
Investigators:
PhD candidate:
Project ID: SEOI-9-IITK
Forging Forward with Modern Sustainable Finance and Investment
Investigators:
PhD candidate:
Project ID: 169 IIT K - LTU 2023
A peer to peer Energy Trading using Transactive Energy for Smart Grid Using Blockchain Technology
Investigators:
PhD candidate:
Project ID: 47 IIT K - LTU 2023
Educational Escape Room Approaches for Societal Change and Instruction
Investigators:
Project ID: 70 LTU - BITS 2023
Research partners
La Trobe Academics
You can download the complete file of one-page profiles for La Trobe Academics here [PDF 1.3MB]
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur Academics
You can download the complete file of one-page profiles for IIT Kanpur Academics here [PDF 1.1MB]
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani Academics
You can download the complete file of one-page profiles for BITS Pilani Academics here [PDF 1.3MB]
