Submission deadline extended until 1st of May 2013

International Workshop on Sociable Smart City
at the Symposium on Smart Cities during the 9th International Conference on Intelligent Environments IE'13, July 16-19, 2013, Athens, Greece

Invited Keynote Speaker
prof. Timo Ojala, University of Oulu, Finland

Aim & Scope
The diffusion of ubiquitous computing into modern cities and the massive use of mobile devices have shifted researchers vision to explore ideas about the cities of tomorrow; terms as “smarter cities”, “iphone city”, “sentient city”, “digital cities” have emerged. There is a wealth of paradigms applying ubiquitous and pervasive computing to urban spaces focusing on developing city network infrastructures, optimising traffic and transportation flows, lowering energy consumption, etc. These works emphasise on providing new services to citizens and enhancing their daily routine. However, a city is not just infrastructure and services; all modern cities share the same infrastructure and offer similar facilities, still, each and every one has evolved a unique character, depicted in every neighborhood’s architecture and monuments. Cities are the people that inhabit them, their memories, stories, concerns and the culture that develops through their social interaction.

As urban computing lies on the intersection of architecture, social interaction and design of computer systems for use in urban areas, it does not plan the city of the future but it allows people to interact with their cities in novel ways aiming to shape and decide the future of the city. The focus of this workshop is on the social and cultural aspects of the smart city. In particular, we seek to study how urban computing alters the city, the perception of people about the city, the communication among people and the social and cultural impact on the city and on city life.

Topics of Interest
The goal of this workshop is to define what is a “sociable smart city” and how this vision can be realized. The issues and questions that we will try to answer include:

How do we see a “sociable smart city”?
How ICT infrastructure of a smart city can enhance participation, wellbeing and sustainability?
Can digital technologies enable citizens to act on collectively shared issues?
Can local knowledge be transformed into collective one in an urban context?
How big data about a wide range of urban processes can be opened up and exploited to reveal shared issues, processes and patterns?
How can a smart city assist citizens to develop a shared sense of belonging and responsibility?
How urban computing enables story-telling, game activities, learning processes, artistic installations?
What digital tools and media can be designed to connect people and their experiences with the city?
How social media can organise citizens into collective goals?
What processes can be developed to assist regeneration of urban areas?

Submissions
All contributions must be submitted as PDF files. The workshop accepts manuscripts in IOS-Press format (http://www.iospress.nl/service/authors/latex-and-word-tools-for-book-authors/). The workshop solicits two types of original papers: (a) full papers (10-12 pages) and (b) short papers (4-6 pages) such as work-in-progress or position-papers. Visionary and position papers are encouraged. The submission system will open soon. Submitted papers must not substantially duplicate previously published work or have been submitted in parallel to any journal, conference or workshop with proceedings. All submitted papers will be reviewed by at least two reviewers and judged on originality, technical correctness, relevance, and quality of presentation by the Program Committee. All accepted submissions must be presented during the workshop.

All papers accepted in the Workshops program will be published as a volume of the Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments Series (ISI indexed) of IOS-Press and electronically available through ACM Digital Library.

Important dates
Paper submission: Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Acceptance notification: Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Camera ready: Thursday, May 30, 2013
Workshop Dates: July 16— 17, 2013

Symposium on Smart Cities is compound by the following three workshops
Sociable Smart City
Intelligent Users, Intelligent Cities
Transport Services for Smart Cities