CFP Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-59), January 6-9, 2026 | Hyatt Regency Maui

[Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar]

CALL FOR PAPERS:
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-59)
Hyatt Regency Maui, Hawaii | January 6-9, 2026 
http://www.hicss.org/ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.hicss.org/__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!X1wGCz_5b59IMs62h04spnbEq_aqRfZJlRXHXCtUdG3EwJnGt2R0c8EN_BWycge0XKD_-AJy4Jkleu7h$>
Digital Government Track

Smart and Connected Cities and Communities Mini-track

== Minitrack Description: ==

Digital transformation has emerged as a paramount priority for many cities and communities, with the objective of enhancing citizen well-being and the efficacy of public administration and communities, but it also poses significant challenges at the complex intersection of technology and society. Despite the extensive body of literature dedicated to smart cities and communities, the concept remains fuzzy due to its multidimensional and multifaceted nature that extends beyond the mere use of technology and infrastructure. In this regard, technology is a necessary condition for becoming a smart city or smart community, but it is not the only aspect considered when analyzing digital developments in our living environment. It should be integrated with the natural and built environments to enable and empower citizens, through individual and/or communal quests for wellbeing.

In recent years, emerging technologies have undoubtedly provided many possibilities for developing smart cities and communities and also brought opportunities to solve urban and community challenges. An increased number of studies indicate that emerging technologies significantly influence social life, catalyzing new needs of citizens and transforming how they are addressed, influencing people’s ability to exercise their “right to the city/community” and affecting social sustainability. While Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) implementation have traditionally dominated the discourse on smart cities and communities, significant challenges remain regarding the governance, digital inclusion, strategic planning, resilience, and social and cultural sustainability of these technological contexts. Issues such as city and community governance, information integration, data quality, privacy and security, institutional arrangements, resilience, inclusion, sustainability, and citizen participation require greater attention to plan human-centered smart solutions and monitor the social consequences of their implementation. The growing popularity of technologies such as artificial intelligence, metaverse, chatbots, open data, big data, blockchain, and so on, have opened new avenues for addressing these issues in the urban and communities’ contexts, but they have also brought some other challenges such as ethical issues or a new wave of digital divide and/or inclusion of citizens with low-tech skills, which requires continuous research in this area.

This minitrack aims to explore the aforementioned topics, with a particular focus on the social challenges faced during the implementation of smart solutions as well as on the impact these initiatives have on the community, to understand how new technologies can shape the decision-making processes, resilience, sustainability, and livability of local communities and, as a result, the wellbeing of their residents.

 As a result, areas of focus and interest to this minitrack include, but are not limited, to the following topics:

-          Typologies of smart cities and communities 

-          Impact of smart technologies on citizens and local communities

-          Theory and practice of smart citizenship – technological competencies vs. user experience

-          Emerging technologies in smart cities and communities (artificial intelligence, big data, open data, social media and networks, digital twins, metaverse, chatbots, etc.)

-          Elements, prerequisites, and principles of smart governance as the foundation for creating smart urban and regional spaces

-          Impact of smart governance models on urban resilience and quality of life

-          Smart cities and smart government – focal areas, current practices, cases, and potential pitfalls

-          Cases, rankings, comparisons, and critical success factors for smart cities, communities, and regions

-          Governance models of smart cities and communities for disaster risk mitigation

-          The role of digital technologies in both increasing community livability and improving social sustainability and inequalities

-          Smart services

-          Urban-rural gaps in smart communities

-          Strategic planning patterns in implementing ICTs for enhancing resilience and sustainability capacities in smart cities and communities

-          Implementing ICTs to build social and cultural capacities of urban resilience and sustainability in smart cities

-          Building knowledge societies for smart cities and communities

-          Smart cities and communities and their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

-          Local contextual conditions that impact smart cities and communities’ initiatives

-          The role of metropolitan areas in the development of smart cities and communities

-          The role of community-rooted institutions in the development of smart cities and communities

-          Digital inequalities and the challenge of inclusion in the smart cities and community’s contexts

-          Emerging technologies impact on digital divide for socially sustainable and inclusive smart cities

-          The inclusion of people with disabilities in the smart cities and smart communities’ context

 Important dates (https://hicss.hawaii.edu/):

 June 15, 2025: Papers due

August 17, 2025: Notification of Acceptance/Rejection

September 4, 2025: Deadline for authors whose papers are conditionally accepted to submit a revised manuscript

September 22, 2025: Deadline for Authors to Submit Final Manuscript for Publication

October 1, 2025: Deadline for at least one author of each paper to register for the conference

January 6-9, 2026: HICSS Conference

Mini-track Co-Chairs:

Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar (primary contact), University of Granada, Spain (manuelp at ugr.es <mailto:manuelp at ugr.es>)

Gabriela Viale Pereira, University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria (gabriela.viale-pereira at donau-uni.ac.at <mailto:gabriela.viale-pereira at donau-uni.ac.at>) 

Erico Przeybilovicz, CTG UAlbany, SUNY (eprzeybilovicz at albany.edu <mailto:eprzeybilovicz at albany.edu>)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://isworld.org/pipermail/aisworld_isworld.org/attachments/20250304/df090ac0/attachment.htm>