ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Cities
Sec. Smart Technologies and Cities
This article is part of the Research TopicSmart Energy Solutions for Sustainable Urban GrowthView all 3 articles
SMART & SUSTAINABLE CITY BAGHDAD
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
- 2Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Trondheim, Norway
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The Smart Sustainable City Baghdad (SSCB-App) initiative advances a novel, multi-sectoral framework for urban transformation in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Conceived as both a technological innovation and a governance instrument, the SSCB-App operationalizes the principles of resilience, sustainability, and inclusivity within a city marked by protracted conflict, infrastructural collapse, and institutional fragmentation. Through the integration of real-time data analytics, interactive dashboards, and scenario-based simulations, the application systematically engages critical urban domains—energy, water, transportation, healthcare, education, security, environment, and governance—while linking them to the global normative architecture of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The contribution of this project is threefold. First, it redefines post-conflict urban recovery by embedding resilience thinking into practical decision-support systems that allow policymakers to anticipate risks, test alternative strategies, and align reconstruction efforts with long-term sustainability objectives. Second, it demonstrates how digital technologies, when strategically integrated with governance frameworks, can mediate the tension between immediate stabilization needs and structural reforms aimed at equity and accountability. Third, by situating Baghdad as a paradigmatic case, the SSCB-App underscores the epistemic value of fragile cities as laboratories of innovation, where the intersections of conflict, governance, and sustainability illuminate broader theoretical debates in urban studies and development research. Ultimately, the SSCB-App transcends conventional reconstruction by articulating a transferable model that is at once context-specific and globally relevant. It positions Baghdad not merely as a site of recovery but as a reference point for reimagining the role of smart technologies in enabling resilient, just, and sustainable urban futures.
Keywords: Building smart cities, Post-conflict governance, urban resilience, Fragile contexts, Sustainable urban development, Baghdad Case Study, Data-driven reconstruction
Received: 11 Oct 2025; Accepted: 12 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Waheeb, Andersen and Wheib. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Rasha A. Waheeb, rasha.a.waheeb@uobaghdad.edu.iq
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