Smart Villages, Rural Infrastructure and Sustainable Development – Deadline of Submissions – 15 January 2020
Background and Rationale
Among almost 8 billion global population, over 40% still lives in rural areas. Yet, cities have always attracted more attention than rural communities, largely because money, knowledge and power are concentrated in those cities. Research and intellectual debate required for supporting growth and development of people in the countryside have been largely left behind and ignored. However, in the current race of rapid urbanisation against time, there is global interest in research associated with the creation of “Smart Villages” to address the ever growing urban-rural divide, apart from targeting a smart and sustainable urban-rural balance in the COVID 19 triggered next normal. By undertaking this timely special issue, the significance of “Smart Villages” concept as an alternative form of development of the rural areas is being established. The implication of the Smart Villages models is being highlighted for potentially stemming the flow of people towards already overcrowded and unsustainable growth of cities globally. Realising the knowledge gap in the mainstream literature, the multifaceted considerations required for developing rural infrastructure systems and ensuring sustainable development is a complete new way for building smart communities under the auspice of Smart Villages. Focusing on a large range of interconnected topics, for the first time, this special issue converges the new knowledge and theories being developed among academia, industry professionals and policy makers required for context specific development of the rural infrastructure and promote sustainable growth contributing towards mitigation of the urban-rural divide.
The need for research with a particular focus on the rural community and harnessing their potentials and opportunities for modernisation and sustainable growth is a need of the hour. Smart Village research being undertaken in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne has been exploring rural community development, practices and relevant policies with a focus on community-centric planning of affordable housing, infrastructure, sustainable development and growth, community empowerment and other issues related to the creation of Smart Villages. The Smart Villages Lab (SVL) in The University of Melbourne is leading data-driven and evidence-based original research for developing new knowledge and theory with a focus on rural planning, housing and infrastructure. Realising the critical need of research in this area, in 2018, an annual International Conference on Smart Villages and Rural Development (COSVARD) was also established for providing a global platform for researchers, policy makers and industry professionals to share relevant knowledge and examples associated with new forms of rural development.
Smart villages, rural infrastructure and sustainable development topics have global appeal because policy makers and administrators especially across developing countries are striving to harness the potential and maximise the opportunities leading to rapid upgrading of rural communities. For instance, over past decade, massive public schemes in India are being rolled out to provide shelter and services for over 850 million people in village communities across the country. The research outputs disseminated in this Special Issue could strengthen institutional capacities of the relevant countries by testing relevant theories and practical implementations. As a result, the articles published in this Special Issue should garner higher visibility and, in turn, provide a sound platform for dissemination of leading-edge research findings and best practices leading to building smart rural communities.
Objectives of the Special Issue
The Special Issue of Built Environment Project Asset Management (BEPAM) journal titled “Smart Villages, Rural Infrastructure and Sustainable Development” aspires to encourage authors to develop papers encompassing the following objectives:
Anticipated Themes
The following is an indicative, but non-exhaustive, list of anticipated themes that could be explored in this Special Issue:
- Infrastructures, society and community
- Rural infrastructure – contexts and principles
- Data-driven planning and decision making
- Smart Villages, infrastructure and national economy
- Global practices in rural infrastructure
- Sustainable infrastructure
- Risks, vulnerability and resilience in infrastructure
- Funding and procurement
- Delivery, operations and maintenance and renewals
- Infrastructure Governance
- Smart and sustainable housing
- Health and wellbeing
- Internet of Things
We will welcome submissions on any related topics in the context of the above themes.
Submission Guidelines
For details on scope, please see:
Submissions to Built Environment Project and Asset Management should be through ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at:
https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bepam
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see:
https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/bepam?id=bepam
The total word count limit (including Figures and Tables, counted at 280 words each) is 8,500 words. Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
Interested authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue “Smart Villages, Rural Infrastructure and Sustainable Development” at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.
Deadline
Papers for this special issue should be submitted through the above portal from 01st November 2020 till 15th January 2021 inclusive.
[Note: new submissions after the deadline of 15th January 2021 cannot be considered for this Special Issue].
Should any authors prefer, Draft Abstracts can be submitted for consideration and feedback as soon as possible. If so, these must be in the structured Emerald format i.e. under prescribed sub-headings, as specified in the Author Guidelines and should be emailed to Associate Professor Hemanta Doloi to [email protected]
BEPAM Journal
BEPAM is one of three ‘CIB encouraged journals’ and is indexed and abstracted in databases such as SCOPUS, EBSCO, INSPEC as well as in the ESCI (Emerging Sources Citation Index) of Clarivate Analytics (previously of Thomson Reuters) in “Web of Science”.
For further information on the journal, please visit http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/bepam.htm.
We look forward to your submissions.
Guest Editors
Associate Professor Hemanta Doloi
Smart Villages Lab
Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Associate Professor Robert Crawford
Smart Villages Lab
Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
Email: [email protected]
Professor Koshy Varghese
Building Technology and Construction Management (BTCM)
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
Email: [email protected]
References
- Doloi H, Green R. and Donovan S (2019), Planning, Housing and Infrastructure for Smart Villages, Routledge, UK.
- Doloi H. (2020). Affordable Housing for Smart Villages, Routledge, UK.
