Accessibility for All in Smart Cities

Short Description and Goals

Improvement of infrastructures in cities to ensure accessibility to everyone is often a slow, complex, and resource-intensive process especially in urban settings containing medieval or ancient architectural elements. In most cases there are routes that can be offered to any person depending on their abilities and disabilities, including but not limited to visually impaired people, wheelchair users, parents with strolls and elderly people.

This process requires:

(i) capturing geographical data that represent pedestrian routes and accessibility information;
(ii) designing efficient algorithms for routing based on accessibility characteristics; and
(iii) developing easy to use interactive front ends for all citizens.

To provide sustainable solutions for this complex engineering problem, expertise from several fields is required, including: computer engineering (for data management, algorithms and databases), civil engineering (for encoding standards and limitations for public infrastructures), and landscape engineering (for accurately representing and verifying GIS data).

We solicit papers on the following topics:

(i) successful practices of inclusive pedestrian navigation systems;
(ii) GIS data representations that facilitate efficient algorithms;
(iii) efficient real time algorithms for routing and navigation; and (iv) user friendly front ends for navigation.

Submission Guidelines

Authors are invited to submit their original work that has not previously been submitted or published in any other venue. Each paper length should not exceed 8 pages. All papers need to be in IEEE CS format and submitted via the dedicated Easychair submission site according to the instructions on the Initial Submissions page.

Extended versions of selected papers will be included in three Special Issues in Telecom (100% APC-waived), Signals (discount or 100% APC-waived) and Information (50% APC-waived) MDPI journals.

Special Session Organizers

Dr. Charisios Achillas, Assistant Professor, International Hellenic University

Dr. Charisios Achillas is Assistant Professor at the International Hellenic University, Department of Supply Chain Management. He graduated in 1999 from the Department of Engineering (Aristotle University Thessaloniki), with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He continued his studies with an MSc in Engineering Project Management in 2001 (UMIST, Manchester, UK). In 2009, he received his PhD Doctorate in the field of reverse logistics. Dr Achillas is a senior researcher at the Institute of Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH) and the Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Since 2003, Dr Achillas has been involved in Science, Research & Development, from technical development to coordination, project and financial management. He is the author of more than 180 scientific publications (Scopus hindex: 21), a reviewer in 21 scientific journals and up to now has co-organized 20 international conferences. His research interests span the fields of environmental management, sustainable development and circular economy.

Dr. Dimitrios Aidonis, Associate Professor, International Hellenic University

Dr. Dimitrios Aidonis is an Associate Professor at International Hellenic University, Department of Supply Chain Management. In parallel, he works as a visitor Professor at Hellenic Open University, School of Science and Technology (MSc in Quality Assurance) and he is a senior researcher at the Institute of Bio-Economy and Agri- Technology, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH). He received both his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and his MBA from Staffordshire University, UK. His research interests focus on the area of Operations Management and his work deals mainly with Supply Chain, Reverse Logistics Management and Green Logistics. He has more than 120 publications in books, scientific journals and international conferences’ proceedings, etc. He has worked in more than 30 research projects (in 10 as principal investigator), participating in a number of national and international networks. His research interests span the fields of supply chain management, reverse logistics, sustainable development and circular economy. He is a member of the Society of Logistics Engineers, Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, and the Technical Chamber of Greece.

Dr. Naoum Tsolakis, Assistant Professor, International Hellenic University

Dr. Naoum Tsolakis is Assistant Professor at the Department of Supply Chain Management, International Hellenic University. His main research and practice interests include the areas of simulation modelling and optimization of end-to-end supply chain operations, enabled by digital technologies, to assess emerging configurational designs for the efficient management of multi-level operations in industrial manufacturing networks. He holds a 5-year Engineering Diploma in Production and Management Engineering (top graduate for the Academic Year 2005-2006), Masters degrees in the manufacturing, engineering management and business administration domains, and a PhD degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is the author of more than 50 scientific publications (Scopus h-index: 11) and a reviewer in scientific journals.