Brazilian Smart Cities Through the Lens of Information Technology: A Systematic Mapping Study - Revisited and Expanded
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5753/isys.2026.8051Keywords:
Smart city, Smart environment, Information and communication technology, Brazilian research community, ABNT NBR ISO 37122 standard, International collaborationAbstract
[Context] The accelerated expansion of the urban population necessitates innovative and sustainable strategies to enhance the quality of life of citizens. In this context, smart cities leverage information technologies to collect, process, and integrate data, applications, and devices, thereby enabling intelligent, interconnected urban services. Despite the existence of numerous studies across diverse application domains, there remains a shortage of recent and comprehensive investigations that systematically organise the field and structure the application of information technology in smart cities, particularly within the Brazilian scientific community. [Objective] This article seeks to identify and systematically classify, according to the dimensions and indicators established in the ABNT NBR ISO 37122 standard, studies conducted by Brazilian researchers that examine the application of information technology in solutions for smart cities. [Method] A systematic mapping study was conducted in relevant scientific databases, covering 12 years of production (2014–2025). [Results] The findings reveal the concentration of studies by topic and application scenario, the temporal evolution of publications by type, the national institutions and the most influential researchers, as well as the international collaboration network and the main dissemination channels. [Conclusions/Contribution] The article provides an overview and an updated synthesis of smart city approaches developed by the Brazilian scientific community from the perspective of information technology.
Downloads
References
ABNT NBR ISO 37122 (2020). Cidades e comunidades sustentáveis - indicadores para cidades inteligentes.
Almeida, A., Batista, T., Cavalcante, E., Delicato, F. C., Motta, R., and Vieira, M. P. A. (2023). Middleware for digital twins: A systematic mapping study. In International Workshop on Middleware for Digital Twin, pages 19–24. DOI: 10.1145/3631319.3632302.
Barbosa, E. M., Lima, J., Santos, A., and Baptista, P. (2023). Using Cellular Infrastructures Data to Foster the Transition Towards Smart Cities: a Systematic Mapping. In IEEE International Smart Cities Conference, pages 1–7. DOI: 10.1109/ISC257844.2023.10293311.
Bernardini, F. C., Viterbo, J., Vianna, D. S., Martins, C. B., de Medeiros, A. P., Meza, E. B. M., Moratori, P. B., and Bastos, C. A. M. (2017). General Features of Smart City Approaches from Information Systems Perspective and Its Challenges, pages 25–40. Brazilian Computer Society.
Bittencourt, J. C. N., Costa, D. G., Portugal, P., and Vasques, F. (2024). A survey on adaptive smart urban systems. IEEE Access, 12:102826–102850. DOI: 10.1109/access.2024.3433381.
Boniati, B. B. and Frantz, R. Z. (2026). Brazilian smart cities through the lens of information technology: A systematic mapping study. In Simpósio Brasileiro de Sistemas de Informação. DOI: 10.5753/sbsi.2026.248306.
BRASIL, Ministry of Regional Development (2020). Carta brasileira para cidades inteligentes. [link]. Accessed: July 2025.
BRASIL, Ministry of Transport (2025). Secretaria Nacional de Trânsito – Frota de Veículos 2025. [link]. Accessed: August 2025.
Brazilian Forum on Public Security (2025). 19º Anuário Brasileiro de Segurança Pública. São Paulo.
Bria, F. and Morozov, E. (2020). A cidade inteligente: Tecnologias urbanas e democracia. Ubu Editora.
Cacho, N., Lopes, F., Cavalcante, E., and Santos, I. (2016). A smart city initiative: The case of Natal. In IEEE International Smart Cities Conference, pages 1–7. DOI: 10.1109/ISC2.2016.7580774.
Cervantes, C., Poplade, D., Lima, M. N., and dos Santos, A. L. (2015). Detection of sinkhole attacks for supporting secure routing on 6LoWPAN for internet of things. In International Symposium on Integrated Network Management, pages 606–611. DOI: 10.1109/inm.2015.7140344.
Esposte, A. M. D., Kon, F., Costa, F. M., and Lago, N. (2017). Interscity: A scalable microservice-based open source platform for smart cities. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems, pages 35–46. DOI: 10.5220/0006306200350046.
Goumopoulos, C. (2024). Smart city middleware: A survey and a conceptual framework. IEEE Access, 12:4015–4047. DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3349376.
Júnior, F., Amin, A., Braide, E., and Cathedral, H. (2021). Cidades inteligentes: Uma abordagem humana e sustentável, volume 12 of Série Estudos Estratégicos. Câmara dos Deputados, Brasília (DF).
Khan, S., Muhammad, K., Mumtaz, S., Baik, S. W., and de Albuquerque, V. H. C. (2019). Energy-efficient deep CNN for smoke detection in foggy iot environment. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 6(6):9237–9245. DOI: 10.1109/JIOT.2019.2896120.
Kitchenham, B. A. and Charters, S. (2007). Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. Technical report, School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Keele University, UK.
Lopes, V. C., Norberto, M., Soares, D. W. R., Kassab, M., da Silva Soares, A., Oliveira, R., and Neto, V. V. G. (2020). A Systematic Mapping Study on Software Testing for Systems-of-Systems. In Brazilian Symposium on Systematic and Automated Software Testing, pages 88–97. DOI: 10.1145/3425174.3425216.
Machado, L. R., da Silva, F. J., Barradas, A., Viana, D., Teles, A., and Coutinho, L. (2020). Product Quality for Smart Cities Applications: A Mapping Study. In Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems, pages 1–8. DOI: 10.1145/3411564.3411639.
Monzon, A. (2015). Smart Cities Concept and Challenges: Bases for the Assessment of Smart City Projects, pages 17–31. Springer International Publishing. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-27753-0_2.
Nam, T. and Pardo, T. A. (2011). Conceptualizing smart city with dimensions of technology, people, and institutions. In Annual International Digital Government Research Conference: Digital Government Innovation in Challenging Times, pages 282–291. DOI: 10.1145/2037556.2037602.
Nascimento, L. V. d., Machado, G. M., Maran, V., and de Oliveira, J. P. M. (2021). Context recognition and ubiquitous computing in smart cities: a systematic mapping. Computing, 103(5):801–825. DOI: 10.1007/s00607-020-00878-7.
Neto, V. V. G. and Frantz, R. Z. (2025). The Evolution Towards Decentralized and Privacy-Oriented Integration: Challenges and a New Perspective, pages 80–83. Brazilian Computer Society.
Ochoa, W. A. A., Neto, A. I., Junior, P. C. V., Calabokis, O. P., and Ballesteros-Ballesteros, V. (2024). The theory of complexity and sustainable urban development: A systematic literature review. Sustainability, 17(1):3. DOI: 10.3390/su17010003.
Pardini, K., Rodrigues, J. J. P. C., Diallo, O., Das, A. K., de Albuquerque, V. H. C., and Kozlov, S. A. (2020). A smart waste management solution geared towards citizens. Sensors, 20(8):2380. DOI: 10.3390/s20082380.
Peralta Abadía, J. J., Walther, C., Osman, A., and Smarsly, K. (2022). A systematic survey of internet of things frameworks for smart city applications. Sustainable Cities and Society, 83:103949. DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2022.103949.
Petersen, K., Feldt, R., Mujtaba, S., and Mattsson, M. (2008). Systematic mapping studies in software engineering. In International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, pages 68–77. DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EASE2008.8.
Petersen, K., Vakkalanka, S., and Kuzniarz, L. (2015). Guidelines for conducting systematic mapping studies in software engineering: An update. Information and Software Technology, 64(100):1–18. DOI: 10.1016/j.infsof.2015.03.007.
Pinto, G. P., Donta, P. K., Dustdar, S., and Prazeres, C. (2024). A systematic review on privacy-aware iot personal data stores. Sensors, 24(7):2197. DOI: 10.3390/s24072197.
Rubio, G., Martínez, J. F., Gómez, D., and Li, X. (2016). Semantic registration and discovery system of subsystems and services within an interoperable coordination platform in smart cities. Sensors, 16(7):955. DOI: 10.3390/s16070955.
Runeson, P. and Höst, M. (2009). Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering. Empirical Software Engineering, 14:131–164. DOI: 10.1007/s10664-008-9102-8.
Sawyer, S. and Jarrahi, M. H. (2014). Sociotechnical Approaches to the Study of Information Systems. In Computing Handbook. Chapman and Hall/CRC, 3 edition. DOI: 10.1201/9780429171529-98.
Schiavo, F. T. and de Magalhães, C. F. (2022). Smart sustainable cities: The essentials for managers' and leaders' initiatives within the complex context of differing definitions and assessments. Smart Cities, 5(3):994–1024. DOI: 10.3390/smartcities5030050.
Silva, T. H. F. E., Souza, V. C. O., and Paula, M. M. V. (2021). A Systematic Mapping of Literature on the Use of Geotechnologies in Smart Cities in the Government area. In Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems, pages 1–8. DOI: 10.1145/3466933.3466942.
Silva, T. P. d., Batista, T. V., Lopes, F., Neto, A. R., Delicato, F. C., Pires, P. F., and da Rocha, A. R. (2022). Fog Computing Platforms for Smart City Applications: A Survey. ACM Transactions on Internet Technology, 22(4):1–32. DOI: 10.1145/3488585.
Sobrinho, A., dos Santos, M. V. P., Silva, A. B., Gurjao, E. C., and Santos, D. F. S. (2024). A systematic literature mapping on the security of 5G and vertical applications. Revista Brasileira de Computação Aplicada, 16(3):100–115. DOI: 10.5335/rbca.v16i3.16005.
Soto, J. A. C., Werner-Kytölä, O., Marco Jahn, J. P., Bonino, D., Pastrone, C., and Spirito, M. (2016). Towards a federation of smart city services. In International Conference on Recent Advances in Computer Systems. DOI: 10.2991/racs-15.2016.28.
Souza, L. S., Neto, J. R. D. A., Melo, T. J. S., dos Santos Soares, M., Rocha, F. G., and do Nascimento, R. P. C. (2020). An investigation into technology solutions for urban public monitoring through ubiquitous devices in the context of smart cities. In Euro-American Conference on Telematics and Information Systems, pages 1–5. DOI: 10.1145/3401895.3402082.
Sowmiya, R. and Velavan, M. (2025). Leveraging Emerging Technologies for Inclusive and Sustainable Urban Governance: A Framework for Smart Cities in Developing Environments, pages 111–136. IGI Global. DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3373-1375-7.ch004.
Tcholtchev, N. and Schieferdecker, I. (2021). Sustainable and reliable information and communication technology for resilient smart cities. Smart Cities, 4(1):156–176. DOI: 10.3390/smartcities4010009.
Ullah, A., Anwar, S. M., Li, J., Nadeem, L., Mahmood, T., Rehman, A., and Saba, T. (2023). Smart cities: the role of internet of things and machine learning in realizing a data-centric smart environment. Complex & Intelligent Systems, 10(1):1607–1637. DOI: 10.1007/s40747-023-01175-4.
UNESCO (2026). What is ict? [link]. Last accessed on 03/17/2026.
United Nations (2024). World Population Prospects 2024: Summary of Results. United Nations, New York, NY.
United Nations and United Nations Population Fund (2007). State of world population 2007. United Nations Population Fund, New York, NY.
Vora, J., Nayyar, A., Tanwar, S., Tyagi, S., Kumar, N., Obaidat, M. S., and Rodrigues, J. J. P. C. (2018). BHEEM: A blockchain-based framework for securing electronic health records. In IEEE Globecom Workshops. DOI: 10.1109/glocomw.2018.8644088.
Zhao, F., Fashola, O. I., Olarewaju, T. I., and Onwumere, I. (2021). Smart city research: A holistic and state-of-the-art literature review. Cities, 119:103406. DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2021.103406.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 iSys - Journal of Information Systems
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
