This Special Call targets selected papers from the  Urban Computing Workshop (CoUrb 2023) but also accepts other submissions related to the workshop's theme.

CoUrb 2023

The Urban Computing Workshop (CoUrb) is a workshop collocated with the Brazilian Symposium on Computer Networking and Distributed Systems (SBRC).  The CoUrb Workshop aims to create a space for (1) presentation and discussion of works in the field of Urban Computing; (2) collaboration between researchers from different areas, which, given its interdisciplinary nature, is not limited to Computer Science only.

The world's population has been growing at an astonishing pace. Consequently, in a few years, cities will have different characteristics, requiring the resolution of various problems that did not exist before. With technological advancement, cities have undergone a profound transformation. Cities entirely carpeted with technological devices, cities endowed with fantastic capabilities, and so on. We still have a long way to go to take advantage of all its features to improve our experience in urban spaces.

To better plan the future of cities and improve the quality of life of its inhabitants, Urban Computing aims to understand the nature of urban and social phenomena. Urban Computing is an interdisciplinary area that connects information and communication technology, advanced management of large volumes of data, and different methods of analyzing collected data. In addition, urban computing offers a challenging scenario requiring us to advance technical and formal aspects that, given its interdisciplinary nature, are not limited to Computer Science only.

This call invites experts in areas related to urban computing to build a panorama on the field and draw its future, pointing out challenges and strategies to advance on them. Therefore, the Special Call has the potential to serve not only as a research panorama and critical discussions but also as an agenda for the next decade of urban computing research and practice to advance the challenges we face.

Topics of Interest

Topics of interest for the workshop include, but are not limited to:

o Data Analysis and Mining for Urban Environments
o Federated Learning for Urban Computing
o Architectures and Protocols for Urban Environments
o Smart Cities
o Social Computing
o Urban Computing for Economic Development
o Urban Computing for Public Safety and Security
o D2D and 5G Communication in Urban Environments
o Reliability and Security in Urban Computing
o Data Offloading
o Anomaly Detection and Event Discovery in Urban Areas
o eGovernance
o e-Health and m-Health
o Heterogeneous Data Management
o Green Computing in Urban Environments
o Urban Sensing Infrastructures
o Human-Computer Interaction in Urban Spaces
o Internet of Things
o Improving the Quality of Life in the City Using Mobile Services and Big Data

Selection process

The best articles from Courb 2023 will be invited to submit an extended version to JISA. The version submitted to JISA must have at least 35% new material concerning the article originally accepted and published in CoUrb 2023 and be written in English. A cover letter also in English must be submitted featuring the extensions made. The article submitted to JISA will undergo a new review process that may include the reviewers who reviewed the original article and additional reviewers. 

Important dates

○ Submission deadline: 1 November 2023.
○ Notification 1^st round: 26 November 2023.
○ Submission of revised versions deadline: 9 December 2023.
○ Notification 2^nd round: 23 December 2023.
○ Submission of revised versions deadline: 07 January 2024.
○ Notification 3^rd round (final): 14 January 2024.
○ Camera-ready submission deadline: 21 January 2024.

Guest Editors

Daniel Guidone, Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP), was program chair of the most important urban computing workshop in Brazil (CoUrb), as well as was a member of the editorial IEEE Latin America Transactions and Journal of Internet Services and Applications.

Denis Rosário, Federal University of Pará (UFPA), was program chair of the most important urban computing workshops in Brazil (SBCUP and CoUrb), as well as organized two special issues on topics related to urban computing. Denis Rosário has conducted research on techniques and approaches for supporting developers in the design of urban computing. His current research interests include the following topics: urban computing, ubiquitous computing, fog computing, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things.

Helder Oliveira, Federal University of ABC (UFABC), was program chair of the most important urban computing workshops in Brazil (SBCUP and CoUrb), as well as organized one special issue on topics related to urban computing. Helder Oliveira has conducted research on techniques and approaches for supporting developers in the design of urban computing, working in close collaboration with industries.

Leandro Villas, University of Campinas (Unicamp), was program chair of the most important urban computing workshop in Brazil (CoUrb), as well as organized some special issues on topics related to urban computing. He has conducted research on techniques and approaches for supporting developers in the design of urban computing.

Thiago Henrique Silva, Federal University of Technology - Parana, was program chair of the most important urban computing workshop in Brazil (CoUrb) and IEEE International Workshop on Urban Computing, as well as was a member of the editorial board of Springer Urban Computing - Book Series. He taught short courses in the area of urban computing.