Facilitating Environmental Monitoring for Sustainable Smart Regions by Enabling Citizen Co-Creation

In this paper, a conceptual framework designed to transform citizens in sustainable and smart regions from passive users and consumers into active co-creating citizen developers through a Low-Code and No-Code (LCNC) Smart Service Manager is presented. The platform leverages both regional and individual data to underpin the development of smart services on a broad scale. In particular, it advances environmental monitoring and carbon footprint reduction initiatives in accordance with the framework outlined in this paper. By integrating sensor networks and open data sources, the LCNC platform supports the development of personalised smart services, enabling citizens to actively engage in monitoring and visualising their environmental impact. The framework facilitates community collaboration and co-creation, empowering individual citizens and local communities to not only participate in the ideation and development of these services but also to individualise and continuously improve the services by adding new features and contributing data via personal devices such as smart meters and smartphones. The democratisation of technology use is designed to encourage sustainable behavioural changes and to improve the overall quality of life in smart regions. We illustrate the application of this framework through a use case on energy CO2 footprint reduction, demonstrating how co-creative processes can enhance community engagement and accelerate the implementation of sustainability transformations in urban settings.