Integrated Operation Centers in Smart Cities: A Humanitarian Engineering Perspective

The United Nations predicted that 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. Currently, the resources in urban areas are barely enough to cater to the inhabitants’ needs. Scientists believe that automation is the solution. Hence, they believe that Smart Cities could offer a sustainable solution for the increasing rural-to-urban migration because they improve the quality of service by efficiently managing the limited resources the citizens share. However, community laws stipulate when and who governs the cities. These officials are responsible for decision making, which limits the quality of automation and smartness of the city. Integrated Operation Centers (IOCs) help to minimize this limitation. They gather information, process it, and visualize it for the managers. Thus, IOCs enable them to make informed and quick decisions on critical issues. This paper processed 64 conferences and journals on IOCs using the PRISMA method. The systematic literature review investigates the applications of IOCs, and we present a taxonomy for them. Also, we looked at how they impact humanity and environmental sustainability. We found that IOCs help to coordinate automation, disaster response, and security. They also help to conserve natural resources. Finally, we uncover some challenges of implementing IOCs and possible research directions.