Mutable Blockchains in IoT-Driven Sustainable Urban Planning: Challenges, and Analytical Modeling

Sustainable urban planning manages cities to protect the environment and uses resources wisely for the needs of urban daily life. The Internet of Things (IoT) optimizes the usage of resources and the consideration of urban utilities, such as congestion and pollution. Furthermore, Blockchain supports transparent data collection and securely storing data. Immutability is a fundamental feature of Blockchain, which keeps the data unchanged; however, researchers have proposed mutable Blockchains for data modifications by putting away security. This paper studies mutable Blockchains for sustainable IoT urban planning. It aims to discuss the productivity of mutable Blockchain in IoT-driven Sustainable Urban Planning. To this end, it discusses the challenges of mutable blockchains, presents the analytical modeling in practical applications, and examines the security of mutable Blockchains in public and centralized private Blockchains. Our main goal is to discuss their potential and limitations in IoT-based urban planning environments. The analysis shows that mutable Blockchains reduce computational costs but increase security risks. Our study explains the need for carefully governed mutability to support privacy and adaptability in IoT-based urban planning.