An Evolutionary Note on Smart City Development in China

TL;DR

This paper reviews the evolution of smart city development in China, analyzing its origins, key differences from other countries, and the major challenges faced in building future smart cities.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the driving forces, distinctive features, and challenges of smart city development specifically in China.

Findings

Identifies unique aspects of China's smart city initiatives.

Highlights four major challenges for future smart city development.

Compares China's approach with global smart city trends.

Abstract

In response to challenges posed by urbanization, David Bollier from the University of Southern California raised a new idea for city planning: a comprehensive network and applications of information technologies. IBM later echoed the idea and initiated its Smart Planet vision in 2008. After that, the smart city concept was quickly adopted by major cities throughout the world, and it has gradually evolved into a strategic choice by ambitious cities. This paper looks into the smart city trend by reviewing how the concept of smart city was proposed and what the essence of a smart city is. More specifically, the driving forces of the smart city development in China are investigated, and the key differences of smart cities between China and other countries are summarized. Finally, four big challenges to build future smart cities are discussed.