Supercharging the Smart City——Smarter people and better governance

Smart city construction is spreading like wildfire in China. However, many developments are fraught with issues such as unclear strategic goals, inadequate technology implementation and poor execution models. City planners should take a step back and re-examine what makes a smart city work click and what not. The new generation of Chinese smart city development should aid city administrators in creating an urban environment that's smart, innovative and sustainable for its citizens: essentially a supercharged smart city.

Backed by the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) technology, smart city construction is spreading like wildfire in China, accounting for over half of the global smart city development. Yinchuan, located 720 kilometers west of Beijing, is one among China's 500 smart cities that is using technology and data to revolutionize an increasingly connected society. While commuters on public buses simply give the driver a friendly smile, facial recognition technology recognizes and charges the commuters for the transportation. Intelligent lockers are installed around residential areas so that packages are collected when their recipients are not home not being at home. The garbage bins are also wirelessly connected and are equipped with an air conditioning system to help dissipate remove foul odors, while an alert is sent to the central server when it is full.

This is just a small glimpse into what how future Chinese cities could look like. However, despite rapid advances, certain issues remain unresolved such as unclear strategic goals, inadequate technology implementation and poor execution models. To address these problems, city planners need to take a step back and re-examine the success factors of a smart city. The new generation of Chinese smart city developers should support city administrators in creating an urban environment that is smart, innovative and sustainable for its citizens: a supercharged smart city. We believe there are seven best practices that should be taken into consideration.

William Chou
Deloitte China Partner | Technology, Media & Telecommunications Industry Lead Partner

Clare Ma
Deloitte China Partner | Public Sector Managing Partner

Roger Chung
Deloitte Research Technology, Media & Telecommunications Industry Researcher