Developing a Framework for Spatial Effects of Smart Cities Based on Spatial Econometrics

Xuhui Huang,Shuhang Chen,Kongling Liu,Mengjun Wang,Baoquan Cheng,Shaohui Wang,Jingjing Huang,Jianchang Li

doi:10.1155/2021/9322112

Abstract

The rapid urbanization in China has already put heavy pressures on imperfect infrastructure, especially for fundamental urban functions such as power and water supply, traffic, education, and healthcare. The emergence of smart cities can help cope with the rapidly expanding demands on urban infrastructure. However, the development of smart cities in China is just in its infancy, and there is still a lack of clear understanding of the development path of smart cities. This article focuses on the development of smart cities in China. It aims to (a) judge whether there is spatial autoregression in the construction of smart cities in 83 Chinese cities and (b) identify key influencing factors in the development of smart cities in China through a spatial econometric model developed by GeoDa software. The results show that there exists spatial autoregression in the development of smart cities in China. Four key influencing factors (governmental support, innovative level, economic development, and human capital) are identified. Based on these findings, suggestions for future promoting development of smart cities in China are put forward. This research can deepen the understanding of the spatial effects of smart cities and provide valuable decision-making references for policy makers.

Highlights

With the unprecedented urbanization worldwide, many serious problems such as environmental pollution, crowded housing, and traffic congestion have emerged in cities due to extensive growth patterns. us, many cities are suffering from mega-urban diseases [1, 2]
Almost all spatial data are spatially dependent, which breaks the basic assumption of independence in traditional econometrics. erefore, in the case of cross-section data and panel data involving spatial problems, the spatial econometric analysis method should be adopted to make the model establishment more accurate. e combination of spatial econometrics and geographic information system (GIS) has been widely used in the economic policy analysis, especially in real estate and real estate economics, environmental and resource economics, and development economics. e spatial econometric method can well investigate the current construction situation of smart cities and predict the development trend from the perspective of geographic space. erefore, this study applies the spatial econometric method to evaluate the spatial effects of smart cities in China
The degree of smart development of a city can be affected by the development of adjacent cities. erefore, the classical econometric model ignoring spatial effects is not suitable to analyze the development of smart cities

Summary

Introduction

With the unprecedented urbanization worldwide, many serious problems such as environmental pollution, crowded housing, and traffic congestion have emerged in cities due to extensive growth patterns. us, many cities are suffering from mega-urban diseases [1, 2]. E concept of smart cities was first proposed by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 2008 [6]. It is an advanced form of informational cities with the deep integration of informatization, industrialization, and urbanization [7, 8]. Its essence is an urban information system including five levels of natural environment, infrastructure, resources, services, and social systems [9, 10] It is a participatory approach for urban governance that provides a high quality of life for the public [11], which can be achieved through human and social capital.

Methods

Results

Conclusion