Smart Cities at Risk: Tech Breakthrough or Social Control. Chinese Case Study

Abstract

Around the world, cities have become the hub of shaping the post-Covid world by taking inclusive measures in combining economic recovery with environmental sustainability. Many cities have become more active in using various smart city tools due to the crucial role of digitalization. In China, the trend towards the introduction of digital technologies in the processes of urban management is becoming more noticeable than in any other part of the world. The purpose of this article is to analyze and identify trends in the development of smart cities in China, as well as to assess the relationship between technological and human aspects. This article is an empirical study that was carried out to analyze and evaluate the model of urban development in China. The authors focused on cluster development and determined the geographical distribution of Chinese smart cities. The authors concluded that smart cities in China have their own characteristics, which can bring great benefits to citizens and income growth. But the development is uneven, there is a certain imbalance that does not correspond to the original list of intellectual infrastructures and social requirements. The study confirms that technological aspects are more developed than infrastructure, which slows down the sustainable development of smart cities in China. Of course, this opens great opportunities for effective city management and decision-making, but, on the other hand, such efforts to monitor all the actions of city-dwellers raise many concerns for the psychological safety and privacy.