Congratulations to Jialong Zhu, who successfully defended his PhD research at IHS. In his research, titled Smarter or more inclusive? Inclusive digital transition in smart cities: Case studies in Chinese and European cities, Jialong examines how contextual factors influence the transition towards more inclusive smart cities. Drawing on case studies from China and Europe, he combines qualitative and quantitative methods to explore how these transitions take shape in different urban contexts.
Looking beyond technology
Around 2018 and 2019, smart cities had become a very popular topic in both Europe and China. In China, more than 290 cities were selected as pilot projects under a national policy programme. While many people associated smart cities with artificial intelligence, sensors and digital technology, Jialong became interested in a different question: Who can actually benefit from these kind of technologies?
Jialong explains: "There is a certain threshold to using technology, which means that not everyone is able to benefit from smart cities."
Looking at smart city development from different perspectives
His dissertation is built around the idea that smart city development is fundamentally a governance process rather than simply a technological one. Across four studies, he examined smart cities from different perspectives: how their development patterns differ, what shapes these differences, how citizens experience smart city development, and how European cities work towards more inclusive forms of digital governance. Rather than using one theoretical framework throughout the dissertation, Jialong used different frameworks for each study. This helped him examine each chapter in a way that matched its specific focus, including smart city development patterns, citizens and digital inclusion.
No one-size-fits-all approach
One of the main findings of Jialong's research is that there is no single model of a smart city. Even when countries develop smart cities under the same national policy framework, they still develop in very different ways. According to Jialong, this depends on their governance arrangements, priorities, resources and local context. His research also found that while a strong economic foundation is an important condition for smart city development, it is not a necessary one. Cities can also achieve successful smart city development by, for instance, emphasising human resources, knowledge and innovation management.
Another important finding is that technology alone does not automatically create inclusion. According to him, the gap between human-centric reality and the reality of top-down governance remains one of the most important issues that needs to be addressed.
Smart city development or technological advancement alone does not necessarily lead to greater inclusion. Cities can become more digitally advanced while, at the same time, creating new forms of exclusion.
On making future smart cities more inclusive
Looking ahead, Jialong hopes his research encourages researchers to think about smart cities not only as technology projects, but also as governance and inclusion challenges. For policymakers, he hopes it serves as a reminder that there is no universal blueprint. Instead, each city needs to understand its own context and design governance arrangements that involve citizens and address local needs.
"I really hope that my work can contribute, even in a very small way, to making future cities not only smarter but also more inclusive and more responsive to the people actually living in them." Jialong states.
