Understanding the roles and strategies of stakeholders in smart cities standardization : a case study of China

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been a notable increase in the number of cities adopting smart city approaches, which enable cities to proactively evolve in a sustainable manner. The wide application of information and communication technology (ICT) makes it possible to reshape urban development and regeneration, thereby contributing to the emergence of a multitude of programmes designed to address the challenges confronting cities in the realms of the environment, the economy and society. Furtherly, the field of smart city development is currently characterised a competitive standardisation arena seeking to clarify the domain and homogenise these solutions. Since significant proportion of these pioneering solutions of smart city will be dependent upon the intricacies of the technology in the diverse range of sectoral services, a systematic approach to standardisation pattern is essential. Therefore, this study tries to examine the f stakeholder engagement in the standardization of smart cities. In this study, we try to study the roles and strategies of different stakeholders in standardization process, including government bodies, private companies and citizens from China’s standardization efforts. As the biggest developing country in the world, China has been one of the global preeminent countries for the experimentation of smart city technologies and projects. The research finds that standardization is a good reflection of interplay and interaction between different entities, as China is trying to build up the two-tier standardization system with the strong combination of state and market forces. China’s standardization effort manifests a trajectory of transition towards enhancing indigenous innovation and more tech-driven development, which is quite unique and valuable for emerging countries. Also, it is China’s smart city development patterns determines the modes of standardization, which is unsustainable and calls for the transition from the techno-centred to the human-centred pattern. The study of the finding provides valuable insights into the complex interplay of stakeholder roles and strategies in the context of smart city standardization efforts and provide recommendations for industry actors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), researchers, and policy makers who are engaged in influencing technological and societal transformations.