Introduction

According to the World Development Indicators (WDI) database issued by World Bank, the proportion of urban population reached to 53.857% in 2015 (World Bank, 2017), and this figure was predicted to reach to 60% by 2030 (United Nations, 2015). In particular, it was suggested that this figure would increase significantly in those developing countries such as China. In China, the urban population increased from 22% in 1980s to 57.35 % in 2016 (National Bureau of Statistics of PRC, 2016). However, it is widely appreciated that rapid urbanization has generated many problems usually called “urban diseases”, such as energy shortage, environment pollution, traffic congestion, social inequality, unavailability or shortage of public service, and land loss (Neirotti et al., 2014; Chen, 2007; Cui & Shi, 2012). These problems make cities disordered and unorganized, and hamper the growth of cities (Johnson, 2008). In searching for solutions to address these problems, smart city has been introduced as a new technology-driven mechanism (Eger, 2003; Coe et al., 2001; Hollands, 2008; Lee et al, 2014). Smart city presents a new city pattern which integrates resources in a way that can provide better urban services based on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). In a typical definition quoted in International Business Machine (IBM), smart city is a city that could maximize the payment with limited input of resources by the use of techniques to improve urban services in multiple aspects including civilian, business, transportation, communication, water, sources and other urban systems (Dirks and Keeling, 2009). The Chinese government has been devoting good efforts to the promotion of smart city through implementing a series of policies and measures. For example, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) established the China Smart City Industry Alliance in 2013 to implement smart city programs by providing US$8 billion for smart city research and projects (Guo et al., 2016). In 2014, eight government departments in China issued jointly the policy paper “Guidance on Promoting the Healthy Development of Smart City”. This guidance includes a plan to build a number of smart cities with individual characteristics. In the “۲۰۱۵ Report on the Government Work” by Keqiang Li, the Prime Minister, the development of smart city was promoted as the future development direction for cities in China. In line with this direction, an increasing number of cities have been practicing the principles of smart city in China. It was reported by Telecommunication Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China (2014), all the cities at provincial or above level, 89% prefecture-level cities, and about 40% countylevel cities have smart city development plans. The study by Guo (2016) shows that the investment on smart city in China reached to US$147 billion by the end of December 2015, and it would remain growing at the rate of about 19% for 2016-2018.