The urbanization process has accelerated in China, with the urbanization rate reaching 55.6% in 2015. Although the speed of urbanisation in France is currently 0.84%, more than three quarters of French live in urban agglomerations of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Smart City Strategy
In China, Smart City has more general goal, covering from different levels, including basic city construction, smart application, industry and security. In France, Smart City has partially independent targets, such as a more general support towards country competitiveness in various related fields, such as ICT, e-government, e-health or others. In case of Issy-les-Moulineaux, one of the major goals is to develop an environmentally friendly neighbourhood.
Stakeholders
Citizen engagement is well designed in France. In China, the major stakeholders are government, public institutions and private companies.
Governance
For China, there is stronger involvement from central government level, through MIIT, NDRC, MOST or MOHURD opinions and guidelines in particular, themselves guided by the 12th Five-Year Plan and the dedicated Five-Year Plans for the Development of the Information Security Industry, for the Development of Internet of Things, for the Development of E-commerce and most specific for Smart City Development. However, central government’s main role is to provide guidance and to facilitate the development and implementation of smart city projects for those cities that are willing to engage in this kind of modernisation. Most of the Chinese pilot cities have established a smart city leadership group and have adopted the traditional “top down” approach.
In France, most of Smart City policy measures have the character of coordination, showcasing good practice, and providing incentives. These smart cities in France have adopted a more open approach to smart city governance.
Funding
Chinese pilot smart cities fund their projects through public funding mainly at the local municipal level, although some cities have received funding from the Provincial and National government. Some private funding has also played a role. Most pilot smart cities have or plan to establish Local Government Financing Vehicles (LGFVs). LGFVs enable a city to raise funds through bank loans, issuing bonds and via equity market initial public offerings. Some of the pilot smart cities, e.g. Tianjin, Chengdu and Qianhai, have specifically targeted
capital investment from foreign investors.
French smart cities have funded their projects through a combination of public (such as city council budgets) and private funding. For example, Issy-les-Moulineaux municipal government cooperate with nine companies which can provide have contributed to project funding through provision of resources such as human capital, equipment, software etc. rather than direct capital contribution.
ICT Infrastructure
Whilst most of the Chinese pilot smart cities are in the early stages of implementing cloud computing many of the French smart cities have significant experience.
Smart City Services
In France, open data projects have been widely implemented. Investment in open data projects is likely to continue driven by the potential economic value that can be created by open data. A large number of smart city applications have been developed. Smart cities are willing to collaborate and share their applications with other cities, through a number of cooperation and knowledge-sharing platforms. In China, open data projects are quickly developing, a lot of work need to be done in cities collaboration and data’s opening.
Environment, energy, transport and public services are the most popular services in France, while in China, Environment, energy and Public Administration are the most popular services in China.
reference：
1. 《中国智慧城市标准化白皮书》
2. 《la ville intelligente état des lieux et perspectives en France》
3. 《欧洲和中国智慧城市的比较要就主要发现》PDF 中文
4. 《comparative study of smart cities in Europe and China white paper》
5. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2212.html