A New Smart City Construction Performance Evaluation System from the Perspective of User Experience: An Empirical Study of Qingdao, China

Abstract

The concept of smart city development originated from the idea of ‘Smart Earth’ proposed by IBM in 2008. The Chinese government has been actively promoting the planning and construction of smart cities to address challenges such as traffic congestion, medical issues, and environmental pollution caused by rapid urbanization, with the aim of improving public welfare. Currently, countries worldwide are embracing the construction of smart cities, utilizing information and communication technologies like big data and cloud computing to achieve efficient management of cities in terms of public services, governance, and livability, thus promoting sustainable urban development and enhancing residents’ convenience. As China’s urbanization progresses and information technology advances, along with people’s pursuit of a high-quality life, new concepts and requirements for smart cities have emerged, necessitating the timely development of new smart city concepts. The public, being the end users and evaluators of smart city construction outcomes, holds significant influence in assessing the quality of such construction. However, previous studies on smart cities have predominantly focused on technological advancements, neglecting the evaluation of smart city construction effectiveness from the perspective of citizens. Therefore, establishing a scientific and reasonable performance evaluation index system for new smart city construction is crucial to the construction of new smart cities, based on the public’s direct experience and user perception.

This study introduces user perception as a key component in the evaluation system for new smart city construction and established a new smart city construction performance evaluation index system based on user perception. By doing so, it aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the actual impact of urban development on residents’ lives. To establish the evaluation index system, the study combines research findings from relevant domestic literature and Chinese government documents, resulting in a set of 32 indicators. The membership degree analysis and reliability and validity tests were then conducted to determine the rating system for five first-level indicators, 12 second-level indicators, and 31 third-level indicators. These indicators include benefit to the people service, precise governance, ecological livability, intelligent facilities, and intelligent services relying on the platform. Finally, questionnaires were distributed to Qingdao citizens using snowball sampling through the questionnaire Star platform. The survey results were obtained from 390 valid questionnaires in Qingdao, Shandong province. The entropy method was applied to objectively assign weights to each evaluation index and determine their respective importance. The findings highlight the significance of benefit to the people service, index. The research results provide guidance for evaluating the impact of smart city construction in China and offer insights for future improvements and development directions in this field.