Smart and Sustainable Development from a Spatial Planning Perspective: The Case of Shenzhen and Greater Manchester

Abstract

This paper proposes an integrative analytical framework to critically review the genesis of smart city development and evaluate its sustainability outcomes from a spatial planning perspective. It argues that historical contexts and modes of governance, together with holistic place-based knowledge, provide important clues to understand the ensuing visions, goals, and objectives, as well as processes and contents of smart city initiatives. Shenzhen (SZ), China’s first special economic zone, and Greater Manchester (GM), the birthplace of the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom, are used to illustrate how the conceptual framework helps reveal two very different pathways towards smart sustainability. SZ, as a pioneering testbed of China’s reforms, is closely directed by top-down initiatives in its smart and sustainable development efforts. GM, given its rich history of local collaboration between the public, private and third sectors, adopts a bottom-up approach to achieve smart sustainability. The case studies prove the robustness of the framework in narrating smart sustainable development in a city-region, highlighting different trajectories and necessary areas for improvement.