TIANJIN -- A giant screen displaying a city's real-time traffic, the flow of people and weather information at Huawei's Smart City Intelligent Operation Center caught many eyes in the recently concluded World Intelligence Congress.

The 5G-based IOC Solution would serve as a "brain" to select and analyze big data, provide solutions for decision-makers, and offer technical support for emergency command, said Yuan Bin, a marketing expert with Huawei.

It is just one case among many at the WIC that showcase a smarter way to manage a city. Urban traffic, healthcare, and access to city services are all expected to become easier with the latest tech, such as artificial intelligence and 5G.

China has 167 cities with over 1 million people and more than 500 cities have proposed to build smart cities in 2018.

In Xiong'an New Area, which is still under construction some 100 km southwest of downtown Beijing, the citizen service center is geared up with technologies such as online applications, cloud computing and big data.

In North China's Tianjin, where the WIC was held, a phone app that covers essential city services is being developed for the city's citizens.

Analysts say the push to make cities smarter is in line with the country's advocacy of high-quality development.

China is experiencing a large-scale and fast urbanization process, which requires more modern, data-based and intelligent social governance, according to Peng Sen, president of the China Society of Economic Reform.

"The digital model should be established on the first day of urban construction, to decide how the infrastructure will be built in line with the changes of city development," said Liu Song, vice president of Alibaba.

Emerging technologies are fueling the trend.