The concept of a "smart city" appeared in the Government Work Report for the first time this year, which shows the future direction of China's urban construction.

In November 2008, IBM introduced the idea of a "smart Earth", which started the trend for building smart cities globally.

A smart city refers to intelligently managed urban resources and facilities. A smart city can intelligently respond to all kinds of social demands such as environmental protection, public security, city services and industrial and commercial activities. In a nutshell, a smart city aims to provide environmentally friendly, convenient and highly efficient public services to residents through high technology. It requires the development of information and communication technology, especially some advanced technologies, such as big data, the Internet of things and cloud computing. It will improve urban operation and promote harmonious and sustainable urban development.

In 2013, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development released a pilot list of smart cities that included 193 domestic cities. In April 2014, Premier Li Keqiang said to the Queen of Denmark that China will cooperate with Denmark on the smart city pilot program. The construction of smart cities is in accordance with China's overall development trend in the coming years, which is encouraging innovation, improving public service and coordinating regional development.