| Despite the fact that the construction of smart cities in China is in full swing,and the smart development of many cities has been quite mature,the construction of smart cities in Yunnan Province is still at an early stage.Although all the cities in Yunnan have been built in a smart way,their development remains slow under adverse conditions.Most Chinese scholars engage themselves in researching cities in more developed areas including cities the eastern coastal areas or pilot smart cities.Little literature studies smart cities in China’s border areas,and little research has been carried out in the evaluation index system of these cities.China’s border areas serve as a window to the outside world,importance should be attached to the construction of smart cities in provinces on China’s border.In light of the development of smart cities in Yunnan Province,this study identifies the features of smart cities through the descriptive analysis of 16 autonomous prefectures and cities in Yunnan Province.Urban management theory,general system theory and other theories are applied to select"infrastructure construction","smart economy","scientific and technological development","smart life","smart environment"as five first-level indicators in building the evaluation index system of smart cities in Yunnan Province.Based on the objective raw data,K-means clustering method is adopted to divide 16 autonomous prefectures and cities into three categories,and Kunming is a benchmark in the first level.Besides,60%of all the autonomous prefectures and cities,covering almost all of Yunnan Province,belong to the second level,and can be regarded as a representative of Yunnan Province for evaluation and analysis.The remaining autonomous prefectures and cities are for reference only.It is found after the assignment of all indicators in the index system by the objective entropy weight method that the proportion of the two first-level indicators:science and technology development and smart economy account for 77.48%in the construction of smart cities in Yunnan Province,suggesting that these two indicators have exerted huge influence on the construction of smart cities.Moreover,TOPSIS comprehensive analysis method is adopted in the evaluation of smart cities in Yunnan Province to rank the targets of evaluation,as well as autonomous prefectures and cities under each first-level indicators.The results are then analyzed by taking into account the evaluation results of all autonomous prefectures and cities so as to spot the commonalities as existing problems that get in the way of the construction of smart cities in Yunnan Province.Finally,on the basis of the research findings,suggestions such as continuous improving the top-level design of smart cities in Yunnan Province,standardizing the construction of smart cities,optimizing urban infrastructure construction,following the development path of innovation-driven smart city,and balancing the interests of all involving parties in the construction of smart cities are proposed in the hope of improving the application of smart city evaluation index system and offering some ideas for the construction of smart cities in Yunnan Province. |
