Research On The Impact Of Smart City Construction On The Improvement Of Urban Traffic Congestion

The vigorous development of the new generation of information and communication technologies represented by the Internet of Things,cloud computing,big data,and artificial intelligence has broken the traditional urban development model,and most counties in the world are joining the bandwagon of smart city construction.So far,more than 1,000 smart cities have been launched or under construction,which is bound to have a significant and profound impact on the political,economic,social and ecological development of each country.The construction of smart city has become an inevitable trend in history and a strategic commanding point in the field of information.With the rapid development of economy,the process of urbanization is accelerating,the size of cities is expanding,the population of cities is increasing,the number of motor vehicles is rising sharply,the demand for motorized travel is increasing,the traditional urban development model and the existing urban road traffic system has been unable to meet people’s increasing travel requirements,the contradiction between transportation supply and transportation demand has become increasingly prominent,and major cities are experiencing varying levels of traffic congestion.The causes of urban traffic congestion are complex and have a wide range.Although countermeasures have been proposed from various aspects,most of them show the characteristics of inconspicuous and unstable improvement effect.Problems such as energy consumption,environmental degradation,frequent accidents,resource waste and increased travel costs caused by congestion have become global research topics.It is urgent to propose effective governance model and scientific measures to solve this bottleneck that restricts the sustainable development of cities.More countries and regions are joining the bandwagon of smart city construction,which is an important strategy and innovative urban governance concept to solve the problem of rapid urbanization.This paper examines whether smart city innovation is able to ameliorate the traffic congestion faced by a large number of cities.Using panel data for 187 prefecture-level cities in China from 2008 to 2017,this paper tests the effect of implementation of a smart city on urban traffic congestion with the difference-in-difference method.Using real data to test and explore: whether the Smart City Pilot Program has actually ameliorate urban traffic congestion;how the smart citypilot policy improves traffic conditions;to what extent has it played a role.The results show that,firstly,the construction of smart cities have significantly reduced the degree of urban traffic congestion and improved the quality and capacity of public transport.Secondly,information technology and urban innovation are the main mechanisms for smart city implementation to improve urban traffic problems.Thirdly,the improvement effect of smart city implementation on traffic management shows an increasing marginal effect over time.By overcoming the estimation bias in previous studies,this study accurately analyzes the positive role and dynamic effect of smart city construction on traffic improvement.It augments the literature of program evaluation and assessment of smart city implementation.By examining how to improve traffic congestion,it offers some insights that could inspire governments to build smarter cities with better traffic.