In Shenzhen, a city in south China’s Guangdong Province, futuristic technology is no longer a vision—it’s a reality woven into everyday life. Imagine ordering food and having it delivered by a drone within ten minutes. At local hotels, meals are brought directly to your room by friendly robots. Self-driving buses navigate fixed routes, transporting passengers safely and efficiently.
By the end of July 2025, Shenzhen plans to open the world’s first robot 6S shop, offering comprehensive services such as sales, maintenance, and upgrades of robots. The city is also gearing up to build a pilot “robot theater” and a “robot district.”
“In the district, visitors will experience services like robot massages, robot moxibustion therapy, robot-made jianbing (a type of Chinese crepe), robot barbecue, and even robot-operated pharmacies,” said Zhao Bingbing, the director of the Shenzhen Longgang District Artificial Intelligence (Robotics) Administration.
Shenzhen’s strides in smart city development have not gone unnoticed. On November 7, 2024, the city was awarded the prestigious City Award at the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona, Spain. Selected from among 429 candidate cities across 64 countries and regions, Shenzhen’s achievement highlights China’s impressive strength and vast potential in smart city innovation.
The SCEWC jury praised Shenzhen for its comprehensive achievements and outstanding solutions in key areas, including technology, transportation, energy and environment, governance, industry and economy, livability, and inclusiveness.
A Nationwide Movement
But Shenzhen is just the beginning. Across China, cities are embracing smart technologies to enhance urban life. “Currently, nearly all cities at or above the prefecture level in China have established digital urban management platforms,” said Han Song, an official with China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. “Many of these cities have been upgraded with smart technologies, significantly enhancing their capabilities for intelligent urban governance.”
In Huizhou City, an automated warehouse at a leading new energy equipment enterprise operates with remarkable efficiency. “Where we once needed around 50 workers, we now need only three or four,” said Duan Yajie, general manager of one of the company’s subsidiaries. “The smart automated warehouse system helps save overall floor space, increases efficiency by about 40 percent, and reduces costs by approximately 30 percent.”
In southwest China’s Chongqing, the Digital Urban Operation and Governance Center acts as the city’s “urban brain,” integrating data to monitor key indicators like water, electricity, gas, communications, bridges, tunnels, and pipelines. This integration enables comprehensive monitoring, analysis, and precise management across multiple sectors.
In Qingdao City of eastern China’s Shandong Province, over 50 municipal departments and more than 600 units have been integrated into an intelligent command and dispatch system, enhancing the city’s operation management services.
Even smaller cities like Dengfeng in central China’s Henan Province are leveraging technology. By combining grid-based governance with digital empowerment, Dengfeng has improved the precision and quality of its cultural and tourism services.
Transforming Communities
As cities focus on building urban “central brains,” they’re also upgrading local communities, particularly old urban residential areas. Smart services such as elderly care and parking are being integrated to provide residents with more precise, diverse, and timely services.
China’s rapid advancement in smart city development is not just transforming urban life—it’s setting a new standard for the future. With cities like Shenzhen leading the way, the integration of technology and daily life is expected to continue accelerating, bringing innovative solutions to challenges and improving the quality of life for millions.
