The Emergence of Artificial Intelligence in Anticipatory Urban Governance: Multi-Scalar Evidence of China’s Transition to City Brains

Ying Xu, Federico Cugurullo, Heming Zhang, Alexander Gaio and Weishi Zhang

Journal of Urban Technology, 2025, vol. 32, issue 3, 9-33

Abstract: While smart city initiatives have characterized global urbanization from the 1990s to the 2020s, nowadays a novel artificial intelligence (AI) enabled approach to urban governance is rapidly emerging, thereby shaping the governance and planning of present and future cities. This urban phenomenon can be understood theoretically through the notion of anticipatory governance, and empirically through so-called City Brain systems. This is particularly evident in China where a wide range of urban AI solutions are being experimented at different scales which this paper seeks to illustrate. First, by building a database of AI-urban policy texts associated with Chinese cities, we capture and discuss the national network of discourses surrounding urban AI. Second, we draw on empirical research conducted in Beijing to examine an existing city brain project and explain its impact on urban governance. Our study reveals the multi-scalar policy landscape of urban AI transitions in China and sheds light on the extent to which emerging AI technologies such as city brains can proactively address urban problems, thus developing an understanding of anticipatory governance in the age of urban AI. We conclude the paper by reflecting on the complex corporate-state relations embedded in the co-production of city brains, their diffusion and impact beyond China.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/10630732.2023.2292823

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