The top-level design and planning of smart cities should be oriented towards sustainable development of people's livelihoods and increased sense of gain for citizens. Smart logistics is a powerful tool and support for smart cities to meet market demand, meet people's needs, and achieve sustainable ecological development.

There are over 1000 smart cities under construction worldwide, while China has nearly 600. Many cities have invested heavily in smart governance, smart communities, smart transportation, and smart security, while many enterprises are constantly launching products at different levels such as "urban brain", "underlying platform", and "data integration" to attract local governments to purchase. As a result, "government purchase services" have become the largest market for smart cities in China today.



Nowadays, although significant progress has been made in areas such as "maximum once run" smart government, "safe city" smart security, "vehicle road coordination" smart transportation, and "grid management" smart communities, the sense of gain for citizens has not correspondingly increased. Especially with the increase in urban scale and demand, the service level of some smart cities has declined instead of increasing; Most smart city projects are still in a fragmented state, and Wuhan has even seen Microsoft's "Smart City" project worth 175 million yuan unfinished.

At present, the construction of smart cities in China is mainly aimed at meeting the needs of the government, applying technology, and achieving short-term goals. It focuses on smart security, smart communities, smart transportation, and smart government, and is basically led by the government, driven by technology, and achieving short-term results. But the purpose of smart city construction should be to enhance the government's management and service capabilities, improve governance efficiency, enhance the livability of citizens, and promote regional economic and ecological sustainable development centered on the city. Sustainable livelihood development is the foundation of smart city construction. Local governments should not be the main body of smart city construction, but should be the formulators of relevant systems, promoters of standards, and executors of safety in smart cities. They should also be the guides and promoters of top-level design and planning for smart cities.



The stable growth of urban transportation, air pollution, living security, and per capita access to living resources are the most core issues; Boosting consumption is currently a long-term economic goal, and the core of supporting consumption lies in commerce and its logistics system.

Logistics connects production and consumption, and is also a guarantee for urban pillar industries and advantageous industries. The warehousing and distribution mode of urban logistics directly affects the transportation load of the city. Smart logistics will be a powerful grip and support for the construction and sustainable development of smart cities.

Firstly, sustainable market support. Urban express delivery and urban instant delivery have shown a sustained market growth of 20% to 50% in the past 6 years, and will continue to develop at a super high speed. The express transportation industry with a larger market share is less than 3% of the industry concentration and the high cost of the "last mile", which brings greater market space for "cost reduction and efficiency increase" by combining intelligent product families such as intelligent networking (AI+IoT) and 5G based edge computing with intelligent logistics.

Secondly, the spatial layout of urban science and the urban transportation system with the goal of safety and livability have put forward higher intelligent requirements for urban logistics. Citizens have a greater need for green and safe rest spaces, face-to-face social experience spaces, and safe, convenient, and service-oriented streets in residential areas, commercial areas, and office areas. The transportation flow of people, vehicles, and goods in the sky, ground, and underground of urban space should be more scientifically and intelligently divided and optimized as a whole. Smart logistics will effectively utilize the resources in the sky, ground, and ground spaces for the intelligent integration and configuration of urban transportation, storage, and warehousing.

Once again, the technology supporting smart logistics will be effectively ported to smart city applications. Whether it is Smart City 1.0 supported by digitization, Smart City 2.0 supported by e-government, Smart City 3.0 supported by global data sharing, or Smart City 4.0 supported by AI+IoT, most technologies, products, and standards are not yet perfect. However, the development stage of smart logistics, which is difficult to unify, has a broader need for intelligent technologies and products in different stages such as digitization, e-government/e-commerce, data sharing, and Smart City 4.0 supported by AI+IoT.



Finally, smart logistics will more effectively gather and intensively utilize resources such as talent, capital, platforms, and networks. The "big cloud mobile intelligence" and intelligent networking such as 5G and edge computing supported by data, knowledge and technology will make the integration of intelligent logistics with urban ecology and industrial chain ecology more effective, and also support the sustainable development of smart cities.