Enhancing Capacity Building for Urban Transformation as a Means to Close the Planning–Implementation Gap in Europe and China

Building socially integrative cities is high on the European Agenda, and it has also become one of the top priorities of the Chinese government’s commitment to fostering sustainable urbanisation and the development of smart cities. However, there is a gap between these aspirations, reflected in strategic documents and urban plans, and the actual realisation of these aspirations in practice. Against this background, this research explores and illustrates innovative approaches in European and Chinese smart city projects that have contributed to a better alignment of city planning and implementation. In doing so, the paper draws on the transformative capacity concepts and operationalises them for the city planning and implementation context. Equipped with this framework, the research showcases a selection of the most innovative approaches that European and Chinese smart city projects have successfully employed. Furthermore, the paper analyses the dimensions in which these approaches have helped to build capacities that can foster urban transformation. Based on the analysis, the paper reflects on further research that is needed to systematically understand innovative approaches and tools to learn to replicate in other cities, and the paper outlines policy recommendations to foster transformative capacities in cities.