China vis-à-vis the EU: The competition for Africa's smart cities

Rapid population growth and urbanization have placed considerable pressure on African cities. Urban sprawl, traffic congestion, environmental degradation, and criminal activity associated with these phenomena have increasingly seized policymakers' attention. In an attempt to address these challenges, governments across Africa have embraced the concept of smart cities as a way to capitalize on new technologies and data analytics to address the pressing economic, social, and political realities facing dynamic urban environments. Currently, China, the European Union (EU), and the United States are the largest providers of smart city technologies, and they are increasingly targeting the African market. China has used a host of bilateral and multilateral agreements to provide Smart City solutions as part of its Digital Silk Road initiative. The EU has also recently increased its commitment to strengthening its relationship with African states and boosting its provision of many of the digital products and services underscoring smart cities. However, China and the EU embrace two distinct approaches to smart city development. The Chinese approach emphasizes pragmatic goals and seeks to strengthen state capacity. In contrast, the EU's approach rests on a development perspective that looks to empower citizens. Ultimately, these two contrasting approaches to smart cities embody significantly different conceptions of democracy and the relationship between state actors and citizens. As both China and the EU increase their digital development initiatives in Africa, this chapter assesses how the growth of smart cities in Africa will affect Sino-European relations. More precisely, it seeks to understand how the growing competition between China and the EU to shape Africa's Smart Cities can contribute to the emerging geopolitical competition among the two actors. To do so, we analyze key Chinese and European strategic policies for promoting smart city technologies in Africa, assessing their potential for promoting Sino-European competition in defining the future of Africa's smart cities.