Knowlton City and Regional Planning Associate Professor Zhenhua Chen and PhD candidate Junmei Cheng's research article, "Economic Impact of Smart City Investment: Evidence from the Smart Columbus Projects", was recently published in SAGE's Journal of Planning Education and Research. 

In their article, Chen and Cheng introduced a framework for assessing the economic impact of smart city investment. They used Smart Columbus, the first smart city initiative funded by the U.S. federal government, as a case study in their research. 

The analysis shows that smart city investment has varying effects on the local economy during the construction and operational phases. In addition, the results of distributional impacts on household income suggest that social equity should be given more attention in future planning and decision-making on smart city development, both in Columbus and beyond.

Read more in the Journal of Planning Education and Research