1 Introduction

When the wave of industrialization, electrification, and informatization swept the world and gradually receded, humanity ushered in an era of wisdom. The massive investment in resources and energy has led to a rapid advancement in urbanization. The accelerated accumulation of population and rapid economic development and the rapid expansion of the city have brought about many “urban diseases” such as energy shortage, waste of resources, ecological damage, and traffic congestion [1]. The emergence of urban diseases has seriously affected the quality of urban development and the experience of living. The smart city construction is a good medicine to solve urban diseases in the era of wisdom. As a result, smart cities have generated a lot of attention around the world. In the academic and urban planning fields, the development of smart cities is highly valued. The academic community has extensive research and discussion on smart cities. In the urban planning and construction of the world, there are many cases of actual construction of smart cities. However, the actual construction of smart cities involves a lot of relevant knowledge, not the combination of the Internet and the Internet of Things is the core strength of building a smart city. More is devoted to the development of smarter cities, to meet the needs of the sustainable development of urban cycles. When society does not meet the requirements of a unified definition of smart cities, it will produce multi-faceted cognition.

In recent years, information and communication technology (ICT) has gradually become the main perspective of smart city construction. ICT is the main carrier for building a smart city information platform and one of the most important infrastructures for smart cities. However, building a smart city from the ICT alone will bring about one-sidedness in the construction of a smart city. The fundamental purpose of smart city construction is not only to achieve the wisdom of urban information, but also to solve the most fundamental problems of the modern city itself, rather than building an information platform, the smart city becomes an individual who can think. The research and planning related interest groups of smart cities should be considered and discussed from the urban ontology.

Zhouyi is an important classic in ancient Chinese philosophy. Confucius believes: “Yijing is a rich book containing infinite truths between heaven, earth and people. [2] ” Yijing has had a profound influence on ancient Chinese culture, showing the mysteries and laws of the universe. The philosophical truth contained in the Book of Changes is the law of survival of human wisdom. “White Bi” represents the traditional Chinese philosophy and has important significance. After thousands of years of interpretation, the theory of White Bi has been widely used in related fields. Ancient Chinese philosophical thinking holds that everything has its roots and that returning to its origin can achieve a balance between man and nature. This paper studies the smart city from the perspective of “White Bi” as a theoretical entry point. Under the guidance of the simple concept, natural concept, harmonious concept and ecological concept of “White Bi”, the “Wen” and “Zhi” of the smart city are discussed, so as to find the reason and direction of restoring the function of the city.

2 Problems in Smart Cities

The development of smart cities has achieved remarkable results so far. Smart cities have become the core guiding ideology of urban planning in various countries. However, the city does not give it the wisdom of the label to become intelligent, but gives it a smart platform and intelligent planning. The smart city began to experience the wisdom of the earth proposed by IBM in 2009, and has gradually become an urban planning system. There are also many problems in the development. The author has drawn the following related questions through the investigation of the construction of smart cities in China.

2.1 Cognitive Bias of Smart City Concept

The main body of smart city construction planning is the local government. Local government perceptions of smart city concepts affect the construction of smart cities in the region. Due to the different economic developments of different cities, the limitations of urban development are not the same [3]. Smart city development commonality: the more developed the economy, the more comprehensive the transformation of wisdom. Compared with the region of economic development, the transformation of wisdom is very limited. A smart city is not a slogan. It is tailored to the local conditions. Smart transformation within limited conditions requires practical application to be put into action. This requires local government interest groups to understand the concept of smart city and translate it into practical action.

2.2 Lack of Evaluation Criteria and Top-Level Design

The construction of a smart city is inseparable from the standard system and precise evaluation standards. Although there was a spontaneous exploration in the early stage of the construction of a smart city, the system gradually formed in the later period with certain standards. Throughout the construction of smart cities around the world, there are more or less the lack of standard systems and top-level planning, resulting in ambiguous responsibilities of smart city management, and overall planning at the national level is not comprehensive. There are also differences in the infrastructure construction of smart cities in various regions.

2.3 Lack of Core Technology, Lack of Urban Function

The core technology is the guarantee of intelligent operation of smart cities. There are common problems in the investigation of the construction of smart cities in China. There is a widespread lack of core technology. In the planning of building a smart city, rushing to build and ignoring the upgrading of core technologies led to a lack of intelligent experience in the post-construction planning case, thus weakening the urban intelligence function. The construction of smart cities involves many aspects of technology. The lack of technologies such as important components, data processing, and high-precision chips will cause problems in urban operation.

2.4 Lack of Autonomy, Low Participation of Citizens

Among the many problems facing urban development, the fundamental shortcoming is the lack of comprehensive urban autonomy. The lack of autonomy also reflects the real problem of low citizen participation. The resume of a smart city is not just a smart information exchange platform, but more about the improvement of the citizen’s living experience [4]. This requires the public to participate in the construction. As a public place, the improvement of the sense of citizenship will bring about a fundamental improvement in the city. In the final analysis, smart cities are people-oriented. Therefore, it is necessary for residents to experience feedback and participation.

3 White Bi Ontology

Divinatory symbols of Bi refers to the meaning of decoration, but it contains the truth of the harmonious unity of human civilization and natural laws. The birth and progress of civilization is a certain law, and it is also in line with the development of nature. Divinatory symbols of Bi contains upper and lower parts. The upper part represents the mountain. The lower squat represents the fire. It meaning the scene of the fire shining through the mountains [5]. This bright sight means social civilization. The combination of fire and mountains reflects the harmonious unity of culture and nature, and it represents the philosophy of harmony between man and nature. Divinatory symbols of Bi contains White Bi. White Bi represents the philosophical concept that is decorated to the extreme and will be attributed to calm. It embodies the process of things from simple to simple, and it is also the process of returning things to their origins. Zhou Yi believes that all things in the universe are cyclical, unified, and mutually different, resulting in a rich form. Therefore, returning to the origin of things can find the fundamental way to solve the problem.

3.1 The Application of the Concept of White Bi in Smart Cities

The continuous advancement of the smart city has blurred the function of the city’s origin. The city is ultimately the home of human habitation and the carrier of human beings and nature. A successful urban planning case will lead to imitation, and the phenomenon of a thousand cities will become more and more serious. The concept of “returning to the truth” contained in “White Bi” represents the meaning of returning to the source. Since the city is a carrier connecting humans and nature, there is a corresponding language in the city. Smart cities bring both human and intellectual experiences, but they also bring problems. The rules of the day are in accordance with the laws of nature and focus on cultural heritage. The increase in cultural elements in smart cities helps to form features. The opposition between city and nature has always been a topic for urban planners and their troubles. Combining the concept of White Bi to return urban planning to pay attention to the function of the ontology, as a breakthrough point, it can establish a new relationship between the city and nature.

3.2 Sustainability

The destruction of ecology has created a sense of crisis in urban expansion. The natural ecological environment has a mutually restrictive relationship with urban expansion and urbanization. Soil, water, atmosphere and vegetation in the ecological environment are the basic elements of urban development. The concentration of urban population and the continuous advancement of social civilization have led to the expansion of urban land use, resulting in the reduction of ecological basic elements. When the basic elements are reduced to a critical point, the city will not be able to continue to expand. White Bi advocates the principle of survival of natural harmony in line with the concept of sustainable development of smart cities. White Bi advocated pay attention to people’s feelings, as well as smart cities.In the smart city PSF evaluation model, the human factor ranks first, firstly with the human needs, experience, residence and life as the core target layer, indicating the importance of people in the smart city.

The development concept of China’s smart cities: innovation, coordination, green, open, and sharing. The concept of White Bi contains: all things follow, the laws of nature, the unity of nature and man, the coexistence of symbiosis. It can be seen that the concept of “White Bi” has a guiding role in the development of smart cities in China. White Bi originated from the oldest philosophical thoughts in ancient China, and is a “theory” based on China’s actual conditions. Therefore, the concept of White Bi has an important guiding role for the development of China’s smart city.

3.3 “Wen” and “Zhi” Unified Smart City

There is also a relationship between “Wen” and “Zhi” in the smart city system (Fig. 1). The urban natural system is the basic system of a smart city, equivalent to “Zhi”. The urban social system contains both “Wen” and “Zhi”. The urban economic system is purely “Wen”. In this system diagram, “Wen” and “Zhi” have the same weight, and the system works to bring the best urban living experience. The living experience of the citizens and the green development concept are the new topics that the smart city needs to consider in the future.

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Smart city system

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4 Conclusion

The theory of “White Bi” originated from ancient Chinese philosophical thoughts represents China’s most traditional theoretical system. Therefore, the theory of “White Bi” is the development theory that best fits the actual situation in China. The construction of a smart city needs to be adapted to local conditions in order to play a sustainable role. The effective use of the theory of “White Bi” can make the development of smart cities more effective. Therefore, in the follow-up study, we can start from the most fundamental function of the city and carry out reasonable and effective planning according to the characteristics of regional development.