Decoding Public Sentiment Topics in Google Map Reviews on Urban Infrastructure Development of Belt and Road Initiative

Despite the broad scope of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects and deep intertwine with urban development, there is a lack of quantitative research utilizing crowd-sourced data to understand public perceptions, particularly from both spatial and temporal perspectives. This study analyzes 144,210 Google reviews from 352 BRI urban infrastructure projects between 2012 and 2023, encompassing six urban infrastructure categories. Using the Valence Aware Dictionary and Sentiment Reasoner for sentiment analysis and Multi-grained Latent Dirichlet Allocation for topic modeling, the study reveals that sentiment for BRI projects is generally positive, especially in upper-middle-income countries. Discussion topics can be clustered into professional function (44%), benefits/disbenefits (24%), service industry (19%), and development (13%). Higher-income areas focus on service-related topics, while lower-income areas emphasize development. Moreover, higher urban growth rates at country level correlate with more positive sentiments and a greater focus on development. However, high investment areas experience more polarized reviews, indicating unmet expectations. Besides, the urbanization process at city level and local level also impact the performance of BRI projects, suggesting the importance of integrating BRI projects with local community. This study contributes to the understanding of the complex interplay between BRI projects, urban development, and public perception across regions and over time.