PMC-index classification framework.

The intersections of rapid demographic aging and urban digitalization present unprecedented governance challenges, yet current smart city evaluation frameworks inadequately address age-friendly policy implementation. This study addresses the critical analytical gap in evaluating age-friendly dimensions within smart city policy frameworks through development of an adapted Policy Modeling Consistency (PMC-Index) methodology. Analyzing 18 provincial-level policy documents in China (2011–2024) through integrated text mining techniques, this research examines relationships between policy text characteristics and implementation effectiveness. Statistical analysis reveals significant correlations (r = 0.83, p