The Smartest Cities In The World
These cities that are doing the best at embracing the future are focusing on improving technology, equality, sharing, civic participation, and more.
Over the past several years, the idea of the being "smart" has
emerged as a key mechanism for cities to find innovative solutions to
the challenges that they are facing. Increased demand for
infrastructure, housing, transportation, jobs, energy, food
and water are all straining city governments and infrastructure, as
people around the world flock to urban centers in hopes of a better life
and more opportunity. For many years, the push to create smarter
cities was led by technology
companies looking for uses (and buyers) for their products. But in
recent years, cities have begun to think more holistically about what
being a smart city could mean, and have innovated new ways to modernize
how a city serves its citizens.
For the past several years, I've published an annual ranking of smart
cities, and with each passing year I have sought to improve the quality
of the ranking methodology. This year, This year, I embarked on a
rather ambitious experiment Leveraging an international advisory panel, I expanded the survey to 62 indicators across the key components and subcomponents of the Smart Cities Wheel that I developed a few years ago.
Smart cities are a complex phenomenon and any effort to measure them
needs to contain breadth and depth of indicators—and this year I have
that. I have added several more information technology related indicators, like broadband Internet
and the number of mobile applications that leverage open data
initiatives. But I also have added low-tech indicators to ascertain how
much a city is embracing shared mobility, like measuring the number of
bikes and cars currently in their sharing programs. I have also added
citizen participation metrics, such as the number of citizens engagement
events held each year and percentage of citizens who vote in local
elections.
I sent a survey of these 62 indicators to 120 cities around the world
(30 cities in four regions). Unfortunately only 11 cities around the
globe were able to participate due to the complexity and time required
to collect such diverse data. Given the small sample size, and some
inconsistencies in the data, this year I am not reporting formal
rankings (you can read more about the methodology of the selection here).
But I did learn a lot about what these cities are doing, and what
makes a smart city in 2015. In looking at these examples of smart cities
around the globe, I've divided them into three categories: Pioneering
Smart Cities, cities that have been on the leading edge of smart city
development for some time (for these cities, I also discuss the
challenges that face them in advancing their development even further).
Emerging Smart Cities are cities on the cusp of true innovation. And
Next Stage Smart Cities will be on the leading edge of innovative
metropolises soon, if they keep up their good work. Here's the list:
Pioneering Smart Cities
Barcelona
Barcelona has regularly ranked highly on our annual smart cities rankings Perhaps it is no surprise then that Barcelona is working on becoming the Mobile World Capital, is the host of the largest annual smart cities event (the Smart City Expo occurring this week) and was recently awarded the title of Europe’s Innovation Capital. Barcelona has a very robust smart cities program with 22 program areas covering everything from ubiquitous public Wi-Fi to becoming energy self-sufficient.
A few more recent innovative projects demonstrate Barcelona’s continued leadership in the smart cities arena. Barcelona just won a Mayors’ Challenge award from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
The city will receive 5 million euros for the development of an
innovative program designed to support the city’s growing elderly
population via a digital trust network
aimed to close gaps in the care adn quality of life for this vulnerable
population. Another fascinating initiative from Barcelona is their BCN
Open Challenge program which utilizes Citymart.com’s crowdsourcing
platform to select innovative solutions to 6 city challenges. Barcelona
was the first city to adopt this approach with Citysmart, but others
including Moscow have since followed.
Challenge: In light of the above, it is difficult to find
problems in Barcelona that are not already being addressed. Yet one area
that needs much more work in Barcelona is, ironically, how to mitigate
the results of so much success for their ongoing work. Barcelona has
become an innovation hub and is attracting many members of the creative
class for work or pleasure. Tourism is a large and growing component of
the city’s economy. Yet it is putting strain on heritage sites and
historic neighborhoods. It will be interesting to see how Barcelona
strategically addresses the goal of continued support of smart tourism
with the need to protect and preserve the local culture and quality of
life for local residents.
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is another city which scores well in most city rankings.
It is widely considered the greenest capital city in the world and aims
to be the first capital city to become carbon neutral by 2025.
Copenhagen is, of course, famous for its impressive cycling culture.
But the city has continued to innovate around topics such as rigorous
green building requirements, expansion of green spaces and public
transit, and a growing use of renewable energy to supply residents with sustainable heating and cooling from sources such as the neighboring waterway and the landfill.
But Copenhagen is more than just a green city. In fact it scored
highest amongst all cities in our "smart people" category which measures
things such as social inclusion, education and creativity. Copenhagen
residents have amongst the highest smart phone
ownership rates (75%) and are among the most engaged citizens,
participating in more than 1,000 civic engagement events throughout the
year.
Copenhagen has continued to invest in smart technologies in their transportation system.
For example, 81% of their traffic lights are centrally monitored and
managed, and 49% of those lights have sensors to give rights of ways to
buses. Also, Copenhagen partnered with MIT to co-create the Copenhagen Wheel, an electric-assist wheel with embedded sensors which is now being marketed as a private initiative.
Challenge: Copenhagen is clearly a pioneer in green city
initiatives. But to attract and retain the best and brightest young
minds, which is a clear goal of most smart cities initiatives, it needs
to grow its reputation as an innovation and creative hub.
Helsinki
Helsinki is a very innovative city which has embraced the smart
cities construct in many ways—of these 11 cities, it actually scored the
highest. It hasbeen one of the leading cities in the world with respect
to transparent and open data. The city has more than 1,200 open data
sets (the most of all cities in this study) and 108 applications have
been built and are in operation which leverage their open data program.
Helsinki has a strong commitment to digital technology. A full 100% of residential and commercial buildings have smart meters, and 70% of commercial buildings leverage automation systems to enhance efficiency. Helsinki has also implemented a smart grid throughout the city.
Helsinki is also experimenting with new technologies and has 3 living
labs which are part of the European Network of Living Labs. Helsinki is
also the first city I know of to experiment with an on-demand bus service.
Challenge: Helsinki scored well across the board on the
indicators. One area where they could improve is in embracing the
sharing economy. For example, Helsinki does not have a bike sharing
program and they have a small fleet of shared vehicles.
Singapore
Singapore is unique in that it is a city-state. As a nation, it has
recently unveiled a bold Smart Singapore strategy which aims to convert
the city-state to the first true smart nation
through a range of initiatives leverage intelligence, integration and
innovation to become a major player on the world stage. Part of this
strategy involves the rollout of smart boxes containing sensors and
connected via fiber optic cables which will sense the city and deliver real-time information to cities and citizens.
Clean and organized city, the city has excellent public transit and a
handful of powerful incentives to discourage personal vehicle use, like
an advanced electronic road pricing scheme and very high permit and
sales tax rates for new vehicles. The city also has a very active smart
governance program including a strong commitment to online service delivery (98% of all government services
are accessible online). Singapore is very committed to greening its
infrastructure reflected in the fact it has 2,155 certified green
buildings, by far the most of the responding cities
Challenge: Singapore is already a major player in the smart
cities arena. Yet one challenge I see for its progress is to not just
innovate from the top-down but rather to more actively engage citizens
in the transformation of the city and support citizen co-creation. They
need more programs to foster entrepreneurship which is still often a
less desirable career path in Singapore than working in the many
multinational companies which have established headquarters there.
Vancouver
Vancouver has a soft spot in my heart given that I lived there from
2006 to 2011. Like Copenhagen, its credentials as a green city are quite
evident. In fact, Vancouverites participated en masse in a program to
develop a long term strategy for the city which resulted in an ambitious
(and probably unreachable goal) of becoming the greenest city in the
world by 2020. It helps that 97% of all energy in Vancouver comes from renewable energy sources
(mostly hydro). Vancouver was also a pioneer in providing major
incentives for green buildings which helped to foster an entire
ecosystem of green building expertise from architects and engineers to
producers of building products.
Vancouver also scored very well in the smart people and smart living
categories. A full 48% of Vancouverites were actually born outside of
Canada. Diverse cultures tend to breed more innovation. Also
Vancouverites have the longest life expectancy (almost 84 years!)
compared with citizens from the other cities in the survey.
Challenge: While Vancouver’s quality of life and green
credentials are competitive globally, Vancouver has yet to really take a
lead on smart city initiatives, especially compared with the leading
European cities discussed above. In order to stay competitive on a North
American and global scale, Vancouver will need to continue to invest in
digital technologies and support the rollout of broadband throughout the city.
Vienna
Vienna is last alphabetically, but definitely not least amongst these
leading smart cities that participated in the survey. The city appears
fully committed to growing its presence in the smart cities arena. It
has a dedicated team of experts focused on growing their smart cities
portfolio, which already contains more than 100 active projects.
Vienna is innovating across the spectrum of smart cities initiatives.
For example, the city possesses the most EV charging stations of all
the cities sampled (440) and has very active bike and car sharing programs.
Unlike other cities on the list (e.g. Barcelona), their bike sharing
program is fully accessible to visitors, not just residents.
One of my personal favorite projects Vienna has developed is called
Citizen Solar which allows citizens to co-invest in new solar projects
in a collaboration with the local energy
company, Wien Energy. More importantly, however, Vienna has one of the
most ambitious smart cities strategy (Vienna Smart Cities Framework
Strategy), which is planned out to 2050. Furthermore, Vienna took the
extra step of incorporating the strategy into law to minimize the risk
of future mayors throwing the plan out to start over.
Challenges: The city needs to do more to proactively support
and promote entrepreneurship. Vienna has done much to support local
universities to conduct research and development but there is a need for
more entrepreneurial spirit. Also, the city needs to do more to promote
itself as a smart cities leader. It is known for a fantastic quality of
life and a commitment to social equity, but it is under-represented in
global conversations about leading players in the smart cities movement,
given its impressive credentials.
Emerging Smart Cities
Brisbane
Brisbane was the only city from Australia/New Zealand to report this
year. It is not surprising that it performed best in the smart living
category since that region of the world is known for its excellent
quality of life.
Brisbane has one of the lowest Gini Index scores of the cities
studied (.32). The Gini Index is a measure of income inequality in a
reason and the lower the score the better. While inequality, or lack of
it, may not seem to be directly related to smartness, I believe it is.
It is not of much use to have smart infrastructure
if only a minority of the population have access to it or can benefit
to improve their quality of life. Brisbane has embraced the sharing
economy with an active bikesharing and carsharing program. Similarly,
the City Council has initiated a smart program to facilitate more collaboration between the city and the private sector, particularly in the area of sustainable innovation.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles has long been perceived as an unsustainable, sprawled and
congested city (i.e. far from smart). Yet Los Angeles is on a mission
to transform itself. Surprisingly, LA had the second highest number of
electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the sample (300). LA also
counts some innovative partners such as LA 2050
which is helping to drive a smart agenda in the city through citizen
participation in the creation of a bold vision for the city’s future. Goals established include
targets for youth education and employment, innovation and jobs
creation, increased equality, access to green space, citizen engagement,
and healthy food systems.
Montreal
Montreal scored best in the smart living category. Of course,
Canadian cities in general score well in this area. Montreal has also
been a pioneer on the North American stage with respect to bike and
carsharing with more than 5,000 bikes and 1,300 vehicles in their
sharing programs respectively. Montreal also has a strong commitment to
public transit and has an advanced smart card
for use across the public transit system. Montreal also recently
implemented a real-time traffic monitoring center for integrated transit
planning and routing.
Next Stage Cities
Bogota
Despite being Colombia’s capital city, Bogota has obtained much less
attention from the media than Medellin. In fact, Medellin recently was
recently selected as the most innovative city in the world.
Yet, Bogota has made a lot of progress towards becoming smarter in
recent years. It has the largest fleet of EV taxis in Latin America. It
has one of the best examples of bus rapid transit systems (Transmilenio) in the world. Bogota also boasts one of the most expansive designated cycling networks in the world as well.
On the digital technology front,
Bogota has 50 operating Wi-Fi zones throughout public areas in the city
and throughout their Transmilenio network as well. Bogota has also been
progressive in trying to address the digital divide through the
creation of web and computer labs in poorer areas throughout the city.
Lima
Finally, Lima is also making an effort to join the smart cities arena
in Latin America and around the globe. Lima’s economy has been
improving, and diversifying in recent years. For example, 37% of their
streetlights are now connected to a real time traffic management system,
while nearly 80% of government services are available online. Finally,
Lima just announced a collaboration to study how to transform its
infrastructure and economic activity to low-carbon in areas ranging from
energy and transport to buildings and local ecological systems.
I hope this summary of 11 cities has been useful to those interested
in expanding our collective understanding of what cities are actually
doing around the globe. Smart cities movement is here to stay. Yet there
is also a movement afoot to expand into adjacent areas, like sharing cities.
Cities like Amsterdam and Seoul, are leading the way in providing
technology and incubation support for sharing economy innovators.
I recognize that this study is incomplete, with so many leading
cities such as Amsterdam, Boston and San Francisco not included. Yet
compiling the list was also an experiment in determining how transparent
and accessible this type of data is in leading cities around the globe.
The cities that reported, and those that didn’t, all articulated the
value of this type of benchmarking exercise while also the difficulties
in collecting the data. I hope that future iterations can leverage more digital tools
to capture key aspects of what makes a city smart, so that other cities
can keep learning, growing, and evolving what we think of as the
smartest cities on Earth.
