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.
WRITTEN BY Boyd Cohen
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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.
Click to enlarge.
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
Flickr user Robert Cudmore
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.
Flickr user Simon Q.
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.
Flickr user seisdeagosto
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.
Flickr user Presence Inc
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.
Flickr user r.a. paterson
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 unreach
ในเมืองฉลาดในโลกเมืองเหล่านี้ที่ทำดีที่สุดในบรรดาอนาคตจะมุ่งเน้นในการปรับปรุงเทคโนโลยี ความเสมอภาค ร่วม มีส่วนร่วมของพลเมือง และอื่น ๆเขียน โดย Boyd โคเฮนหมายเหตุ 0 / 57 PIN / 272 บวก / TWEET 2.7K / 5.4K เช่น / หุ้น 1.6KINSHAREปีผ่านมาหลาย ความคิดของการเป็น "สมาร์ท" ได้ผงาดขึ้นเป็นกลไกสำคัญในเมืองเพื่อหาโซลูชั่นนวัตกรรมกับความท้าทายที่พวกเขาเผชิญ ขึ้นโครงสร้าง บ้าน ขนส่ง งาน พลังงาน อาหาร และน้ำมีทั้งหมด straining รัฐบาลเมืองและโครงสร้างพื้นฐาน เป็นชาวโลกยกโขยงศูนย์เมืองไปชีวิตดีขึ้นและโอกาสมากขึ้น หลายปี ผลักดันการสร้างเมืองอย่างชาญฉลาดที่นำ โดยบริษัทเทคโนโลยีหาใช้ (และผู้ซื้อ) สำหรับผลิตภัณฑ์ของตน แต่ในปีที่ผ่านมา เมืองได้เริ่มคิดในแบบองค์รวมมากขึ้นเกี่ยวกับสิ่งซิตี้สมาร์ทอาจหมายถึง และมีวิธีใหม่ innovated ให้การเมืองทำหน้าที่ของประชาชนคลิกเพื่อดูภาพขยายหลายปีผ่านมา ฉันได้เผยแพร่การจัดอันดับประจำปีของเมืองสมาร์ท และแต่ละปีผ่าน ฉันได้พยายามที่จะปรับปรุงคุณภาพของวิธีการจัดอันดับ ปีนี้ ปีนี้ ฉันเริ่มต้นการทดลองค่อนข้างทะเยอทะยานใช้แผงปรึกษานานาชาติ ฉันขยายการสำรวจ 62 ตัวบ่งชี้ส่วนประกอบหลักและส่วนประกอบย่อยของล้อเมืองสมาร์ทที่ฉันพัฒนากี่ปีที่ผ่านมาเมืองสมาร์ทเป็นปรากฏการณ์ที่ซับซ้อน และใด ๆ พยายามที่วัดนั้นต้องประกอบด้วยความกว้างและความลึกของตัวบ่งชี้ตัว และปีนี้มีที่ ผมได้เพิ่มข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมหลายเทคโนโลยีที่เกี่ยวข้องกับตัวบ่งชี้ อินเทอร์เน็ตบรอดแบนด์และจำนวนแอพพลิเคชันโมบายที่ใช้เปิดข้อมูลโครงการ แต่ยังได้เพิ่มตัวบ่งชี้ที่จำการตรวจจำนวนเมืองคือบรรดาเคลื่อนที่ใช้ร่วมกัน เช่นการวัดจำนวนของจักรยานและรถยนต์ในปัจจุบันโปรแกรมที่ใช้ร่วมกันของพวกเขา นอกจากนี้ยังได้เพิ่มพลเมืองมีส่วนร่วมการวัด เช่นของหมั้นประชาชนกิจกรรมที่จัดขึ้นทุกปีและเปอร์เซ็นต์ของประชาชนที่ลงคะแนนเสียงในการเลือกตั้งท้องถิ่นผมส่งแบบสำรวจของตัวบ่งชี้เหล่านี้ 62 ไป 120 เมืองทั่วโลก (30 เมืองใน 4 ภาค) แต่เพียง 11 เมืองทั่วโลกก็สามารถเข้าร่วมเนื่องจากความซับซ้อนและเวลาที่ต้องเก็บรวบรวมข้อมูลหลากหลายเช่น กำหนดขนาดตัวอย่างขนาดเล็ก และบางอย่างไม่สอดคล้องกันในข้อมูล ปีนี้ฉันกำลังไม่รายงานการจัดอันดับอย่างเป็นทางการ (คุณสามารถอ่านเพิ่มเติมเกี่ยวกับวิธีการที่เลือกที่นี่)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 CITIESFlickr user Robert CudmoreBarcelonaBarcelona 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.
Flickr user Simon Q.
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.
Flickr user seisdeagosto
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.
Flickr user Presence Inc
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.
Flickr user r.a. paterson
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 unreach
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