Cities around the world are constantly shifting to modern technologies, especially in information and communications, in order to provide a higher quality of life. Every opportunity for innovation is embraced by these cities – rightfully called to be the 10 smartest cities – towards efficient use of resources, savings in cost and energy, and reduced environmental footprint. The efforts are reflected to the cultural assets, human infrastructure, and networked markets of the city.
Among the many cities true to their initiatives of urban progress by innovations, here are 10 cities that are worthy models of a smart city:
Vienna
Photo via Urban Transform
With programs like the Smart Energy Vision 2050, Roadmap 2020, and Action Plan 2012,-2015, Vienna is one of the smartest cities in the world with laser focus in improving the lives of the people. The city does well in almost every aspect of urbanization including innovation, green technologies, quality of life, and digital governance. Their strategies are leaned on Vienna’s planners who make decisions cohesive to the cities’ targets.
Toronto
Photo via Navigatored
If there’s a city in North America that is worthy to be included in the smart cities list, that’s Toronto. The city has a target towards a low-carbon economy (being an active member of the Clinton 40 megacities), and its private sector also contributing with the Smart Commute Toronto initiative which aims to increase transit efficiency in the metro area. It also began using natural gas from landfills to power the city’s garbage trucks.
Paris
Photo by Vincent Callebaut Architecture
Paris comes close with Vienna in this list from Europe, with competencies in innovation, green technology and digital governance as well. They have a successful bike sharing program called Velib and a bunch of small electric vehicles called Autolib.
New York
Photo via Navigatored
Despite the low quality of life, New York fares in other categories of being a smart city. Notable is IBM’s launch in the city with their Business Analytics Solution Center to address “the growing demand for the complex capabilities needed to build smarter cities and help clients optimize all manner of business processes and business decisions.”
London
Photo via Urban Data Hack
The capital city of the United Kingdom is well-known of its sustainability innovations. To add to that is their efficient mass transit system. It holds a promise towards transport, government, business, academic and consumer data efficiency through a smart city research center in the Imperial College.
Tokyo
Photo via Jama English
Being the house of tech giants like Panasonic and Accenture, among others, this Asian city is among the better cities when it comes to innovation and digitalization. Tokyo leans towards smart mobility solutions and also forwards the use of green technologies in the suburbs.
Berlin
Photo via Berliner Kurier
The inclusion of Berlin in this list is because of its green technologies, innovation, and quality of life. The city has been talking with car manufacturers in electric vehicle (EV) technology, which already includes vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, a system that collects power from electric vehicles.
Copenhagen
Stock photo
The leaders of Copenhagen must be happy to see that their sustainable innovations are paying off: the city was ranked by Siemens as number one on the green scale. Well, this is due to their cumulative efforts in pursuing a carbon neutral city by 2025. The locals also already promote and use bicycle as an alternative to cars.
Hong Kong
Photo via SCMP
The smart cards are Hong Kong’s key in this list. The city has been successful in forwarding the use of RFID technology in almost everywhere: airport, public transit, library, residential, car parks, and shopping centers. Their digital governance is working to their advantage.
Barcelona
Photo via Fast Company
The edge of this smart city in Spain primarily lies in its low-carbon solutions. Barcelona is among the pioneers in solar thermal ordinance more than a decade ago, and is now promoting the adoption of EVs and charging infrastructure. The city also has a living lab for smart-city innovation to tap other sectors.
Source: Fast Coexist
