The Smartest Cities
In The World
- NEXT STAGE CITIES
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 n 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.
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.
NEXT STAGE CITIES
1.
Bogota
Despite
being Colombia’s capital city, Bogota has obtained much less
attention from the media than Medellin. In fact, Medellin recently
was recentlyselected
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.
2.
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.
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,
BY
BOYD COHEN
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3038765/fast-cities/the-smartest-cities-in-the-world?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fast-company-daily-manual-newsletter&position=reyhan&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=11202014
