CITIES SPECIAL The Smartest Cities In The World
These
cities that are doing the best 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 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.
PIONEERING SMART CITIES
1.
Barcelona
Barcelona
has regularly ranked highy on our annual smart cities ranking
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)
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.
2.
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
technologiesin
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 MITto 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.
CONTINUES
CONTINUES
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
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