By 2050, two thirds of the world's population will live in cities.
Smart cities bring lots of benefits, not just behind the scenes but also for the people living there.
According to McKinsey, smart city technologies can improve quality-of-life indicators by up to 30%, resulting in lives saved, reduced health burdens and lower carbon emissions.
They can help to enhance public safety through reducing fires and road traffic, and even predict infrastructure failures before they happen.
We’ve ranked 10 of the top smart cities around the world and the companies supporting their development.
10. London, UK
Top company: Siemens
CEO: Roland Busch
Revenue: US$33.6bn (2023)
London is the capital city of both England and the United Kingdom and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. It has a population of more than 9 million people.
Siemens Mobility and Transport for London (TfL) announced an adaptive traffic control solution in 2020 to manage roads across the city. The new FUSION system uses data sources from a variety of transport modes including buses and connected vehicles.
Wilke Reints, Managing Director of Siemens Mobility’s Intelligent Traffic Systems business in the UK, says: “London is a high-profile showcase for this intelligent traffic solution, with FUSION a great example of how our digital solutions are enabling authorities to make their networks and infrastructure intelligent. Ultimately this will deliver an enhanced experience for road users.”
9. Tokyo, Japan
Top company: Veolia
CEO: Estelle Brachlianoff
Revenue: US$49bn (2023)
Tokyo is a city rich with history and culture, full of skyscrapers, historic temples and the most Michelin stars in the world. Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the city began implementing futuristic technologies to make the lives of its population more simple.
Like much of the world, Japan is at risk from the effects of climate change. Rising sea levels, drought and reduced water quality pose a threat to the city of Tokyo.
Veolia has rolled out an automated water metre reading system in Tokyo, alongside Osaka and Kyoto. This is part of Japan’s drive to move to a smart services model. The city of Tokyo aims to create a digital democracy through its smart city initiatives.
8. Fort Worth, USA
Top company: Cisco
CEO: Chuck Robbins
Revenue: US$57bn (2023)
Established in 1849, Fort Worth, Texas has historically been a centre of cattle trade with a population of around 1 million people in 2023.
Cisco supports the city of Fort Worth with public Wi-Fi in under-connected neighbourhoods to support bridging the digital divide. More than 40,000 residents from 10,000 lower income households are able to use this infrastructure.
Kevin Gunn, Chief Technology Officer at the City of Fort Worth, Texas, says: “The value of technology like Cisco Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul is that it can provide connectivity to communities relatively quickly and ensure neighbourhoods are not left behind as we work toward delivering city fibre buildout.”
7. Miami, USA
Top company: IBM
CEO: Arvind Krishna
Revenue: US$61.8bn (2023)
In coastal Florida, Miami has one of the largest skylines in the US and is the country’s only major city founded by a woman.
Miami uses IBM Intelligent Water technology. This tech saved the county of Miami-Dade US$1m within one year through tracking water leaks in parks.
Carmen Suarez, Division Director of Enterprise Architecture Services at Miami-Dade County, says: “We were able to divert that money to other services that we previously struggled to fund.
“That success gave us the confidence to begin working on similar solutions for our other business lines.”
6. Nairobi, Kenya
Top company: Huawei
CEO: Ren Zhengfei
Revenue: US$99bn (2023)
Nairobi was founded in 1899 by colonial authorities and became the capital of Kenya in 1907. It is home to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is an established hub for business and culture with a population of more than 4 million.
Huawei’s communications network in Nairobi links 1,800 surveillance cameras with police bureaus and officers to protect the city. These measures aim to improve tourism and promote economic growth through bolstering security.
The solution links more than 1,500 high definition cameras in the city with more than 200 cameras at checkpoints and wireless devices used by officers.
5. Melbourne, Australia
Top company: Oracle
CEO: Safra Catz
Revenue: US$50bn (2023)
Nearly 20% of the population of Australia live in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria.
The Suburban Rail Loop Authority is responsible for planning and delivering the Suburban Rail Loop, an infrastructure project divided into four distinct sections.
It aims to create a fully automated orbital metro line through Melbourne’s suburbs.
Oracle is supporting this through its construction programme management that supports streamlining project administration
Ian Van Dyk, Chief Digital and Data Officer at the Suburban Rail Loop Authority, says Oracle solutions provide "flexible capabilities for megaproject and diverse infrastructure delivery entities".
He adds: “The benefit is eliminating silos and the inconsistencies we had with manual entry. We’ve increased accuracy and productivity.”
4. Stuttgart, Germany
Top company: Bosch
CEO: Stefan Hartung
Revenue: US$91.6bn (2023)
Stuttgart is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Germany, nestled between hills and vineyards. The area is known for its high-tech industries, home to companies including Mercedes-Benz Group, Bosch and Porsche.
A parking garage in Stuttgart is home to Bosch’s pioneering driverless parking, a concept that has now been expanded to garages worldwide.
The company says this could mean car parks fit up to 20% more cars as spaces don’t need to allow for people opening doors to get in and out.
This concept saves people time as they don’t have to look for a parking space and can help to avoid accidents with people roaming around car parks.
3. Shanghai, China
Top company: Schneider Electric
CEO: Peter Herweck
Revenue: US$38.8bn (2023)
Shanghai is the most populous urban area in China with 25 million people, and is one of the world’s major centres for finance, business and economics.
The city’s urban transport heavily relies on the rail system for intercity integration, serving nearly 10 million passengers daily.
Its metro system is the second longest in the world, totalling 513 miles. Each year, 3.88 billion rides are delivered.
It's not just about the trains - Shanghai Metro must regulate the humidity, temperature, lighting and ventilation of its stations to maintain a comfortable and safe environment.
Schneider Electric partnered with Shanghai Metro to support its busy and complex rail system.
The solution offers a safe and comfortable experience for passengers using IoT-enabled EcoStruxure power.
Schneider’s efforts improve the efficiency, sustainability and asset performance of Shanghai Metro and offer stability through its power system.
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
Top company: SWARCO
CEO: Michael Schuch
Revenue: US$1.2bn (2022)
Copenhagen was originally a Viking fishing village, established in the 10th century. It is now the capital and most populous city in Denmark and is recognised worldwide as a stand-out example of urban planning.
Nearly every street in Copenhagen is lined with bike lanes.
SWARCO’s Cyclemeter tells cyclists their speed along with information about the temperature, time and how many other bikes have passed.
This can motivate more people to cycle alongside giving traffic officers a detailed picture of bicycle traffic.
Another innovation is the Greenwave. This is a “wave” of green lights embedded in asphalt that tell cyclists if they can cross the next traffic light ahead of time.
The idea is for cyclists to remain inside the “wave”, cutting down time spent waiting at the lights to improve safety and make cycling more attractive.
1. Zurich, Switzerland
Top company: ewz
CEO: Benedikt Loepfe
Revenue: US$1.8bn (2023)
Zurich has a unique smart city framework that has brought it to the top of smart city rankings.
Zurich Smart City, in charge of the implementation, focuses on four main projects:
- Innovation loan: Supports testing and scaling up of projects
- City box: Provides coaching and tools with an innovation budget for city employees
- Innovation fellowships: Employing people to work on innovation projects
- Smart city lab: A workspace for employees to meet and tackle issues collaboratively.
ewz has supported the implementation of a Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) in Zurich for IoT and connectivity innovations including implementing renewable energies and electric vehicles.
This is being used as part of a smart parking pilot project to guide motorists to the nearest free parking spaces in the city.
The system used consumes a low amount of energy to forward communications between different sensors and is available to all departments of the city government to measure data.
The city also has a digital twin through a 3D city model which is available to view online. This was created to support communication and collaboration between internal and external city stakeholders.
It shows each building in 3D and even where trees are located and shadows will be cast.
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