The company specializing in parking solutions, Easypark group, has published a study on the world’s smartest and most future-ready cities. In it, it is revealed which are the cities that best adopt new technologies to improve its sustainability and habitability. The impact that new technologies can have on societies can be very great, so creating sustainable and forward-thinking urban areas that improve the lives of their inhabitants is paramount. Therefore, it was proposed to determine which smart cities in the world are at the forefront in the adoption of technological advances and prove to be the cities of the future.
The study only considered those smart cities that are leaders in the implementation of new technologies. Since cities face to different challenges depending on your population, was divided into three size categories: metropolitan areas with more than three million inhabitants, between 600,000 and three million inhabitants, and between 50,000 and 600,000 inhabitants. The result of the study reveals which are the 50 smartest and most future-ready cities worldwide in each category.
The researchers focused on establishing the factors that determine the degree of technological advancement and sustainability of a city and scored the locations accordingly. To do so, they collected data from sources such as the World Bank, The Economist, the International Monetary Fund, and The Lancet. To assess the degree of innovation in each city, the researchers considered four key areas. First, the digital life of each city was studied by evaluating the level of adoption of the technology by the population, the government and the health sector. The success and reputation of technological educational institutions in each urban area were also analyzed.
The researchers then focused on innovation in mobility. To do this, they examined the degree of innovation of the parking solutions in each city, the general traffic management system, including public transport, and how clean the transport is in the place.
The study then considered business technology infrastructure. To do this, the level of business innovation, the prevalence of electronic payments and the quality of internet connectivity in each location were measured.
Finally, the environmental sustainability of each city was evaluated by analyzing the use of green energy, the number of green buildings, the waste management system and the response and general planning to climate change.
The cities of the future
According to the study, the top three cities in the category of cities with more than three million inhabitants are London, New York and San Francisco. No Spanish city is within the top 10, being Madrid the most populated in our country and the only one that could be in this ranking, it ranks 26 out of 50.
With respect to the best-ranked cities in terms of to the use of green energy (that is, greater use of energy from renewable sources) are Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Seattle (USA) and Toronto (Canada). Madrid remains at the gates of the top ten, occupying the 11th place.
On the other hand, the best ranked cities in terms of the adoption of new technologies by citizens are the American cities San Francisco and New York, followed by Seoul (South Korea). Madrid occupies number 25, half of the table in terms of the digitization of Madrid residents.
Finally, the study has also taken into account innovation in parking and its level of development. The top 3 is occupied by European cities: London, Manchester and Berlin. This time, Barcelona with the number 8 (although this city has less than three million inhabitants) and Madrid, with the 9, they do come out among the top 10.
“It is interesting to see how development patterns are formed within the continents”, watch Johan Birgersson, CEO of EasyPark Group. «While metropolitan areas in Europe score well in different size categories, the study shows that all Scandinavian cities rank particularly high. These countries are clearly at the forefront when it comes to adopting new technologies. If we consider urban areas with between 600,000 and 3 million inhabitants, 50% of the 10 best-ranked cities are in Scandinavia. The same occurs with cities with between 50,000 and 600,000 inhabitants, where 90% of the top 10 are also from these countries. So it is clear that Scandinavian nations are doing everything they can to provide sustainable and livable environments for their citizens. ‘
“It is very good news that Barcelona and Madrid are in the TOP 10 of European cities with more than three million inhabitants that make up this ranking ”, it states Jaime Requeijo, CEO of EasyPark Spain. “These good positions are the visible result of the efforts being made by the central, regional and local governments and the companies that work every day so that these cities are at the same level as other capitals in their surroundings such as Paris, London or Berlin. ”.
“All the Spanish cities that have been studied (Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, Valencia, Malaga and Alicante) stand out in terms of mobility and, especially, in parking management”.
