Report: Shanghai Earns Top Smart Cities Spot

Analyst firm Juniper Research has released its 2022 rankings for smart cities worldwide, with Shanghai snagging the top spot. The research evaluates several different components of smart cities, including infrastructure, transportation, energy and lighting, and urban connectivity.

Shanghai’s Citizen Cloud platform provides a single dashboard for over 1200 resident services, where citizens can access a variety of civic services, including transportation, legal, and senior care. The platform provides messaging capabilities so that citizens can contact city officials and a single number call center for all requests.

These capabilities place Shanghai at the top spot ahead in the rankings of 50 cities worldwide. The report looks at ways cities are adapting to the data-driven era by making services more readily available, reducing environmental impact, and restructuring to reduce bottlenecks in various services.

See also: Effective Smart Cities Need Resilient IT Infrastructures

The report expects spending on smart cities to increase

Juniper Research doesn’t believe smart city spending is a standalone phenomenon. The report also points to a sharp increase in spending, doubling between 2021 and 2026. Spending will likely focus on smart grid initiatives to reduce energy consumption.

As smaller cities make the leap to smart city solutions, much of that predicted spending will exist in rollouts. Larger cities will lead the way, but the greatest environmental impact will lie in deploying technology and restructuring to areas away from traditional urban centers.

Rounding out the top five on the list are Seoul, Barcelona, Beijing, and New York. The report identifies smart city initiatives in these cities that go beyond environmental impact and energy use to provide citizens with innovative solutions in services delivery, communication, and city planning.

Governments like those in the top five spots on the report want to use data to democratize services and engagement. These innovative solutions empower citizens in their daily lives, making operations more transparent and enabling citizens to help themselves.