The Cities of the Future Index: Where do US cities rank on the list?

• London, UK, ranks as the most intelligent and future-proof city with a population of over 3 million people, followed by New York, USA, and San Francisco, USA.
• Citizens in San Francisco, USA, have adopted new technologies most widely of the cities with populations over 3 million. New York, USA, and Seoul, South Korea, rank second and third.
• Seattle USA, ranks second behind Rio de Janeiro for the use of green energy of the cities with populations over 3 million

Stockholm, Sweden, October 2021 – easyparkgroup.com, the global parking tech company, has released a study about the most intelligent and future-proof cities in the world, that reveals which cities are best at adopting new technological solutions to improve their sustainability and livability. As mobility innovators, the company understands the impact that new technologies can have on societies and how they can help to create sustainable and forward-thinking urban areas that enhance the lives of their inhabitants. They therefore set out to determine which global smart cities are leading the way in embracing technological advancements and proving themselves to be cities of the future.

“We decided to study cities separately depending on their population size to allow for a more stimulating comparison,” comments Louise Ekman, Head of Group Communications & PR, EasyPark Group. “Metropolitan areas develop according to how many people they provide a livelihood for. Therefore, to really assess the infrastructure of each city, we realised it was important to group them depending on the population of the entire metropolitan area to which they belong.”

How the study was conducted:

The study began by assessing several thousand cities around the world and looked at those smart cities that are leading the way in implementing the use of new technologies. Understanding that cities face different challenges depending on their population, the study was split into three size categories: metropolitan areas with over 3 million inhabitants, between 600,000 and 3 million inhabitants, and between 50,000 and 600,000 inhabitants. The result of the study reveals the top 50 highest ranking smart and future-proof cities worldwide in each category.

The researchers turned their attention to establishing the factors that determine how technologically advanced and sustainable a city is, and scored the locations accordingly. To do this, they retrieved data from sources such as the World Bank, the Economist, the International Monetary Fund and the Lancet.

To evaluate how innovative each location is, researchers considered four key areas. Firstly, the Digital Life of each city was studied by assessing how widely technology has been adopted by the population, the government and within the healthcare sector. They also reviewed the success and reputation of technology educational institutions in each urban area.

Next, the researchers focused on Mobility Innovation. To do this, they looked at how innovative parking solutions are within each city, the overall traffic management system including public transport, and how clean transport in the city is.

Following this, the study considered each city’s Business Tech Infrastructure. To do this, the level of business innovation, prevalence of ePayments and quality of internet connectivity in each location was measured.

Finally the Environmental Sustainability of each city was evaluated by analysing green energy usage, the number of green buildings, the waste management system and the overall climate change response and planning.

Findings:

Below you will find a table showing the highest ranking cities in the category of cities with over 3 million inhabitants. A higher score indicates that a city’s infrastructure is more technologically advanced.

Below you will find a table showing the best ranking cities for the use of green energy. A higher score indicates a higher usage of energy from renewable sources.

“Many governments are stepping up their responses to climate change, and it is clear that many solutions begin in major cities before filtering out to the rest of the country,” comments Johan Birgersson, CEO of EasyPark Group. “While cities continue to expand and envelope more of their surrounding areas, mobility is taking on an increasingly important role in people’s day to day lives. Many of the highest scoring cities score well for high electric car usage and low CO2 emissions rates.”

The table below reveals the best ranking cities for citizens adopting new technologies. A higher score indicates a faster rate of adopting new technologies in each location.