Based on a new metric he's developed for defining the components of a smart city, Boyd Cohen ranks the top cities in Europe that are "working the hardest to be the most advanced urban landscape."
In September, Cohen discussed the impetus for his creation of the Smart Cities Wheel, which aims to bring clarity and measurability to the growing discussion of "smart cities" by identifying six key components for evaluation: a smart
economy, smart environmental practices, smart governance, smart living,
smart mobility, and smart people.
Cohen is back with a ranking of the top 10 European cities according to this metric, with Copenhagen coming out on top. "I feel bad for the rest of the competitive sustainable and smart cities
around the globe because Copenhagen regularly wins top prize in rankings
like this," says Cohen. "The city generally scored well across all components
of the Smart Cities Wheel, but also took home first place in the Smart
People category due to its strong human capital ranking in the
Citigroup/Economist Intelligence Unit Global City Hotspots report." Stockholm, Amsterdam, Vienna, and Paris complete the top 5.
"Cities need not all adopt similar
strategies to achieve desired outcomes, but all cities should strive to
have smarter economies, smarter environmental practices, and smarter
mobility," concludes Cohen. "Hopefully this ranking helps to create a dialog and moves
cities beyond 'smartwash.'"
North American rankings are due next month.
Read the full story: The Top 10 Smartest European Cities
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