Portraits of the World's Smart Cities

Certain smart cities around the world are leading by example. By examining the solutions that are delivering the highest impact, these best practices can be more widely adopted to replicate their success.

Palo Alto’s Smart City Strategy

A comparatively small American city in the very center of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto has thrown itself into the smart city scene, founding a number of tech-driven projects to solve the problems of its 67,000 citizens.^[1] The first challenge to overcome, however, is its size: Palo Alto will need to pioneer smart resource management in order to fund the deployment of its smart city initiatives and the larger-scale implementation of any successful solutions.

Certain smart cities around the world are leading by example. By examining the strategies that are delivering the highest impact, these best practices can be more widely adopted to replicate their success.

This city portrait is in two parts. This first part describes the ambitious plans of the Alba Iulia City Hall as it uses tourism and strong partnerships to transform Alba Iulia into Romania’s first smart city. The second part takes a closer look at some of the more than 100 smart city solutions being implemented there.

Welcome to Alba Iulia, the First Smart City in Romania

In Alba County, Transylvania, nestles a small city with a big plan. Alba Iulia, the principality’s earlier capital and a symbol of the Great Union of Romania a hundred years ago, has set its sights on becoming Romania’s first smart city. Its pilot project, officially launched in December 2016, is set for being showcased in 2018 – with the occasion of the Romanian Centennial year – and continuing in 2019 also.^[1]

Bhubaneswar is the capital of the state of Odisha in India. Known as “the Temple City”, it is an emerging hub for education, health and information technology, as well as a popular tourist destination. The city has a population of around 840,000^[1] and has won a number of awards and titles – for example, it is:

• The only Tier-2 city in India where all of India’s top five companies have bases. These are Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra and Mindtree.
• Ranked as the third best place to do business in India by the World Bank.
• One of the planned four Information Technology Investment Regions in India.
• American Planning Association’s Pierre L'Enfant International Planning Excellence Award Winner 2017^[2].

Bhubaneswar was selected as one of the first 20 Indian cities to be developed under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship Smart Cities Mission.

Certain smart cities around the world are leading by example. By examining the solutions that are delivering the highest impact, these best practices can be more widely adopted to replicate their success.

This city portrait is in two parts. The first part described the reorganization of the Seoul Municipal Government in order to empower citizens and create a stronger climate of citizen participation at all possible administrative levels. This second part takes a closer look at some of the specific smart solutions being implemented by the city.

Certain smart cities around the world are leading by example. By examining the solutions that are delivering the highest impact, these best practices can be more widely adopted to replicate their success.

This city portrait is in two parts. This first part describes the reorganization of the Seoul Municipal Government in order to empower citizens and create a stronger climate of citizen participation at all possible administrative levels. The second part takes a closer look at some of the specific smart solutions being implemented by the city.

Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic, has been known during its renowned history as a magnet of commercial, cultural, scientific and political activity. This thriving city, also known as the City of a Hundred Spires, is home to more than 1.2 million people and generates an estimated 25 percent of the Czech Republic's GDP. With its enchanting architecture, visual charms and historic landmarks, Prague is listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site.[1]

If we could travel back in time to visit Prague in the 14th century, we would see builders constructing the Charles Bridge across the Vltava River to connect the city's Staré Město (Old Town) with Malá Strana (Lesser Town). Fast forward to the 21st century and we observe Prague striving to build a new type of bridge. As this article reveals, it is a bridge of urban transformation connecting today's city to a smart city future.

ICF Top 7 Intelligent Communities – Taoyuan City

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) releases an annual selection of seven different communities which it considers to have achieved a certain level of intelligence in the way they respond to the challenges of globalization and urbanization or, as the ICF prefers to call it, the Broadband Economy.[1] The selection of communities for 2018 was released in February, and can be found listed on the bee smart city website.[2] The Intelligent Community of the Year was chosen from among the Top 7 and announced at the ICF Global Summit in June.

Taoyuan City, Taiwan - Creating The Asian 'Silicon Valley'

Taoyuan City is positioning itself to be a hub for business and innovation in Taiwan. Located in the north of the island, not far from the nation’s capital of Taipei, Taoyuan City can count a third of Taiwan’s top manufacturers amongst its 47,000 companies, including the largest number of logistics companies on the island. Knowing that strong logistics systems and their supporting infrastructure are a necessary component to attract new businesses and encourage economic growth, the city took things a step further and established the Taoyuan Aerotropolis, and designated its international airport a free trade zone. It has also developed its transportation systems to swiftly and reliably connect its two million citizens both with one another and with their neighbors: as many as 261 bus routes criss-cross the city, and high-speed rail networks link it with Taipei and New Taipei City to the northeast and Hsinchu and Miaoli to the southwest.[3]

ICF Top 7 Intelligent Communities – Winnipeg

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) releases an annual selection of seven different communities which it considers to have achieved a certain level of intelligence in the way they respond to the challenges of globalization and urbanization or, as the ICF prefers to call it, the Broadband Economy.[1] The selection of communities for 2018 was released in February, and can be found listed on the bee smart city website.[2] The Intelligent Community of the Year was chosen from among the Top 7 and announced at the ICF Global Summit in June.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - Driving the Smart Economy

The Forks, the number one tourist destination and historic site in Winnipeg, capital of Manitoba, overlooks the crossing of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, where humans are said to have gathered for at least 6000 years. When Winnipeg had its first council meeting as an incorporated city in 1874, it had a settled population of just 3700. It is now larger by around 300,000 people than Hamilton, its fellow Canadian city on the ICF's Top 7 shortlist for the 2018 Intelligent Community of the Year.[3]

Over the next 20 years, Winnipeg anticipates a growth of around 200,000 people to reach a six-figure population. In order to accommodate that change in an inclusive and citizen-centric way, the city introduced OurWinnipeg, a 25-year holistic development plan based on survey feedback from its residents that covered city services, health and quality of life, transportation and mobility, and all aspects of sustainable growth management.

ICF Top 7 Intelligent Communities – Tainan City (Taiwan)

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) releases an annual selection of seven different communities which it considers to have achieved a certain level of intelligence in the way they respond to the challenges of globalization and urbanization or, as the ICF prefers to call it, the Broadband Economy.[1] The selection of communities for 2018 was released in February, and can be found listed on the bee smart city website.[2] The Intelligent Community of the Year was chosen from among the Top 7 and announced at the ICF Global Summit in June.

Intelligent Community Tainan City, Taiwan

Taiwan’s oldest city dates back to 1590,[3] when the area of what is now known as Tainan City was first settled by the Chinese. After being retaken from Dutch settlers in 1662, it became the seat of government and remained Taiwan’s capital until 1885. Today, it is still a major political, economic and cultural center for the country.[4] But while Tainan City celebrates its rich past, it is also looking forward, investing in the future of its roughly 1.9 million citizens by placing a strong emphasis on their quality of life and their ability to participate directly in their city’s development. Like Chiayi City to its north,[5] Tainan City, Taiwan, has been recognized as one of the most intelligent communities of 2018. Building its sustainable industries, offering free digital education, and demonstrating a strongly citizen-centric focus are what is putting it on the smart city map.

ICF Top 7 Intelligent Communities – Ipswich (Queensland, Australia)

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) releases an annual selection of seven different communities which it considers to have achieved a certain level of intelligence in the way they respond to the challenges of globalization and urbanization or, as the ICF prefers to call it, the Broadband Economy.[1] The selection of communities for 2018 was released in February, and can be found listed on the bee smart city website.[2] The Intelligent Community of the Year was chosen from among the Top 7 and announced at the ICF Global Summit in June.

Ipswich, Australia - Following a Holistic Smart City Program

The city of Ipswich is young – that is to say, it has the youngest population on average in all of Queensland, Australia – and it is also growing faster than any other city in the state. Currently boasting around 200,000 inhabitants, its government projects that almost another three hundred thousand people will call the city home within the next twenty years, more than doubling its population and ensuring a need for an estimated 120,000 new employment opportunities. In preparation for this expansion, the Ipswich City Council created a twenty-year plan for the development of the city. Now in 2018, seven years later, the council has decided to extend its original plans by setting up a Smart City Program to direct the city’s growth. This kind of carefully guided development is possibly the reason it has been on the radar of the ICF since 2010, and is now in the running for Intelligent Community of the Year 2018.