Swiss business school Institute for Management Development (IMD) has published its latest Smart City Index, and it's official – Singapore is the fifth smartest city in the world and the smartest city in Asia.
If you're tempted to crow about how we're a nation of geniuses – hold your horses because the index doesn't assess the intelligence of populations. Instead, it surveyed 120 residents in 142 cities, assessing their perceptions of existing infrastructure and the technological services available to them in key areas like health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance.
This year, Singapore climbed two spots compared to the 2023 Smart City Index. Ours is also the only Asian city in the top 10, followed by Beijing at a respectable #13. Zurich takes the top spot again, followed by usual suspects Oslo and Canberra, with Geneva jumping five spots to become #4 in 2024.
So where did Singapore excel? Most would agree that Singapore has better than average infrastructure and technology services across health and safety, public transport, and governance – and the survey results certainly reflect that. "Basic sanitation meets the needs of the poorest areas" scored 84.8 for example, well above the mean of 60.5. "CCTV cameras have made residents feel safer" also received an 80.8 on the satisfaction scale, far exceeding the 52.1 mean – perhaps an indication of respondents' willingness to exchange privacy for safety too.
It looks like Singapore can afford to step up infrastructure and technological services in recycling and cultural activities though – satisfaction scores on these indicators still exceed the group mean, but not by much. Yet, these are still not the most pressing issues. When asked to select from a list of 15 indicators, survey respondents listed affordable housing (77%), fulfilling employment (50%) and unemployment (48%) as the top three most urgent areas for Singapore.
Here are the top 10 smartest cities in the world in 2024:
- Zurich
- Oslo
- Canberra
- Geneva
- Singapore
- Copenhagen
- Lausanne
- London
- Helsinki
- Abu Dhabi
READ MORE
Singapore's Koon Seng Road has been named one of the most beautiful streets in the world
One steakhouse from Singapore makes it to the list of the world's best steak restaurants for 2024
Singapore rises to become the fourth wealthiest city in the world