Here's something to crow about – Singapore is officially the smartest city in Asia and the seventh smartest in the world. That's according to the 2023 Smart City Index, published by Swiss business school Institute for Management Development (IMD).
Now, we're not exactly the smartest in brains, but definitely in our use of smart technologies to solve our most pressing problems. The index surveyed some 20,000 citizens on 15 aspects of their cities, including public safety, traffic congestion, access to employment and education, and green spaces. Of these, they were asked what they thought were the most urgent problems facing their cities, whether tech-based solutions were effective in resolving these issues, and whether they were comfortable with the use of technologies such as face recognition.
Zurich tops the global ranking, followed by Oslo and Canberra rounding out the top three. Singapore comes in seventh place globally and is the only Asian city in the top 10, with the next closest Asian city being Beijing in the 12th spot. Our city was also identified as a "super-champion" in the index alongside Zurich, Oslo, Beijing, Seoul, and Hong Kong for continuous improvement in "smartness" since 2019.
Singapore: safe, clean, green – but lacking culturally?
Unsurprisingly, Singapore excelled in areas like health, safety, mobility, education, and governance. Respondents ranked our city well above the mean on indicators such as public safety, the provision of medical services, lifelong learning opportunities, and lack of corruption in the government. Many attested to the effectiveness of technology to improve these aspects of city living too, giving high scores to the use of CCTVs to create a safe environment, online platforms to aid medical appointment bookings, online access to job listings and the teaching of IT skills in school, online public access to city finances, among others.
For a highly urbanised city like Singapore, it was also uplifting to see that many respondents are satisfied with the green spaces available – that's certainly a call to get out there and explore our most beautiful public parks.
Even the smartest city in Asia has areas for improvement. According to the index, Singapore could do better in providing adequate recycling services, though we still score above the global mean. Respondents also feel that Singapore lacks cultural activities, with shows, bars, and museums cited as some examples. We're not saying those opinions are not valid, but if you ever need inspiration, take a look at our lists of the 101 best things to do in Singapore, the 50 best bars in Singapore, our most stunning museums, and the coolest contemporary art galleries and spaces in town.
Take a deep dive into Singapore's performance in the 2023 Smart City Index here.
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