Think your scorecard at trivia is rapidly declining? You might not be wrong – with the 2024 Smart Cities Index revealing that Sydney’s smart status is on a downhill trajectory. The annual study has released its list of the smartest cities for 2024, and this year, the Harbour City didn’t even make the top twenty – dropping from 18th smartest city in the world in 2023 to the 22nd smartest in 2024.
Our nation’s capital, Canberra, just clinched the third spot in the global ranking, holding its ground against 141 other contenders. Bravo, to the 'Berra! But what does it mean for Sydneysiders?
Being a ‘smart’ city isn’t just about having brainy residents – it’s about the whole package: a city’s economic and technological state, combined with “humane dimensions”, like its quality of life, environmental savviness and inclusiveness. And though Sydney recently ranked sixteenth on the Global Cities Index by the (very smart) people at Oxford Economics, it looks like savviness isn’t our strong suit.
Just like last year, Zurich snagged first place in the 2024 Smart City Index, followed by Oslo and then our very own Canberra. To determine these rankings, the brainiacs at IMD analysed existing data and combined it with more than 20,000 survey responses from people in 141 cities worldwide. They quizzed residents on 15 key topics related to their life in their hometowns, including what issues they reckon are the most pressing (eg: affordable housing, security, public transport, fulfilling employment), along with how effective they think tech solutions and infrastructure are at tackling local problems and boosting quality of life.
It checks out that Canberra ranked as Australia’s smartest city, given that it's our nation’s political heart, with the highest number of government institutions and one of the most educated populations. According to the report, Canberra excelled in its health and safety initiatives, scoring above average in the availability of medical services, cultural activities (bars, shows and museums), green spaces and quality education. However, it lost a few points in governance technology, including lacking an online platform where residents can propose ideas on how to improve the city. On top of this, almost 85 per cent of Canberrans identified ‘affordable housing’ as their biggest area of concern, followed by health services (70.1 per cent) and public transport (49.1 per cent).
And while our friends in the capital might have retained their position, the other Aussie cities on the list also seem to be declining on the brainiacs front – with Brisbane dropping four spots to 30th and Melbourne dropping two spots to 33rd. People living in all three cities shared the same top three concerns for affordable housing, road congestion and health services. It seems these cities are smart enough to know what needs fixing.
You can see the full list of the world’s smartest cities here.