Vienna ranks top among Smart Cities
First global technology and sustainability ranking places Vienna in first position internationally
The first global comparison of cities in terms of innovation, technology and sustainability ranks Vienna as number 1 of so-called Smart Cities, ahead of Toronto, Paris and New York. The ranking, which was conducted by the US climate strategist Boyd Cohen and has been recently published by the online magazine Co.Exist, was based on acknowledged criteria and analysed all studies existing in this field. It reaffirms once more the City of Vienna's leading role in urban development, which was already recognised by the Mercer Study, where Vienna was ranked in the top position for several times, being awarded the title of "most liveable city in the world", and by the World Smart Cities Award 2011, where Vienna reached a top position.
The term "Smart Cities" refers to cities which use their resources intelligently and efficiently and employ innovative technologies to save costs and energy, expand their range of services and increase their quality of life. On their way towards a low-emission economy, they reduce their ecological footprint and hence the burden they place on our environment. According to the author of the study, Boyd Cohen, experts and industry insiders stress that the transformation into a Smart City is a strongly growing market and they anticipate major investments in the development of smart urban technologies.
The fact that Vienna conquered the top position in the ranking came as a surprise even to the author of the study, who admitted that he had not previously associated Vienna with the concept of Smart Cities. When asked for the reasons influencing Vienna's top position, he stated the fact that Vienna was the only city ranking among the top 10 in all studies and surveys evaluated by him, ranging from Innovative City (number 5) and Regional Green City (number 4) to quality of life (number 1) and digital governance (number 8). Furthermore, Vienna was developing specific objectives to reach its goal of becoming a Smart City and was co-ordinating the implementation of these objectives: under the Smart City Vienna project, Vienna's City Administration co-operates with the business and science communities to prepare Vienna for the challenges of the future - and thus also to play a leading role in the development of pan-European strategies. The agenda of the Smart City Vienna project also includes the drafting of an Action Plan 2012-2015, a Smart Energy Vision 2050 and a Roadmap 2020.
Although the study evaluated international cities from New York to Hong Kong, only the top 10 were published. Vienna is followed by Toronto at number 2 and Paris ranking third. Next in line are New York, London, Tokyo, Berlin, Copenhagen, Hong Kong and Barcelona.
To be able to compare the cities with each other, the author, who had already conducted a ranking of the Top 10 Resilient Cities in 2011, included in his study a number of variables in the areas of innovation and sustainability and analysed existing global and regional rankings (such as the Innovation Cities Top 100 Index, rankings regarding the quality of life in cities, the Siemens Ranking of Green Cities, the Digital City Ranking for cities in the U.S., the IDC Ranking of Smart Cities in Spain or a study on digital governance at municipal level).
Climate strategist Boyd Cohen supports municipalities, cities and companies on their way towards a low-emission economy and is the co-author of "Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change".
More detailed information on the "Top 10 Smart Cities" ranking and the exact results are available at http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679127/the-top-10-smart-cities-on-the-planet.
More information on the "smart city Wien" project is provided here.
Contact
DI(FH) Volker Schaffler
Tel. +43 1 4000 84269
Fax +43 1 4000 7997
volker.schaffler@tinavienna.at