Juniper Research has compiled a list of the top 50 world smart cities based on transportation and infrastructure, energy and lighting, city management and technology, and urban connectivity.
Among these 50 cities, Shanghai was ranked as the top smart city for 2022.
Based on Juniper’s research, Shanghai’s Citizen Cloud was particularly important in its rankings. The platform is a one-stop point for more than 1,200 residential services including those related to birth and marriage, culture and education, tourism, Social Security, transportation, health, legal services and senior care.
The deployment of this service along with the digitalization of utility management and public services is part of the reason for the high ranking.
“Many cities have deployed technology and data to help local authorities reduce environmental impact and energy usage,” said Mike Bainbridge, researcher at Juniper. “The top cities in our recent ranking are finding innovative ways to leverage that technology to deliver observable benefits for their citizens as well.”
The top 5 smart cities according to the market research firm include:
- Shanghai
- Seoul
- Barcelona
- Beijing
- New York
Billion-dollar opportunity
Juniper said smart city initiatives are poised to generate about $70 billion in spending annually by 2026, up from $35 billion in 2021.
Much of this spending will be focused on the smart grid with many other areas still in the nascent stages of development.
However, the company said savings made through smart city technologies will remain high, with energy savings alone to reach $96 billion by 2026, making the deployment of such technologies cost-effective in most instances.
The full research can be found in Juniper’s Smart Cities: Key Technologies, Environmental Impact & Market Forecasts 2022-2026.
