The latest edition of the “Smart Cities Study 2023” was published in January 2024, highlighting cities’ contribution to achieving SDGs through innovation. Developed by the UCLG Community of Practice on Digital Cities, chaired by the city of Bilbao, the report sheds light on the current landscape and significant trends across the six axes of smart cities: Smart Economy, New Mobility, Environment, Digital Citizenship, Quality of Life, and Smart Governance.
The study delves into cities as innovation-driven ecosystems, fostering collaboration and creativity where pilot projects emerge in response to social and economic challenges. These projects drive research, development, and innovation (R&D&I) from a public-private perspective, contributing to the realisation of the 2030 Agenda.
Apart from outlining current trends in smart city domains, the study showcases a selection of best practices contributed by 20 cities from 16 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America that can be replicated in other cities worldwide. It also identifies key barriers and facilitators impacting smart city development.
The study underscores the need for cities to anticipate and address citizens’ evolving needs through intelligent tools and technologies, enabling real-time data analysis and informed decision-making. Moreover, it emphasises the importance of a participatory approach involving multiple public-private stakeholders to foster synergy and optimise investments, thereby enhancing competitiveness locally, nationally, and internationally. Local and regional governments emerge as pivotal facilitators in driving and orchestrating innovation ecosystems.
Aligned with the growth trajectories of Smart Cities, participating cities have predominantly focused on initiatives in the Smart Economy (27%) and Environment (20%). A significant portion of participating cities (46%) underscored projects aligned with SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, aimed at fostering inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable urban environments. Close behind is SDG 9: Industry, Infrastructure, and Innovation (45%), emphasising resilient infrastructure, sustainable industrialisation, and innovation promotion.
The study aims to serve as a reference guide for cities interested in advancing towards Smart Cities and contributing to the SDGs.
To date, four editions of the international “Smart Cities Study” have been published:
2012:
The first edition offers a comprehensive review of Smart cities, converging on six critical areas of action that affect city development: Economy, Citizenship, Governance, Mobility, Environment, and Quality of Life.
2017:
The second edition focuses on the “Economy” axis. It analyses key factors linked to Smart Cities: innovation, entrepreneurship, knowledge and talent, and digital society and economy.
2019:
The third edition focuses on the “Governance” axis. In this edition, the main aspects of smart governance and its key action areas are analysed, including open government and advanced strategic management in cities, as factors in the transformation of Smart Cities.
2021:
The fourth edition analyses the “Resilience” of cities developed through adopting “Smart” measures due to the pandemic.
This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of UCLG and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.