Think you’re smarter than a fifth grader? If you live in Canberra, the odds are in your favour. Our nation’s capital just clinched the third spot in a global ranking of the world’s smartest cities, holding its ground against 141 other contenders. Bravo, to the 'Berra!
Being a ‘smart’ city isn’t just about having brainy residents (although, Aussies definitely have the smarts too). 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.
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).
Residents in three other Australian cities can proudly call themselves nerds, including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. In the 2024 Smarty City Index, Sydney slipped six spots to 22nd, Brisbane dropped four spots to 30th and Melbourne dropped 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.
Here are the top ten smartest cities in 2024, with the full list available here:
- Zurich
- Oslo
- Canberra
- Geneva
- Singapore
- Copenhagen
- Lausanne
- London
- Helsinki
- Abu Dhabi
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