Eden Strategy Institute Names Top 10 Best City Governments Globally

According to an Eden Strategy Institute study, the top 10 cities identified as the world’s best city governments, are: London, Singapore, Seoul, New York, Helsinki, Montreal, Boston, Melbourne, Barcelona, and Shanghai. In addition to New York and Boston making the top 10, there were 12 American cities who earned top 50 ranking, which include: San Francisco (11), Chicago (17), Seattle (18), Charlotte (20), Washington, DC (21), Columbus (25), Los Angeles (26), Atlanta (35), Kansas City, MO (38), Philadelphia (43).

“Smart City innovations offer mayors across the world a promising new way of engaging citizens and increasing quality of life. To offer city leaders guidance on assessing the readiness of their governments to develop, facilitate, or track their smart city initiatives, Eden Strategy Institute and ONG & ONG (OXD) developed this independent ranking of the Top 50 Smart City Governments, selected from over 140 cities globally.”

The report ranked cities based on the following ten factors: vision, leadership, budget, financial incentives, support programs, talent readiness, people centricity, innovation ecosystem, smart policies, and track record.

In a summary of its research the Institute noted that an important first step in developing a smart city strategy is to assess the city’s natural strengths and assets. According to the report overview:

“This may lead city governments to develop their smart city plans in a specific field, taking advantage of the well-established ecosystem to accelerate the initial stages of transforming into a smart city, and building confidence to embark on other fields. Fully 12 percent of the top 50 ranked cities used this approach.”

The report also noted that though different cities may approach stakeholder engagement using various means, the involvement of citizens at the early stages of the process was a common theme seen across the top-performing city governments.

The report also identified the following stages required for developing a smart city vision:

  • defining the relevant smart city concepts;
  • designing the planning process;
  • engaging and drafting approaches with stakeholders; and,
  • prioritizing initiatives and crafting the roadmap.

Eden Strategy Institute is a strategy consulting firm specializing in Business System Innovation.