The cities of tomorrow

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are proven as enablers of change and have a great potential to continue to promote sustainable growth.

The networked society city index ranks cities based on their performance in sustainable urban development and ICT maturity. The 2016 index is topped by Stockholm, London, Singapore, Paris, and Copenhagen. Interestingly, the race for third position is closely contested, with Paris and Singapore again swapping positions.

The correlation between ICT maturity and TBL shows that cities’ ICT maturity largely mirrors their position on the development ladder. A high level of sustainable urban development is typically correlated to high ICT maturity. Affluent cities have reaped the benefits of early industrialization and are indeed able to invest more in ICT and are, partly due to preconditions, better at utilizing ICT investments than developing economies.

Download the 2016 networked society city index to learn more about how the cities are ranked based on their performance in sustainable urban development and ICT maturity.

Of the three sustainability dimensions measured in the index, the social and economic indicators correlate more closely with increasing ICT maturity than the environmental indicators, as socioeconomic progress typically increases the environmental footprint.

Looking ahead, it is expected that technology will be a critical enabler in securing the necessary decoupling of continued socioeconomic progress with environmental degradation. Different technology in transportation and buildings, as well as carbon-neutral energy production, are examples of how innovations in new technology are increasingly pushing development in this direction. Moreover, on an industrial level, intelligent transportation, smart electricity grids, interactive e-health, and individualized e-learning are some of the ICT solutions that bring much-needed socioeconomic progress under the new condition of diminishing society’s environmental impact. Equally, ICT can bring new innovative opportunities for social entrepreneurship by enabling the inclusion of groups previously left outside banking, insurance systems, health care systems, and the labor market.

As cities invest in ICT, it is both appropriate and reasonable to make a long-term prediction of the relationship between cities’ environmental performance and ICT maturity. Our prediction is that the current scattered correlation will evolve into a picture where ICT is increasingly intertwined with environmental performance.

No cities in a networked society city index are sustainable, not even the top performers. Less affluent cities may have low climate impact and low resource use, but they have problems with high pollution levels and consequently also lower health levels.

The city boundaries concept illustrates cities’ environmental performance in relation to absolute targets rather than according to their relative performance. Our aim is to relate a city’s environmental performance to globally recognized limits.

All cities face great challenges to become sustainable. For more affluent cities, these challenges mostly concern their environmental impact. For less affluent cities, socioeconomic progress is a priority. However, decoupling continued socioeconomic progress from a negative impact on the environment is of utmost importance. And cities hold the key to solving our global challenges.

Download the 2016 networked society city index to learn more about networked society for sustainable development.