50 top cities to live in based on the global liveability index, 2018.

The second layer consists of specific applications. First is the technology base, which includes a critical mass of smartphones and sensors connected by high-speed communication networks. Three layers work together to make a smart city hum (Exhibit 1). More comprehensive, real-time data gives agencies the ability to watch events as they unfold, understand how demand patterns are changing, and respond with faster and lower-cost solutions. Smart cities put data and digital technology to work to make better decisions and improve the quality of life. Smart cities change the economics of infrastructure and create room for partnerships and private-sector participation.A look at current deployment in 50 cities around the world shows that even the most advanced still have a long way to go.Smart-city technologies have substantial unrealized potential to improve the urban quality of life.It finds that cities can use smart technologies to improve some key quality-of-life indicators by 10 to 30 percent-numbers that translate into lives saved, fewer crime incidents, shorter commutes, a reduced health burden, and carbon emissions averted. The latest report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), Smart cities: Digital solutions for a more livable future (PDF–6MB), analyzes how dozens of digital applications address these kinds of practical and very human concerns.

Quality of life has many dimensions, from the air residents breathe to how safe they feel walking the streets. It is also about using technology and data purposefully to make better decisions and deliver a better quality of life. “ Smartness” is not just about installing digital interfaces in traditional infrastructure or streamlining city operations. Smartphones have become the keys to the city, putting instant information about transit, traffic, health services, safety alerts, and community news into millions of hands.Īfter a decade of trial and error, municipal leaders are realizing that smart-city strategies start with people, not technology. Now technology is being injected more directly into the lives of residents. Until recently, city leaders thought of smart technologies primarily as tools for becoming more efficient behind the scenes.

50 top cities to live in based on the global liveability index, 2018.