Zurich is once again ranked number 1 in the Smart City Index 2023
Zurich is ranked number 1 in the global IMD Smart City Index 2023 for the fourth time in a row. It uses numerous criteria to measure how smart a population finds its city. Among the 141 cities surveyed, Lausanne is ranked 5th and Geneva 9th.
Three Swiss cities are among the nine smartest cities in the world. This is shown by the IMD Smart City Index 2023, for which a total of 141 cities around the globe were examined. With the exception of 2021, it has been compiled annually since 2019 by the World Competitiveness Center of the IMD Business School in Lausanne. It has its headquarters in Lausanne and Singapore.
Zurich is in first place in this ranking, as it has been since the first edition of this index, ahead of Oslo, Canberra and Copenhagen. Lausanne follows in 5th place, after 4th place in 2020. At that time, Geneva held 6th place, this year it is 9th. Between Lausanne and Geneva, London, Singapore and Helsinki are ranked this year.
In first place, Zurich naturally scores well above average on virtually all criteria. The city achieves top scores in terms of structures in the subject areas of health & safety, activities, work & school and governance – with two exceptions: air pollution and the availability of affordable rental housing. On the other hand, the city is in the middle of the pack for technology issues and only scores better for work & school.
Lausanne, in 4th place, is mostly rated well above average on all structural topics. With regard to technologies, the city, like Zurich, is in the midfield almost everywhere. It achieves absolute top scores for green spaces, cultural activities and IT education in schools. In public transport, its online services are rated very highly.
Geneva achieves the highest scores for urban green spaces, access to school education and feedback from citizens on decisions made by the city administration. Two negative outliers are found in agreement with the statement that businesses generate new jobs and that online access to job offers makes it easier to find work. For both, Geneva is at the bottom of the group index.
In all three cities, affordable rents, traffic congestion and air pollution are cited as priorities by respondents. What is most striking about this year’s analysis, according to IMD, is that of the top 20 cities, 17 have been in the index since its inception. Among these 17 cities, six show either continuous improvement or stability from year to year. These “super champions” are Zurich, Oslo, Singapore, Beijing, Seoul and Hong Kong.