Copenhagen Is The 8th Smartest City In The World

01 Oct 2012

Crunching a list of variables about innovation and sustainability, Boyd Cohen, Ph.D., LEED AP, a climate strategist helping to lead communities, cities and companies on the journey towards a low carbon economy, has ranked the world’s smartest cities, from New York to Hong Kong.

The term "smart cities" is a bit ambiguous. Some people choose a narrow definition--i.e. cities that use information and communication technologies to deliver services to their citizens. Boyd Cohen prefers a broader definition: smart cities use information and communication technologies (ICT) to be more intelligent and efficient in the use of resources, resulting in cost and energy savings, improved service delivery and quality of life, and a reduced environmental footprint--all supporting innovation and the low-carbon economy.

Eighth on the list is Copenhagen. Lately, it seems Copenhagen has been doing a lot right. The city was rated number one on the green scale in Europe by Siemens and also achieved number one spot in Boyd Cohen’s global resilient cities ranking last year. All with good reason: Copenhagen is taking a real leadership role on sustainable innovation. The city has committed to carbon neutrality by 2025 and 40% of its citizens regularly commute by bicycle. Furthermore, Copenhagen’s mayor, Frank Jensen, recently spoke about the role of cities as growth engines and the potential to stimulate the economy through cleantech innovation.

Pundits and industry insiders expect smart cities to become a sizeable market, with projections of nearly $40 billion being spent on smart-city technologies by 2016. And real estate experts predict that in the future smart cities will be attractive to the educated workforce and will therefore become real-estate gold. All reasons enough to get on the smart-city bandwagon.

Source: CopCap