Urban digitalization: Germany's smartest cities

 

Hamburg holds the pool position in the field of urban digitalization: For the third time, the digital association Bitkom has presented the "Smart City Index" and chosen Germany's smartest cities. The Hanseatic city was able to defend its top position, with Cologne, Karlsruhe, Munich, Darmstadt, Dresden, Bochum, Stuttgart, Berlin and Freiburg following in the other places in the top 10.

 

Smart cities: commitment, communication, network

Bitkom President Achim Berg is not only pleased about the high level of dynamism in the area of cities’ digitalization - there were numerous changes of position in the field compared to the previous year's rankings. He also makes clear how cities can successfully implement the digitalization process: "Success factors for a smart city are a committed local politics, a digital strategy, clear structures, a well-established local network and the participation of the population. Even more important than solid finances are the will in politics and administration and the ability to generate enthusiasm for digitization throughout the city."

 

Analysis & Assessment: 5 characteristic areas of a smart city

Around 11,000 data points were collected, reviewed and qualified for the Smart City Index. All 81 German cities with at least 100,000 inhabitants were analyzed and evaluated in the following thematic areas: administration, IT and communication, energy and environment, mobility and society. Five areas divided into 36 indicators, which in turn consist of a total of 133 parameters: From online citizen services to sharing offers for mobility and smart garbage cans to broadband availability. 

Each of the 36 indicators has its own important significance for a functioning, networked digitization process:

• Administration: internal processes, payment, online appointments, online services, website/social media, service portal, other pilot projects

• IT and communications: broadband, fiber optics, mobile communications, PublicWLAN, IoT network, data platform, further pilot projects

• Energy and environment: smart street lighting, energy solutions, smart waste, share of e-vehicles, charging infrastructure, low-emission buses, further pilot projects

• Mobility: Parking, smart traffic management, networked public transport, sharing offers, multimodality, last-mile logistics, further pilot projects

• Society: public participation, FabLabs and coworking, digital scene, open data platform, geodata portal, local trade and startup hubs, further pilot projects

 

Smart City as a solution model for global challenges

The "Smart City Index" has long since ceased to be a digital gimmick: large cities face major challenges, and not only in Germany. Air pollution, traffic jams, inefficient public transport, scarce housing, overcrowded public spaces, rising energy costs: the concepts of "smart cities" are supposed to help solve these problems. Innovative, digital data-based IoT technologies are capable of reducing resource consumption and sustainably improving quality of life. Smart and connected, as part of large-scale sustainability strategies: This is the future of urbanization. Smart cities make our living spaces cleaner, safer and more efficient in a variety of ways; they increase the quality of life of the people living in them and, in parallel, ensure a smaller ecological footprint.