The global study of 250 cities shows how city leaders are advancing their social, sustainability and economic goals and explores the challenges impeding progress
While most cities have set visions to become more sustainable, resilient and inclusive, a select group of cities are jumping ahead on becoming ‘future-ready’, according to a global study of 250 cities conducted by ThoughtLab, a leading provider of thought leadership research.
Leaders from 92% of future-ready cities identified in the study say their cities are well prepared to overcome today’s urban challenges and are making considerably more progress than other cities on their net zero plans and other urban performance metrics on pollution, crime, safety and health. These future-ready cities are not only doing more to address the challenges they face, but they are also reinventing their services across multiple urban domains (such as transportation, public safety and others), transforming their operations and embracing technology to achieve their goals.
The study, From Future Vision to Urban Reality, shows what it means to be future-ready and what cities need to do to get there. The research was sponsored by Axis Communications, Deloitte, FTI Consulting, Intel, Itron, ServiceNow and Wireside Communications, among others.
To analyse the progress that cities have made on their future-ready plans, ThoughtLab conducted a worldwide benchmarking study of 250 cities in 78 countries, representing 9% of the world’s population.
The sample included cities of varying locations, levels of economic development and population sizes ranging from 50,000 to over 37.1 million people. The result is an actionable playbook of the most effective strategies and digital solutions used by cities to address challenges and prepare for the future.
“Cities today face major challenges as they strive to become future-ready,” said Lou Celi, CEO of ThoughtLab and Director of the research programme. “The goal of this study is to equip city leadership with a data-driven blueprint to meet the shifting expectations and behaviours of their citizens while offering benchmarking insights to help them assess their progress toward future readiness.”
What makes a future-ready city
Future-ready cities are those that are making the most progress in becoming inclusive, resilient, sustainable and digitally enabled. They are more advanced in preparing their urban domains to meet the fast-changing needs of citizens and local businesses.
- They have made the most progress in safety, security and resilience, with nearly three-quarters of them reporting significant progress, compared with just 17% of non-future-ready cities
- About two-thirds of these future-ready cities have also made considerable headway in environment and sustainability as well as citizen living, health and trust
- Over half have made significant progress in transportation and urban infrastructure, which are more challenging domains due to years of inattention
Of the 250 cities participating in the study, ThoughtLab categorised 50 cities as future-ready; 150 as progressing toward future-readiness; and 50 as beginners in an earlier stage of development.
The top future-ready cities in each region are:
- North America: Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto
- Latin America: Buenos Aires, Caracas, Quito, Rosario and Salvador
- Europe: Edinburgh, Helsinki, Lyon, Madrid and Vienna
- Middle East and Africa: Ankara, Doha, Kampala, Rabat and Tehran
- APAC: Beijing, Guangzhou, Melbourne, Taipei and Tokyo
Reaching future-ready goals
According to the study, the most successful cities do three things differently than others:
- Transform their operating model: Future-ready cities create innovative operating models to enhance governance, foster citizen engagement and drive forward-looking plans. They centre their strategies around people, ensuring healthy living and inclusiveness while using digital technologies to engage citizens and develop productive and skilled staff. Future-ready cities build broad ecosystems of partners and take a holistic, cross-departmental approach to tackle intertwined challenges like the economy, homelessness and crime
- Drive continuous innovation across and between key urban domains: Future-ready cities take a comprehensive approach to transformation, focusing on sustainability, infrastructure, mobility, safety and resilience, and citizen well-being. They invest heavily in green energy, smart infrastructure and public transport improvements like EV charging and micromobility. They prioritise public safety with smart technologies, enhance public health through green spaces and foster trust through transparent, citizen-engaged governance
- Harness the power of AI and other advanced technologies: Future-ready cities prioritise technology as a key driver of urban transformation, investing significantly more than their peers in digital initiatives. They leverage advanced technologies like AI, IoT, automation and cloud infrastructure. They also lead in adopting Digital Twins for real-time insights and form long-term digital plans that address technology challenges, like outdated systems and cybersecurity, and install in-house IT teams to implement their plans
The role of AI in future-ready cities
The study shows that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionising how cities analyse data, create content and perform tasks, allowing them to boost productivity, drive efficiencies and better meet citizen needs. Future-ready cities are leading the way, integrating AI across a range of sectors more rapidly than other cities.
The ThoughtLab study revealed a growing divide: on average, over half of the future-ready cities in the study are actively using AI across domains, compared with less than a third of other cities. Future-ready cities have made the most significant progress in applying AI to government operations (66%), citizen living and health (56%), safety and resilience (52%) and transportation (50%).
“AI will be a game-changer for cities,” Celi added. “In addition, the rise of Generative AI across cities will make the everyday use of AI much easier for employees and citizens.”
Building sustainability, resilience, inclusiveness and economic growth is a long-term goal for all cities. Future-ready cities, with the help of advanced technologies like AI, have made significantly more progress in overcoming today’s urban challenges and operationalising their visions across their urban landscapes.
