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July 8, 2021

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32 Smart City Stats to Know in 2021

Blog  |  IoT  |  Smart Cities

These days, cities all over the world are leveraging data and technology to create efficiencies, improve sustainability, foster economic development, and enhance the overall quality of life for residents and visitors alike.

These ‘Smart Cities’ rely on the Internet of Things (IoT) to collect and analyze data such that city resources and assets can be better distributed across the broad range of their alternative uses.

In this blog post, we wanted to give you a snapshot of the Smart City market as it stands in 2021. Here’s what we’ll cover:

 

The State of the Smart City Market in 2021

Let’s begin with the basics…

  1. The size of the global Smart Cities market will grow from approximately 410.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 to 820.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2025, with a 14.8% CAGR. (Globe News Wire)
  2. Globally, technology spending on Smart City initiatives is expected to double from 81 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 to 189.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. (Statista)
  3. The projected global revenue for Smart City technologies, products, and services in 2021 is 129 billion U.S. dollars. (Statista)
  4. Currently, roughly 26% of global spending on Smart City technology initiatives is in the United States. (Statista)
  5. Asia-based IoT and Smart City firms have a projected revenue of 42.96 billion U.S. dollars for 2021. (Statista)
  6. Indeed, Asia will likely see its Smart City revenues triple from 2020 to 2025. (Statista)
  7. China is currently deploying approximately 800 Smart City programs country wide. (Otonomo)

 

Urbanization Trends

One reason for the anticipated growth of the Smart City market is the fact that the world is becoming increasingly urbanized. As such, local governments and city services are beginning to play a proportionately greater role in everyday life.

  1. As of 2008, around 50% of the world’s population lived in cities. By 2040, this number is expected to rise to 65%. (Postcapes)
  2. It’s estimated that, each week, 1.3 million people move into cities. (Postcapes)
  3. In 1975, there were just three megacities (+10 million citizens) across the globe: New York, Tokyo, and Mexico City. Today, there are 21 megacities worldwide, with 29 expected by 2025. (Postcapes)
  4. There are already more than 500 cities globally that have at least 1 million inhabitants. For the sake of comparison, in 1900, there were just 12 such cities. (Postcapes)
  5. What’s more, the top 600 urban centers generate approximately 60% of global GDP. (Postcapes)
  6. Cities consume between 60% and 80% of the world’s energy. (Postcapes)

Smart City Statistics

As urbanization trends continue apace, cities have turned to the Internet of Things (IoT) to optimize resource allocation, improve public services, stimulate economic growth, and enhance quality of life.

  1. There are four key Smart City investment areas: enabling technologies, building and construction, energy, and water and waste management. (Barclays)
  2. It is estimated that Smart Cities can generate 20 trillion U.S. dollars in economic benefits by 2026. (Barclays)
  3. Moreover, cities that leverage Smart City solutions can improve their energy efficiency by 30% in 20 years. (Postcapes)
  4. The use of digital government services tripled from 2006 to 2016 across OECD member countries, with 36% of citizens submitting forms via public authorities’ websites in 2016. (OECD)
  5. In the European Union, the digitization of services has reduced operating costs for 85% of cities. (OECD)
  6. According to the Yonsei University Smart City Development Index, 33% of cities provide app- or web-based Smart City services for public transportation, 23% do so for culture and tourism, and 8% do so for city administration. (OECD)
  7. The top three Smart Cities according to IMD’s Smart City Index are Singapore, Helsinki, and Zurich. (IMD)
  8. The top global Smart City governments are Singapore, Seoul, London, Barcelona, and Helsinki. (Statista)

Smart City Examples

Smart City solutions are especially impactful on public transportation systems. Here are a number of ongoing projects from some of the world’s leading Smart Cities:

Singapore’s Smart Traffic Management Solutions

    1. Back in 1998, Singapore became the first Smart City to introduce a smart traffic management system. (Otonomo)
    2. By 2018, Singapore’s smart traffic management system had a budget of 12 billion U.S. dollars. (Otonomo)
    3. Singapore is planning to launch a fleet of automated busses in 2022. (Otonomo)
    4. In 2020, Singapore was ranked as the Smart City most prepared to accommodate autonomous vehicles. (KPMG)

New York City’s Connected Vehicle Infrastructure

    1. New York has been installing cameras and sensors in 10,000 city intersections, with the aim of investing in connected infrastructure and adaptive signals. (Otonomo)
    2. The city has also deployed a Connected Vehicle Pilot Program that seeks to collect and analyze data from connected vehicles. This will be used to implement V2X initiatives to improve safety and traffic management in real time. (Otonomo)

London’s Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL)

    1. In 2020, London launched the Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL), the world’s most advanced urban testbed. SMLL provides 5G connectivity for connected and autonomous vehicles. (Otonomo)
    2. According to the mobile operator O2, who enables the SMLL initiative, this may:
      a. Reduce the amount of time motorists spend in traffic by 10%
      b. Save 880 million pounds a year
      c. Reduce annual CO2 emissions by 370,000 metric tons

Paris’s Focus on Making Transportation Safer

    1. Since 2010, when Paris first began implementing smart solutions to improve road safety and traffic management, traffic fatalities in the city have decreased by 40%. (Otonomo)
    2. Moreover, Paris plans to invest 100 million euros into its transportation infrastructure for connected cars and autonomous vehicles. (Otonomo)
    3. Paris is currently replacing its entire bus fleet with electric vehicles. (Otonomo)

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