Germany's cities are advancing the transition to Smart Cities

Germany's cities are advancing the transition to Smart Cities: Since 2018, the proportion of cities that have embraced the Smart City concept has increased from 14 percent to 98 percent. This is according to the 2024 Smart City Ranking by Haselhorst Associates Consulting.

Since 2018, the consulting firm has annually listed the largest cities in Germany with populations of over 30,000 based on their development in various urban action fields.

Accordingly, Munich has maintained its top position in the ranking, becoming the first city ever to achieve a Smart City development level of 50 percent. In addition to the Bavarian capital, smaller cities with populations under 100,000 have also excelled this year.

Progress requires strategic action

The development of cities over the past years highlights the importance of strategic actions by urban stakeholders. This is now the seventh Smart City Ranking published by Haselhorst Associates Consulting. Each city faces unique challenges. When urban stakeholders find tailored solutions within their urban transformation processes, they continue to progress steadily.

Thus, it is not only Munich that has managed to retain the top spot since last year. In medium-sized cities like Bamberg and Konstanz, the strategic and implementation-oriented actions of urban stakeholders are also evident. Consequently, both cities rank among the top 10 of the 413 listed cities nationwide. This year's ranking clearly shows that medium-sized cities, especially smaller ones, have made the most significant improvements compared to the previous year: Small medium-sized cities, with populations between 30,000 and 50,000, have seen an average increase in their Smart City development level of 18.9 percent. This puts them slightly ahead of larger medium-sized cities (50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants) with 14.7 percent and significantly ahead of large cities (more than 100,000 inhabitants) with 8 percent.

The specific rankings of the remaining top 10 cities are as follows: Hamburg and Cologne take the second and third spots with 48.1 percent and 46.4 percent, respectively. Berlin ranks fourth with 45.8 percent. Heidelberg (45.3 percent) and Darmstadt (44.5 percent) occupy the fifth and sixth positions, followed by Bamberg (44.3 percent) in seventh and Bochum (44.0 percent) in eighth place. Konstanz (43.2 percent) and Mannheim (43.1 percent) round out the ninth and tenth places.

Top 3 Emerging Cities: Falkensee, Nienburg (Weser), and Schwabach

In addition to ranking the cities overall, Haselhorst Associates Consulting also identifies the municipalities that have shown the most significant improvement in their Smart City development over the past year: the Emerging Cities.

The city of Falkensee in Brandenburg has shown remarkable progress. The city, with a population of around 45,000, has improved by twelve percentage points, from 15.7 percent last year to 27.7 percent currently. Falkensee has particularly stood out due to its use of innovative AI technologies, including an AI-based system for detecting drowning individuals in the new indoor pool and the cityGPT assistant "Falko," a digital chatbot that enhances citizen communication with multilingual information on municipal administrative matters. Nienburg (Weser) in Lower Saxony takes the second spot among the Emerging Cities, followed by Schwabach in Bavaria in third place.

Ensuring Urban Resilience through Proactive Measures

For Dr. Lucia Wright, Director at Haselhorst Associates Consulting and responsible for Urban Transformation, the ranking highlights the critical importance of cities' individual adaptability. In recent years, cities have faced both widespread crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and specific challenges related to climate change, including floods, storms, and heatwaves.

A Smart City is characterized by a high degree of resilience. This means that, especially in today's times, urban stakeholders must act proactively and flexibly. If they succeed in this and continually reassess their chosen focus areas, it will be reflected in their ranking position. This is evident when looking at the top three cities. Munich, Hamburg, and Cologne were already on the podium in 2023. Their continued leadership is due to their consistent development across all Smart City areas and their ability to find effective solutions for their specific needs.

Methodology

For the Smart City Ranking, Haselhorst Associates Consulting evaluated a total of 413 cities across ten different areas: Smart City Strategy (foundation), Digital Infrastructure, Mobility, Energy & Environment, Buildings & Neighborhoods, Health, Education, Administration, Tourism, and Economy & Trade. This assessment examines both the strategic and conceptual orientation of the municipalities in these areas and the implementation status of specific projects.

The data basis consists of information from official statistics and additional information from the respective city, which are thus publicly accessible. To maintain the objectivity of the ranking, cities themselves do not have the opportunity to provide data for the ranking. In total, over 33,000 data points were incorporated into the creation of the current ranking. The data collection period extends from April to August 2024.

The study results can be viewed on the Haselhorst Associates website.

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