Updated: September 17, 2020 10:20:21 pm
Traces of light remain as traffic passes in front of commercial buildings in New Delhi, India, on Monday, Aug. 31, 2020 (Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee / Bloomberg).
Four Indian cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru – witnessed a significant drop in their rankings on Singapore’s top global list of smart cities. The Institute for Management Development (IMD), in collaboration with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), has published the Smart Cities Index 2020, with key findings on how technology is playing a role in the era COVID-19.
In the 2020 Smart Cities Index, Hyderabad was ranked 85 (vs. 67 in 2019), New Delhi ranked 86 (vs. 68 in 2019), Mumbai at 93 (in 2019 it was 78) and Bengaluru at 95 (79 in 2019).
“Indian cities (New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru) suffer significant drops this year. This can be attributed to the detrimental effect that the pandemic has had where technological advancement was not up to date, ”the report says.
He also added that “Indian cities have suffered more from the pandemic because they were not prepared.”
Based on 15 indicators that respondents perceive as priority areas for their city, the four cities highlighted air pollution as one of the key areas in which they felt their city should prioritize.
For cities like Bangalore and Mumbai, this was closely followed by road congestion, while for Delhi and Hyderabad it was basic services, according to the report.
The 2020 Smart Cities Index (SCI) was led by Singapore, followed by Helsinki and Zurich in second and third places respectively. Others on the top 10 list include Auckland (fourth), Oslo (fifth), Copenhagen (sixth), Geneva (seventh), Taipei City (eighth), Amsterdam (ninth) and New York in 10th place.
In the context of SCI, ‘smart city’ describes an urban environment that applies technology to enhance the benefits and decrease the deficiencies of urbanization.
The second edition of the SCI ranked 109 cities around the world by capturing the perceptions of 120 randomly chosen residents in each city.
Hundreds of citizens from 109 cities were surveyed in April and May 2020 and asked questions about their city’s technological dispositions in five key areas: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance.
This year’s ranking reflects that cities have always different technological approaches, as the management of the pandemic has become increasingly important in local politics, according to the report.
“We cannot ignore the impact of COVID,” said IMD professor Arturo Bris, who led the ranking’s work as Director of the Center for Global Competitiveness at the Swiss management institute that backs it. Those with better technology handle the pandemic better. Smart cities are not the solution, but technology helps,? He explained.
“Smart cities closest to the top of the rankings seem to deal with the unexpected challenges of the devastating pandemic with a better outcome,” said Professor Heng Chee Chan, president of the Lee Kuan Yew Center for Innovative Cities at SUTD.
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and keep up to date with the latest headlines
For the latest news about India, download the Indian Express app.
.
