Sustainability and e-Governance lead requirements for improvement, according to Indra's global Smart Cities survey

Sustainability and e-Governance services scored lowest in Indra's "Global Survey on the Status of Smart Cities", the results of which have just been released. The study polled more than 2,000 people across 234 cities and 32 countries. As well as the aspects already mentioned, participants were asked how long they spent commuting to work, their perception of security in their cities, the response to emergency situations, healthcare service quality and cleanliness.

Perception of security earned the best score out of 10 (6.1), followed by response to emergency situations (5.8), healthcare service quality (5.6), cleaning (5.4) and finally sustainability and e-Governance (both 5.2). The average time spent commuting to work stood at 46 minutes.

Overall the services just about managed a passing grade (5.5). Generally speaking service quality perception is higher in Europe and Asia than Africa and America.

The study also asked participants for suggestions on how services could be improved. The ideas that they offered to improve e-governance included awareness-raising campaigns and training, greater accessibility and the use of individual citizen files and cards.

In sustainability and energy efficiency, participants called for support for renewable energy, metrics to show daily energy consumption, incentives for energy efficiency and replacing street lighting with LED systems and sensors. The suggestions to improve mobility were also striking, including the use of technology to cut reduce the number of vehicles searching for parking spaces, having buses run on time and more frequently, improving traffic signal synchronization and promoting public-private intermodal transport.

Cities passing with flying colors

Despite a low passing grade for the overall results, particularly in key areas such as sustainability and e-governance, some cities stood out as leaders in certain services, scoring above the global average.

Medellin and Santiago de Chile were two of the highest scoring Latin American metropolises. The Colombian city earned ratings higher than or equal to the global average for all services, with sustainability recording the highest (7.8) and security perception the lowest (6.1). Likewise, thanks to smart technology for managing traffic and public transportation, it was the only city in Latin America where time spent commuting to work was below the global average.

Meanwhile, Santiago de Chile earned scores nearly one point above the global average in healthcare service quality, e-Governance and city cleaning. The only service to score below the global average was sustainability, coming just one tenth short of the average. The counterpoint to this was Rivas Vaciamadrid, one of the first in Spain to adopt Smart City initiatives, which rated strongly in terms of sustainability (7.4) and almost every service scored above the global average.

All services scored above the global average in Lisbon, which is also considered a good city to live in, with security perception rated highest (7.5) and e-Governance lowest (5.5). Barcelona was a similar case, with all services rated above the average. Security recorded the best rating (7.2), while e-governance received the worst (5.7).

Staying in Spain, services in A Coruña and Malaga were also rated highly by their inhabitants, with nearly all scoring above average. A Coruña, where Spain's first comprehensive smart city governance platform is being deployed, recorded strong marks for security (7.5) and healthcare service quality (6.7), while Malaga only scored below average in sustainability and cleanliness. Both also showed significantly shorter commutes to work than the rest. Finally, Madrid achieved better than average scores in most services. One of its strengths was the response to emergency situations (7), where the CISEM project (Comprehensive Security and Emergency Center) played a key role.

At the other extreme were cities such as Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bogota and even Rome, where the majority of services came in below the global average.

The sample

The “Global Survey on the Status of Smart Cities" was conducted by Indra in April and May of 2014, with voluntary responses given by a sample of 2,123 individuals (68% men and 32% women) via online channels (Indra website and social networks).

42% of those polled lived with a partner and had children, 28% said they were single and 21% had a partner but no children. In terms of age distribution, 37% were between 26 and 35 years of age; 33% were aged between 36 and 45; while more than 20% were between 46 and 65 years of age.

A comprehensive and integrated smart city solution

Indra has developed smart city projects for the full range of urban requirements. It is also one of the few companies anywhere in the world that can provide a comprehensive smart city solution, from strategic and technological planning to data management and integration. As a leading company in urban technology solutions, Indra has accumulated vast experience in the application of smart systems for mobility and transport, security, communications and location platforms, ID systems and electronic governance, among many other areas. The multinational has run successful projects all over the world, deploying smart systems for the full gamut of municipal services.

Indra, chaired by Javier Monzón, is one of the world's largest consultancy and technology multinationals, a leader in Europe and Latin America and is expanding in other emerging economies. Innovation is the cornerstone of its business, which is highly focussed on the customer and on sustainability. The multinational is one of the leaders in its sector in Europe in terms of investment in R&D and innovation, having invested more than €570M in the last three years. With sales approaching €3,000 million, it employs 42,000 professional and has customers in 138 countries.