Cities Advance Future-Prepared Plans Amid Persistent Challenges, New Analysis Finds

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Printed Nov 05, 2024 • 5 minute learn

International research of 250 cities reveals how metropolis leaders are advancing their social, sustainability, and financial targets and explores challenges impeding progress

NEW YORK — Whereas most cities have set visions to turn into extra sustainable, resilient, and inclusive, a choose group of cities are leaping forward on turning into “future-ready,” in line with a worldwide research of 250 cities carried out by ThoughtLab, a number one supplier of thought management analysis. Leaders from 92% of future-ready cities recognized within the research say their cities are nicely ready to beat at present’s city challenges and are making significantly extra progress than different cities on their net-zero plans and different city efficiency metrics on air pollution, crime, security, and well being. These future-ready cities will not be solely doing extra to deal with the challenges they face, however they’re additionally reinventing their providers throughout a number of city domains (equivalent to transportation, public security, and others), remodeling their operations, and embracing know-how to attain their targets.

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Titled From Future Imaginative and prescient to City Actuality, the research reveals what it means to be future-ready, and what cities must do to get there. The analysis was sponsored by Axis Communications, Deloitte, FTI Consulting, Intel, Itron, ServiceNow, and Wireside Communications, amongst others.

To investigate the progress that cities have made on their future-ready plans, ThoughtLab carried out a worldwide benchmarking research of 250 cities in 78 international locations, representing 9% of the world’s inhabitants. The pattern included cities of various areas, ranges of financial growth, and inhabitants sizes starting from 50,000 to over 37.1 million individuals. The result’s an actionable playbook of the best methods and digital options utilized by cities to deal with challenges and put together for the longer term.

“Cities at present face main challenges as they try to turn into future-ready. The aim of this research is to equip metropolis management with a data-driven blueprint to satisfy the shifting expectations and behaviors of their residents, whereas providing benchmarking insights to assist them assess their progress towards future-readiness,” mentioned Lou Celi, CEO of ThoughtLab and director of the analysis program.

What makes a future-ready metropolis

Future-ready cities are these which are making essentially the most progress in turning into inclusive, resilient, sustainable, and digitally enabled. They’re extra superior in getting ready their city domains to satisfy the fast-changing wants of residents and native companies.

They’ve made essentially the most progress in security, safety, and resilience, with almost three-quarters of them reporting vital progress, in contrast with simply 17% of non-future-ready cities.
About two-thirds of those future-ready cities have additionally made appreciable headway in surroundings and sustainability in addition to citizen dwelling, well being, and belief.
Over half have made vital progress in transportation and concrete infrastructure, that are more difficult domains as a consequence of years of inattention.

Of the 250 cities taking part within the research, ThoughtLab categorized 50 cities as future-ready; 150 as progressing towards future-readiness; and 50 as novices in an earlier stage of growth. Among the future-ready cities in every area 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
Center East & Africa: Ankara, Doha, Kampala, Rabat, and Tehran
Asia Pacific: Beijing, Guangzhou, Melbourne, Taipei, and Tokyo

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Reaching future-ready targets

In response to the research, essentially the most profitable cities do three issues in another way than others:

Rework their working mannequin: Future-ready cities create progressive working fashions to boost governance, foster citizen engagement, and drive forward-looking plans. They heart their methods round individuals, guaranteeing wholesome dwelling and inclusiveness, whereas utilizing digital applied sciences to interact residents and develop productive and expert workers. Future-ready cities construct broad ecosystems of companions and take a holistic, cross-departmental method to sort out intertwined challenges just like the economic system, homelessness, and crime.
Drive steady innovation throughout and between key city domains: Future-ready cities take a complete method to transformation, specializing in sustainability, infrastructure, mobility, security and resilience, and citizen well-being. They make investments closely in inexperienced power, sensible infrastructure, and public transport enhancements like EV charging and micromobility. They prioritize public security with sensible applied sciences, improve public well being via inexperienced areas, and foster belief via clear, citizen-engaged governance.
Harness the ability of AI and different superior applied sciences: Future-ready cities prioritize know-how as a key driver of city transformation, investing considerably greater than their friends in digital initiatives. They leverage superior applied sciences like AI, IoT, automation, and cloud infrastructure. Additionally they lead in adopting digital twins for real-time insights and type long-term digital plans that deal with know-how challenges, like outdated methods and cybersecurity, and set up in-house IT groups to implement their plans.

The position of AI in future-ready cities

The research reveals that synthetic intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how cities analyze knowledge, create content material, and carry out duties, permitting them to spice up productiveness, drive efficiencies, and higher meet citizen wants. Future-ready cities are main the way in which, integrating AI throughout a variety of sectors extra quickly than different cities. The ThoughtLab research revealed a rising divide: on common, over half of the future-ready cities within the research are actively utilizing AI throughout domains, in contrast with lower than a 3rd of different cities. Future-ready cities have made essentially the most vital progress in making use of AI to authorities operations (66%), citizen dwelling and well being (56%), security and resilience (52%), and transportation (50%).

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“AI will probably be a game-changer for cities,” in line with Celi. “As well as, the rise of generative AI throughout cities will make the on a regular basis use of AI a lot simpler for workers and residents.”

Constructing sustainability, resilience, inclusiveness, and financial development is a long-term aim for all cities. Future-ready cities, with the assistance of superior applied sciences like AI, have made considerably extra progress in overcoming at present’s city challenges and operationalizing their visions throughout their city landscapes.

A replica of the total report and different supplies associated to the research might be accessed right here: https://thoughtlabgroup.com/from-future-vision-to-reality/

About ThoughtLab Group
ThoughtLab Group is an progressive thought management agency that creates recent concepts via rigorous analysis and financial evaluation. It focuses on assessing the financial, monetary, and social affect of newest know-how on cities, firms, industries, and world markets. Its providers embrace fielding enterprise, client, investor, and authorities surveys; organizing govt interviews, conferences, and advisory teams; conducting financial modeling, AI sentiment monitoring, benchmarking, and efficiency evaluation; and growing white papers, eBooks, infographics, and customer-facing analytical instruments.