The term Smart City is likely familiar to everyone, as it has been widely discussed in various media. Thailand is advancing towards becoming a Smart City, aiming to improve the quality of life for its citizens in line with the Thailand 4.0 era. But does anyone know how close our capital, Bangkok, is to being a Smart City? Today, Terrabkk will help everyone understand this topic better.

          IESE Business School, a leading private university in Spain, part of the University of Navarra, conducted a survey on Smart Cities through the IESE Cities in Motion Index in 2019, examining over 174 cities worldwide. The city that scored the highest, ranking first, is London - United Kingdom, with a perfect score of 100. Following closely is New York - USA, with an overall score of 94.63. These two cities were ranked by IESE Business School as fully developed Smart Cities. Bangkok, however, ranked 104th out of 174 cities globally, with an overall score of 51.35. This is a drop from 90th place in 2018, where it had a score of 50.34. Although Bangkok's overall score has improved, its ranking has decreased, indicating that many countries have shown significant interest and development in creating Smart Cities over the past year.

          However, when delving deeper, the IESE Cities in Motion Index breaks down the dimensions further into 9 main categories, which include:

  • Economy
  • Human Capital
  • Social Cohesion
  • Environment
  • Governance
  • Urban Planning
  • International Services/Expansion
  • Technology
  • Mobility and Transportation

         It turns out that no country has achieved a number one ranking across all dimensions. Even the top-ranked city, London - United Kingdom, with a perfect overall score of 100, does not rank first in every dimension.

         In Bangkok's case, when examining each dimension, it is concluded that Bangkok ranks highest in the dimension of international services expansion, positioned at 23rd globally, urban planning at 30th, and economy at 46th. In other dimensions, Bangkok ranks above 100.

          Comparing to 2018, we can see that in many dimensions, Bangkok has improved its ranking, showing good development. However, in several dimensions, we have seen a decline in ranking, indicating that there are still many areas where Bangkok and Thailand need to accelerate development and improvement. It is essential to prioritize these aspects if Bangkok and Thailand aim to become a Smart City in line with the Thailand 4.0 era.

For more information on Smart Cities, see the global ranking of 174 cities.