MAPPING SMART CITIES OF EUROPE

• 240 of the 468 EU-28 cities with at least 100,000 inhabitants (51% of the total) have at least one Smart City characteristic and can therefore be classed as Smart Cities. There are many definitions of Smart Cities. Some focus on ICT as a technology driver and enabler, while broader definitions include socio-economic, governance and multi-stakeholder aspects such as the use of social participation to enhance sustainability, quality of life and urban warfare. A Smart City is quintessentially enabled by the use of technologies (ICT) to improve competitiveness and ensure a more sustainable future by symbolic linkage of networks of people, businesses, technologies, infrastructures, consumption, energy and spaces. A Smart City is a city seeking to address public issues via ICT-based solutions on the basis of a multi-stakeholder, municipally based partnership. These solutions are developed and refined through Smart City Initiatives, either as discrete projects or (more usually) as a network of overlapping activities. More concretely, the strategies and initiatives of a Smart City must include at least one of the following characteristics (objectives and/or modes of operation): Smart Governance, Smart People, Smart Living, Smart Mobility, Smart Economy and Smart Environment. These characteristics constitute the ends for which stakeholders participate in a Smart City initiative (e.g. to solve an environmental issue). The means by which those ends are achieved include a range of components: technologies; materials, financial, organisational and knowledge inputs; processes; and norms and standards. These components may already be present or may be created specifically for use in Smart City initiatives.
• There are more small Smart Cities than larger ones, but there are Smart Cities in all size categories and in most EU-28 countries.
• The highest absolute number of Smart Cities are found in the UK, Spain and Italy; the countries with the highest proportion of Smart Cities are Italy, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia and Slovenia.
• Most Smart City initiatives are still in the early phases of development but the larger cities tend to be the most mature (with at least one fully launched or implemented initiative).
• The most common of the six characteristics are those associated with pan-European public goods problems- Smart Environment and Smart Mobility, present in 33% and 21% of initiatives respectively. Each of the other characteristics (governance, economy, people and living) is addressed in approximately 10% of the Smart Cities, reflecting specific local strengths and weaknesses.
• City size is clearly positively correlated with the number of characteristics sought through Smart City initiatives; Smart Cities with only one characteristic tend to have between 100,000 and 200,000 inhabitants.
• Smart Living initiatives are found throughout the EU-28; initiatives focusing on other characteristics are less evebly distributed.
• Smart Governance projects are seen mainly in Northern Europe (e.g. France, Spain, Germany, Sweden and the UK) and Italy.
• Smart Mobility initiatives are relatively well represented in non-Nordic Northern Europe, Spain, Hungary, Romania and Italy, but underrepresented in Nordic Member States.
• Some other characteristics are likely to be found in combination with others, such as Smart People and Smart Living.

Geographical Distribution

1. Smart Governance : French, Spanish, Dutch, British, German, Italian and Swedish Smart Cities are often characterised by Smart Governance. A few cities in Greece, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Estonia and Denmark have Smart Governance initiatives or projects. Smart Governance cities are found in all city sizes.
2. Smart Economy: German, Spanish, Italian and British cities predominate. On the other hand, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium and France have very few Smart Economy cities in absolute and relative (to the number of Smart Cities) terms. Overall, most Smart Cities with Smart Economy characteristics have more than 300,000 inhabitants.
3. Smart Mobility: Smart mobility projects or initiatives are relatively well represented in British, German, Dutch, Spanish, Austrian, Hungarian, Romanian and Italian Smart Cities. Compared to the number of Smart Cities in Nordic Member States, there are only a few which have Smart Mobility initiatives or projects. Smart Cities with a Smart Mobility focus tend to be spread across all city sizes.
4. Smart Environment: Smart Environment is the most popular characteristic among EU Smart Cities. In particular, Spanish, British, Italian, Dutch, Belgian and Nordic Member State Cities can be characterised by a Smart Environment focus, but such initiatives are spread throughout Europe. The characteristic of Smart Environment is well distributed across different sizes of cities but with a small tendency to be more common in cities of between 100,000 and 200,000 inhabitants.
5. Smart People: Smart Cities focusing on Smart People are generally small in number, and this characteristic has the lowest overall incidence. The Smart People characteristic is especially present in north Spanish and north Italian cities, as well as in German and British cities. French, Swedish and Benelux cities also focus to some extent on Smart People. In general cities that target Smart People are medium or large sized cities, typically having more than 500,000 inhabitants. In almost every case, the Smart People characteristic is used in combination with other  characteristics.
6. Smart Living: Smart Living cities are quite evenly distributed across Europe, but especially in Spain, Italy and the UK. Some Nordic Member States, Austrian and Romanian cities have also adopted the Smart Living characteristic. Cities in western Germany and the Benelux are also quite well represented. Smart Living Cities are found in all city sizes and are typically present in combination with other characteristics.