New York has an unrivaled ability to invest in creating a smart city being the largest American urban area by population (more than 18 million) and GDP ($1.8 trillion, equivalent to the whole country of Canada). This is evidenced by the fact that it was one of just two American cities to receive an A rating from the Global Smart City Index 2020. (7 cities, all of them outside the U.S., received AAA or AA ratings).

According to a poll of inhabitants of New York and more than 100 other major international cities conducted by the Global Smart City Index (GSCI), New York is one of the best cities for internet speed and reliability, traffic congestion information via mobile phones, and cultural events.

Best smart initiative: The city recently began a pilot program in which hundreds of smart sensors were put to monitor waste levels. In a separate trial, it outfitted 5 city fleet vehicles with solar-powered sensors to collect and compare air quality data in several South Bronx districts.

The only other American city to receive an A rating from the Global Smart City Index 2020 was Washington. According to poll respondents, local government decision-making information is freely accessible, an online platform where citizens may offer ideas has improved city life, and cultural events are among the best in the world.

Best smart initiative: DC is deploying video sensors to classify and count city activity (people, bikes, vehicles, etc.) in important economic development corridors and event places to measure traffic volume and flows. The major purpose is to provide "movement analytics" to aid in the improvement of city operations, economic planning activities, and other methods of understanding and improving the city.

According to the QS Top Universities rankings, Boston is home to two of the world's top three universities (MIT #1 and Harvard #3). It's no surprise that Boston is one of America's top smart cities, with such a wealth of human capital. The Global Smart City Index 2020 assigned Boston a BBB rating. It features above-average internet speeds and above-average medical services, according to residents.

Best smart initiative: The BOS:311 app, formerly known as Citizens Connect, allows citizens to report issues such as potholes and graffiti. These reports are automatically transmitted to the city's work order system, where they are tracked and assigned to service teams.

It's no surprise that San Francisco ranks high on the list of smart cities as the entrance to Silicon Valley and a city that attracts billions of dollars in technological investments on its own. The Global Smart City Index 2020 assigned the city a BBB rating.

Residents say it excels at providing online access to employment listings and the option to provide feedback on local government projects. Residents of San Francisco, like those of New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston, regard the city as a world leader in cultural activities.

Best smart initiative: It was actually launched in 2011, but the SFpark smart parking system deserves a mention here. Parking usage is tracked using sensors embedded in the asphalt, and the data is transmitted into smart parking meters, which adjust their pricing based on availability and time of day. The system's goal is to reduce the amount of time and fuel wasted by drivers looking for parking. During typical hours, prices range from 25c to $7 per hour, and around 15% of spaces on any given block are maintained unoccupied at all times.

Seattle, home to Amazon, Microsoft, and a slew of other tech firms, was yet another city to achieve a BBB rating from the Global Smart City Index 2020. Residents appreciate the fact that job-search resources are freely accessible and that they can easily submit input on local government projects. Seattle is yet another American city that ranks far higher than the global average in terms of cultural activities.

Best smart initiative: The Food Rescue Innovation Labs, a Seattle Pacific University program backed by the Seattle City Council's Innovation Advisory Council, is developing software to give real-time, open-access information regarding surplus food, transportation choices, and other food rescue issues. Last-mile organizations (local meal programs and food banks), as well as food-related enterprises as possible donors, are among the app's potential users.

The Global Smart City Index 2020 also gave the Mile High City a BBB rating. According to inhabitants, Denver stands out for the convenience with which tickets to performances and museums can be purchased online, the ease with which online voting can be completed, and the fast availability of employment opportunities. And it's significantly higher than the global average for cultural activities.

Best smart initiative: The Colorado Smart Cities Alliance's Love My Air program, in collaboration with Denver Public Schools, is developing a citywide air-quality (AQ) monitoring network to provide real-time AQ data–using low-cost cutting-edge air pollution sensor technology that has been redeveloped with solar, battery storage, and data connectivity to make it useful for large-scale deployment and replicable in any municipality.

This ranking had to include America's second-largest urban center in terms of population (13 million) and GDP ($1 trillion). The Global Smart City Index 2020 assigned LA a BBB rating. According to the GSCI study, locals were pleased with the recent online voting experiment, which was implemented in ten community councils, including Downtown Los Angeles, in 2019. Surprisingly, Angelenos are less enthusiastic about their city's cultural offerings than residents of Denver and Seattle.

Best smart initiative: In 2019, Los Angeles became the first city in the United States to make an earthquake early warning app available to the public. ShakeAlertLA delivers an alert to users when there are early warning signals of a magnitude 5.0 or larger earthquake, using a network of seismic sensors located throughout the greater Los Angeles region.

Columbus is too tiny to be included in the Global Smart City Index, although it did win the USDOT's inaugural Smart City Challenge. The City of Columbus proposed a comprehensive, integrated plan to address challenges in residential, commercial, freight, and downtown districts by leveraging new technologies such as connected infrastructure, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, an integrated data platform, autonomous vehicles, and more. Columbus intends to implement their plan in collaboration with people, community and business leaders, and technological experts.

Best smart initiative: Columbus, as previously stated, is trying to empower residents through timely, innovative, and safe mobility solutions. It is also working to expedite electric car adoption in order to become one of the leading EV markets in the US.

Austin, another city that is too small to be included in worldwide rankings, is noted for being one of America's fastest-growing cities as well as a rapidly rising hi-tech center. The world-class engineering and computer science schools at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as fresh entrants from within and outside the state, provide a continual stream of talent to support this sector.

Best smart initiative: Austin Water is testing thousands of smart water meters in several areas as part of a pilot program. The meters broadcast usage data electronically, allowing the utility to foresee and respond to changing conditions and promote customer interaction.

Metro 21: Smart Cities Institute is a Carnegie Mellon University program that works with the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and other government organizations to employ technology to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas. As a result, Pittsburgh gets a spot on ranking of the top ten smart cities.

Best smart initiative: One of Metro 21's dozens of initiatives is an artificial light survey of nighttime Pittsburgh at resolutions finer than open satellite surveys. Drone flights with cameras and spectrometers create a high-resolution map of Pittsburgh at night. The data is utilized in scientific studies of light pollution and its consequences in order to identify the city's biggest light polluters.