Research and Rankings

1. How can my city raise its score?
Because of the wide variety of criteria according to which cities are ranked, there are many opportunities for improvement. Smarter Cities showcases those cities that have instituted best practices and progressive policies in one, two or several of our sustainability criteria. We hope you can learn from their experience and bring evidence of their success to your city councils as you urge that they implement similar comprehensive environmental policies; improve transportation options; offer incentives for energy conservation; encourage waste reduction, recycling and composting; increase urban density, reduce sprawl and build green; and protect green spa ce and use integrated pest management. Your city’s efforts on these actions, as well as many others, would improve a city’s score.
2. I don't see my city listed. Can you tell me its rank?
Our focus is on highlighting success stories and important innovations. By including our list of top ten cities for each criteria, we hope to draw attention to cities that may not have made the top of their size category, but are still doing well in areas. If you do not see your city listed, it may be because we did not receive a survey response. We encourage you to contact your mayor's office and urge them to complete the Smarter City's Survey so your city may be properly scored.
3. Why did Los Angeles score higher on transportation than New York City, which has the highest public transportation use in the United States?
New York City does indeed have very high public tranport ridership rates and this fact is reflected in their transportation rank. For this report, however, we gave more weight to the number of transportation options (including bicycle paths, bicycle sharing programs, bus systems, carpool lanes, car sharing, dedicated bicycle lanes, light rail, sidewalks/trails, subways and trolleys). New York and Los Angeles have made many of the same public transportation choices, but Los Angeles' light rail system gave it a slight edge over New York, though no more than a fraction of a point.

What Are Smarter Cities? / Make Your City Smarter / Research and Rankings

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