by Ian Nicolas Cigaral (Philstar.com), 3 Oct 2019
MANILA, Philippines — The race to become a “smart city” is on and in Asia, Manila is the worst performer.
Out of 102 cities worldwide, the Philippine capital ranked 94th in the 2019 Smart City Index published Thursday by Switzerland-based IMD Business School and Singapore University of Technology and Design.
In Asia, Manila lagged behind its peers. Jakarta landed on the 81st spot while Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur ranked 75th and 70th, respectively.
The report said it assessed cities’ “smartness” by gauging their efforts and success in embracing smart technologies to improve the lives of their citizens.
The cities were scored based on their “structures” — or how services are made available to citizens — and “technologies”, which looked into the real impact of services on people’s daily lives.
“Manila’s citizens are more concerned about the ‘structures’ side of the city than about the technologies being offered to them,” Bruno Lanvin, president of IMD’s Smart City Observatory, said in an interview.
According to Lanvin, perceptions of Manila residents were negative on health and safety, particularly on air pollution, public safety and access to medical services.
People in the capital also highlighted mobility issues in the city, especially traffic congestion and insufficient public transport. Governance was likewise an issue among Manila citizens due to corruption.
“In the city of Manila, efforts should hence focus on how to manage a metropolis of some 13 million by improving traffic and pollution/waste management, and providing better access to fundamental services such as safety, health and good governance,” Lanvin said.
“A better integration of urban priorities (re-balancing modern areas like Makati and suburbs/slums) with national (demography, diversification) and regional ones (erosion and pollution in Manila Bay) will also need to be pursued,” he added.
According to the report, being a globally-recognized ‘smart’ city is now critical in attracting investment, talent and trade.
The Top 10 smartest cities in 2019 are:
Singapore
Zurich
Oslo
Geneva
Copenhagen
Auckland
Taipei
Helsinki
Bilbao
Dusseldorf
July 2025
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