10 Smartest Cities in the World

What are the smartest cities in the world? It can be a murky thing to define, but Boyd Cohen at Fast Company's Co.Exist has compiled a list based on extensive research on "smart city initiatives around the globe."

Cohen acknowledges that the term can be ambiguous, but defines smart cities as ones that "use information and communication technologies (ICT) to be more intelligent and efficient in the use of resources, resulting in cost and energy savings, improved service delivery and quality of life, and reduced environmental footprint - all supporting innovation and the low-carbon economy."

According to the survey, the cities on this list will spend roughly $40 billion on smart-cities technologies by 2016. They are also expected to become real-estate gold because they are attractive to the educated work force.

So what's the smartest city of them all? Click start to view the top 10 "smartest cities" on the planet.

Vienna was the only city to rank in the top 10 in every category - innovation city (5), regional green city (4), quality of life (1), and digital governance (8).

Toronto was the highest rated city in North America and scored well across the board.

Paris was highly rated in several categories including innovation (3), green cities in Europe (10), and digital governance (11).

New York scored very high in almost all categories outside of quality of life, where it ranked 47.

The UK capital scored high across the board, particularly for its sustainability innovations and robust transit system.

Tokyo is the top Asian city on the list, scoring well in the innovation (22) and digital city (15) categories.

Berlin performed well across the board, with high scores in innovation (14), green cities in Europe (8), and quality of life (17).

Copenhagen was the highest rated green city in Europe and also achieved number one ranking in global resilience.

Hong Kong scored well in several categories like digital governance (3), but was brought down by the quality of life score (70).

Barcelona ranked high for its work in sustainability and innovation. Runners-up for the 2012 list were Amsterdam, Melbourne, Seattle, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, and Vancouver.