PwC Russia’s City Readiness Index analyses the readiness of the world’s largest cities to respond to disruptive innovations and adopt technology-driven solutions across a variety of social sectors, including healthcare, education, security, tourism and culture, transport, the economy, utilities, urban development and citizen engagement. 

Singapore tops the ranking, with an overall social and technological readiness of 62 per cent. It was followed by London (59 per cent), Shanghai (55 per cent), New York (53 per cent) and Moscow (53 per cent), according to a statement.

With the exception of Shanghai (76 per cent) and Hong Kong (53 per cent), the survey showed that less than half the population in the cities surveyed are ready to embrace new technologies in their daily life. London (42 per cent) and Toronto (41 per cent) turned out to be the most conservative.

Barcelona (78 per cent) came out highest in culture and tourism digitalisation projects. London (72 per cent) was the top performer in autonomous transportation, as well as the city whose infrastructure is most ready for the future (77 per cent). Moscow (64 per cent) was the leader in providing virtual services for citizenship engagement. 

Overall index leader Singapore ranked first for the digital economy (75 per cent) due to its well-balanced development of critical infrastructure. It is also one of the few cities that has not only supported the adoption of adaptive software in schools, but has also invested in the development of adaptive learning technologies. 

“Every city can use our report as a checklist what they should do to be closer to the future,” Nikolay Lantsev, senior manager at PwC Russia, told Cities Today. “Our survey serves as a kind of roadmap for municipal authorities on how to advance the technological development of their city.”

The online survey was carried out among the citizens of ten cities (Barcelona, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, New York, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto).