Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen Enter the Top Five in the APEC Smart Cities Ranking
APEC Smart City Ranking: Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen Make the Top Five, with New York in First Place Focus on the evaluation of 196 cities and AI governance trends, and gain insight into new opportunities for smart cities worldwide
The "2026 APEC Smart Cities Ranking" released at the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services shows that Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen made it into the top five. The report was released by Chen Xi, Director of the Institute for Urban Internationalization at Zhejiang International Studies University, at a related themed forum.
The report evaluated 196 cities across APEC member economies, with indicators covering artificial intelligence, smart transportation networks, interregional cooperation mechanisms, and AI governance, and used a tiered scoring system for assessment. Looking at the top ten in the ranking, New York came in first, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen all entered the top five, and Chongqing and Chengdu also made it into the top ten.
The report notes that the development of smart cities depends not only on digital technology, but also on the coordinated advancement of traditional infrastructure and institutional development. The research team said that this assessment also reflects the development of emerging urban clusters in regions such as Southeast Asia and Latin America.