Emma Okonji Global cities like London, Dubai, New York City, Washington DC, and Amsterdam top the rankings of the world’s most intelligent cities according to new research from Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Although listed cities excel in different areas, none of them is leading across every domain, underscoring that no city has mastered every relevant dimension.
The report also revealed an interesting urban trend across Africa’s major economic hubs, citing African cities like Lagos in Nigeria, Johannesburg in South Africa, Casablanca in Morocco, and Cairo in Egypt, as African cities that are high adopters of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology globally, despite infrastructure deficits.
While all four cities currently sit in the report’s “Developing” maturity tier due to deficits in digital infrastructure and star-tup funding, the citizens of the listed African cities are among the most active and optimistic AI adopters globally, the report said.
The report, tagged: “BCG’s Intelligent Cities Index 2026: How AI Shapes Urban Living’, is the firm’s inaugural assessment of how 61 of the world’s biggest cities across 39 countries use technology to serve their residents and businesses.
The report evaluated cities across five domains of intelligent city maturity: outcomes, strategy, adoption, ways of working, and enablers.
The report is of the view that a city’s overall maturity level reflects its combined maturity across domains such as leading, accelerating, emerging, or developing.” Addressing African’s lead in citizen’s AI appetite, the report viewed the African indices as supercharged by young demographics, where over 50 per cent of the population in Cairo, Casablanca, and Lagos is under the age of 35, as these cities land squarely in the “AI Enthusiasts” cohort.
According to the report, Casablanca achieved a top ranking in AI adoption and smart city app usage, outpacing numerous established international metropolises.
The report also found that cities do not need to begin with or focus solely on world-class infrastructure or deep funding ecosystems to improve resident outcomes.
“Expanding intelligent AI-enabled city services can strengthen quality of life and overall intelligent city maturity regardless of a city’s starting point, demonstrating that multiple pathways....
