Analyst Insight: Smart Cities in Asia Pacific

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, new priorities for smart city development have arisen. In Asia Pacific, key focuses are utilizing technologies to optimize public transportation and improve societies’ interaction with public data and infrastructure. High speed rail, AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and blockchain are all fundamental tools that cities in Asia Pacific are taking advantage of to help achieve their post-pandemic goals. These applications will also help make cities more resilient to similar public health crises in the future.

The pandemic gave governments insight into the importance of resilience in social systems. Civilians relied more heavily on their digital devices to carry out activities that were previously performed in person. In response, governments have invested in digital platforms and IDs that enable people to view and share data practical for everyday life. As the pandemic has subsided, people have returned to travel by car, bus, train, and plane—accompanied by renewed congestion and rising carbon emissions. Cities have responded by introducing greener and more efficient mass transit networks, while focusing on optimizing intersections with AI to enhance road conditions for passenger vehicles.

This report, based on Guidehouse Insights’ Smart Cities Tracker 3Q23, focuses on three trends in Asian Pacific cities’ efforts to mitigate post COVID-19 pandemic societal vulnerabilities: mass transit, intersection technology, and health and interaction. The report includes market drivers and barriers, an assessment of tracked smart city projects, a trend landscape, case studies with a dive into the tools being used to develop each trend, and recommendations for stakeholders in the smart city industry.