Dubai, Abu Dhabi make it to Top 5 IMD Smart City Index
This is a huge marker of urban growth and sustainability in the Middle East. The Index is the most comprehensive of its kind, ranking 141 cities around the world, looking at their infrastructure and technology to see how it improves the lives of the people who live there.
This year's ranking shows Zurich (Switzerland) retaining the top spot globally in this sixth edition of the annual report followed by Oslo (Norway) in second place. Geneva moves up to third place from sixth.
Dubai moves up to the fourth position from last year's 12th place, while Abu Dhabi advanced to the fifth position from 10th place, it stated.
According to IMD, Ankara (Turkey), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Cairo (Egypt), Seattle (US) and Stockholm (Sweden) have experienced decline in smartness over last three years.
Meanwhile Doha along with Riga (Latvia) and Zagreb (Croatia) as well as the Chinese cities of Chongqing and Hangzhou have experienced greater levels of smartness over last three years, it stated.
In its report, entitled The Housing Affordability Challenge: A Growing Concern in Smart Cities' IMD assesses six new cities this year - AlUla (Saudi Arabia), Astana (Kazakhstan), Caracas (Venezuela); Kuwait City (Kuwait), Manama (Bahrain) and San Juan (Puerto Rico) bringing the total to
146.
The Index, published by IMD's World Competitiveness Center (WCC), is derived from 39 survey responses collected from residents representing various levels of society.
Answers to the question 'Is finding housing with rent equal to or less than 30% of the average monthly salary a problem in your city?' shaped the direction of the report.
It elaborates on how higher tariffs on steel and potentially lumber –part of the aggressive trade stance adopted by the United States this year –are expected to increase development costs, putting further stress on an already-constrained housing supply.
Direct participants in the trade war will likely experience economic losses that could outweigh any benefits, the report says. Consequently, rising inflation could damage industries heavily reliant on imported materials –construction being one.
"While cities are engines of economic growth and attract significant talent, this very success often drives up living costs,' said Director of the WCC Arturo Bris.
'We observe a persistent gap between wage growth for many urban dwellers and the escalating price of housing, whether renting or buying.'
The IMD report pointed out that city dwellers' ability to find affordable housing was on the decline worldwide, meaning prosperity isn't being shared inclusively.
This is greatly impacting the overall quality of life of a wide cross-section of the urban population, the 2025 IMD Smart City Index finds.
Factors like gentrification in diverse neighborhoods, a lack of affordable units being constructed, and speculative investment patterns are major factors behind the trend, the report finds. It also underlines that the crisis is more keenly felt in urban areas largely due to growing immigration influxes.
There are minimal shifts since last year's ranking among the top 20 cities; notably Taipei City slid from 16th in 2024 to 23rd in 2025, and Ljubljana jumped from 32nd to 16th.
A unique feature of IMD's report is that it avoids comparing two cities at very different stages of development; survey responses are rescaled according to how they rank in the Global Data Lab's Subnational Human Development Index (SHDI).
The Chinese cities of Tianjin and Zhuhai did not meet the WCC's robust data sample requirements and so were unable to be assessed this year.
The WCC defines a Smart City as one that strikes a good balance between its economic prowess (e.g., jobs and housing), applied technology, environmental concerns, and inclusiveness to facilitate its citizens' quality of life.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Tribune
2 days ago
- Daily Tribune
Modi to Visit China for First Time in Six Years to Attend SCO Summit
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to China later this month, marking his first visit to the country since 2018. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval confirmed the trip on Tuesday during a meeting in New Delhi with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Modi is scheduled to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which opens on August 31 in the city of Tianjin. 'Our prime minister will be visiting for the SCO summit,' Doval said, describing the visit as a sign of 'new energy' in diplomatic ties between India and China. Wang welcomed the news, saying China 'attaches great importance' to Modi's visit. He added that a 'healthy and stable China-India relationship serves the fundamental and long-term interests of both countries.' Wang is also expected to meet Prime Minister Modi later on Tuesday. The visit comes against the backdrop of strained relations between the two Asian giants, which clashed along their disputed Himalayan border in 2020. Despite being rivals for regional influence, both countries have recently sought to rebuild dialogue. India remains a key member of the Quad alliance with the United States, Japan, and Australia—often viewed as a counterbalance to China. Still, Chinese and Indian leaders have been calling for cooperation at a time of global economic and geopolitical turbulence. During talks on Monday with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Wang urged both nations to see each other 'as partners and opportunities, rather than adversaries or threats.'
Gulf Insider
14-08-2025
- Gulf Insider
AfD Tops Poll As Germany's Most Popular Political Party
The poll, conducted by the Forsa Institute for Social Research and Statistical Analysis on behalf of RTL Deutschland, showed that 26 percent of Germans would vote for the AfD. The AfD, an anti-mass immigration party, came second in Germany's national parliamentary elections, earning nearly 21 percent of the vote. The new polling puts the right-wing party ahead of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's mainstream conservative bloc, the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU). The CDU/CSU slid to 24 percent, its worst result since the 2021 federal election. Germany's manufacturing sector, the largest in Europe, has had two years of contraction and is expected to broadly stagnate in 2025, according to an EU Commission macroeconomic forecast. Only 14 percent of poll respondents said they expected the economic situation to improve, while 62 percent anticipated a deterioration, which it said was 'the highest pessimism level' of the current year. Germany is also struggling with the loss of affordable Russian gas, historic Volkswagen plant closures, and fierce competition from cheaper Chinese electric vehicles. The country has gone through a major population change, with its net population increasing by more than 3.5 million between 2014 and 2024, driven entirely by migration. During this period, the number of German citizens fell by 2 million to 71.6 million, while the foreign population grew to 13.1 million from around 7.5 million, Statistics Office data showed. In 2015, under Chancellor Angela Merkel, more than 1 million refugees, many of them from Syria, as well as Afghans and Iraqis, arrived in Germany. One hundred days after Merz's election as chancellor, his approval ratings have fallen to a record low, with 67 percent 'dissatisfied' with his work. The poll showed that 'dissatisfaction' is particularly pronounced among supporters of the AfD, at 95 percent. In February's general election, Merz fell short of forming a majority government, as is often the case in German politics, and, after lengthy negotiations, his party formed a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). At the time, Merz ruled out the party forming a government with the AfD. Forty-three percent of respondents said they expected the CDU/CSU/SPD coalition to end early. AfD's policies include strong support for traditional marriage between a man and woman, the preservation of national independence in the face of the European Union's increasing power, the preservation of German culture amid 'European integration' and Islamization, and border security, including the expulsion of illegal immigrants. Last year, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk deepened his support for the party, defending it against accusations of extremism and championing its policies as the nation's best path forward during challenging times. Robin Brooks, a senior fellow in the global economy and development program at the Brookings Institution, said in an Aug. 13 X post that 'Germany is in real trouble.' 'Its political center refuses to confront immigration, which is the issue driving relentless AfD growth,' he said. 'Instead, the political center name-calls AfD voters. Dereliction of duty.' Despite gaining considerable proportions of the vote, populist parties such as the AfD have been frozen out of governing coalitions in Europe by political opponents who regard them as extremist. In Austria, conservatives, Social Democrats, and liberals formed a coalition in March to block the anti-immigration and euro-skeptic Freedom Party from taking power, even after it won an electoral victory with 29 percent of the vote in September 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron on June 9, 2024, called a surprise snap parliamentary election following his centrist Renaissance party's poor performance in European Parliament elections, when the populist and nationalist party National Rally (RN) performed very strongly. RN, which recently polled at 35 percent, has increased its voter share ahead of the French presidential elections, which are scheduled to be held in or around April 2027.
Daily Tribune
14-08-2025
- Daily Tribune
‘Stop production': Small US firms battered by shifting tariffs
TDT | Manama Washington When US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on almost all trading partners in April, Ben Knepler contacted the factory in Cambodia producing his company's outdoor furniture. 'Stop production,' he ordered. The announcement involved a 10-percent levy on imports from most partners, set to rise further for many of them. For Cambodia, the planned duty was a staggering 49 percent. 'That night, we spoke to our factory,' Knepler told AFP. 'We literally cannot afford to bring our own product into the US with that kind of tariff.' The decision was even more painful for Knepler and his Pennsylvania-based company, True Places, given that he had previously shifted production of his outdoor chairs to Cambodia from China, following tariffs on Chinese imports imposed by Trump during his first presidency. 'We were facing 25-percent tariffs in China, and there were zero-percent tariffs in Cambodia,' Knepler recalled. It took him a year to move the massive equipment and molds to Cambodia only to see another steep levy. With Trump's 'reciprocal' tariff hikes taking effect last Thursday, these Cambodia-made chairs face a lower -- though still significant -- 19 percent duty. 'Wheel of misfortune' Knepler's experience echoes that of many US companies producing everything from yo-yos to clothing abroad, after years of offshoring American manufacturing. To cope, businesses use various strategies. Some pass on the new costs as a surcharge to customers. Others halted imports when duties reached prohibitive levels, hoping Trump would strike bilateral trade deals that would make their businesses viable again. Trump frames his tariffs as paid for by other countries, touting tens of billions in revenue this year -- but firms contest this description. 'We make the tariff payments when the product comes into the US,' Knepler stressed. 'Before we sell it, we're the ones who pay that tariff.' Now saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt he took on to relocate the company's production to Cambodia, Knepler worries if his business will survive. He likens the rapid policy changes to spinning a 'wheel of misfortune,' resulting in a new tariff each time. Over four months this year, the planned tariff rate on Cambodian exports has gone from 0 to 49 percent, to 10 percent, to 36 percent, to 19 percent, he said. 'No one knows what it's going to be tomorrow,' he added. 'It's impossible to have any kind of confidence in what the rate will be in three- or four-months' time.' Economists warn that tariffs could fuel inflation and drag on growth. EY chief economist Gregory Daco noted that the duties effective Thursday raise the average tariff rate to 17.6 percent from 2.8 percent at the start of the year -— the highest level since the early 1930s. While Trump lauds the limited effects his duties have had on US prices so far, experts say tariffs take time to filter through to consumers. Many of Trump's sweeping levies also face legal challenges over his use of emergency economic powers. Price hikes The global tariffs are especially hard to avoid. Barton O'Brien said he accelerated production and borrowed money to bring in as much inventory as possible before Trump took office. On the election campaign trail, the Republican leader had floated a 60-percent tariff on imports from China, where O'Brien makes most of his products. The Maryland-based veteran selling dog harnesses and other accessories rented a container to ship as many products as he could before Trump's new tariffs would take effect. 'I had dog life jackets in the bathroom,' he told AFP.
