Three Canadian Cities Make List of Top 10 Smartest North American Cities

30% of Fast Company’s “smartest cities in North America” are Canadian.

The list, which includes US heavyweights like New York and San Francisco, includes three Canadian cities.

1. Seattle

2. Boston (tie)

2. San Francisco (tie)

4. Washington, DC

5. New York

6. Toronto: “Toronto has continued its commitment to smart densification with its ongoing transformation of its previously contaminated waterfront area. In collaboration with IBM, Waterfront Toronto has launched phase one of newblueedge.ca to allow residents to have real-time web and mobile access to transit info and traffic congestion reports, public transit information, local weather and news reports as well as, in the near future, energy- and water-consumption data.”

7. Vancouver: “In recent years, the city embarked on an impressive citizen-engagement initiative to co-create a new vision for the city. This culminated in an aggressive plan to try to become the greenest city on the planet by 2020. Vancuver recently developed an ambitious $30 million plan to become a major player in smart cities by focusing on nine key priorities ranging from more open data and increased digital services delivery to the launch of an ICT incubator.”

8. Portland

9. Chicago

10. Montreal: “Montreal has the largest bike-sharing program in North America, with more than 5,000 bikes and 450 stations. In 2010, Montreal passed a bylaw which allows anyone who obtains 15,000 signatures to trigger a public consultation process on any topic. The first group of citizen activists to leverage this process obtained 25,000 signatures to generate an open public debate about how to support the increasing use of urban agriculture.”