City assessment
How smart is Dubai?
Dubai scores 73% against the ISO 37120-series aligned smart city framework in 2026, ranked #39 of 386 by smart reach and #127 on the evidence alone, with every finding traceable to a public source.
Each criterion counts in full where the evidence shows it present, half where partial and nothing where absent, weighted by its category. 5 of 86 are not yet assessed and count as nothing until a finding is made either way. Last assessed 24 Oct 2026.
Smart reach rank
#39 / 386
Smart score
73%
Evidenced rank
#127 / 387
Criteria present
51 / 86
Evidence coverage
87.2%
Dubai's smart city score by area
7 present · 3 partial · 2 absent · 3 not yet assessed
7 present · 4 partial · 0 absent · 1 not yet assessed
8 present · 5 partial · 0 absent
5 present · 5 partial · 1 absent
8 present · 3 partial · 2 absent
8 present · 0 partial · 0 absent
8 present · 4 partial · 1 absent · 1 not yet assessed
Where Dubai is strong
- ▸Air Quality & Monitoring
- ▸Housing & Urban Planning
- ▸Health & Digital Health
- ▸Inclusion & Civic Participation
- ▸Innovation & Economic Development
Where the evidence shows gaps
- ▸Public Safety & Emergency · 2 absent
- ▸Water & Sanitation · 4 partial
- ▸Education & Digital Skills · 3 partial
- ▸Open Data & Transparency · 1 absent, 1 partial
- ▸Solid Waste & Circular Economy · 1 absent, 1 partial
Not yet assessed
5 of 86 criteria have no finding yet, either way. They count as nothing in the score until one is made, and they are not gaps.
- Connectivity & ICT Infrastructure3 of 4
- Active & Shared Mobility1 of 4
- Disaster Risk & Resilience1 of 4
Evidence highlights
Open Data & Transparency · Official open data portal
Dubai Municipality provides open data through its Smart Portal and Dubai Pulse, while GDRFA Dubai offers an open data platform, and "Data.Dubai" is described as the official unified destination for accessing city data.
https://www.dm.gov.ae/open-data/Open Data & Transparency · High-value datasets published
Dubai Municipality publishes food safety data, including testing and compliance information, while GDRFA Dubai provides statistics on residence transactions, smart gate usage, entry permits, and airport/seaport/land border arrivals and departures.
https://www.dm.gov.ae/open-data/Urban Data Platform & Digital Twin · 3D digital twin / city model
Dubai is implementing Building Information Modeling (BIM) with a roadmap to define unified standards for building designs and to develop a mechanism to send data to a geospatial database for updating the base map.
https://www.dm.gov.ae/discover/gis-projects/Active & Shared Mobility · Cycling network / lanes
The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai manages a "Cycling Track" as part of its public transport and policies.
https://www.rta.ae/wps/portal/rta/ae/public-transport/cycling-trackAbout this assessment
Dubai was assessed against the 86 criteria of the ISO 37120-series aligned smart city framework on 24 Oct 2026 by AI agents gathering evidence from official public sources. Each criterion is marked present, partial or absent, or left not yet assessed, and every finding links to where it was found. Cities are re-assessed in runs, not continuously: the latest finished on 24 Oct 2026.