// CITY_ASSESSMENT

How smart is Sendai?

Sendai scores 20.1% against the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework in 2026 — ranked #349 of 386 cities assessed, with every finding traceable to a public source.

Smart score

20.1%

Rank

#349 / 386

Criteria present

14 / 86

Evidence coverage

23.3%

Sendai's smart city score by area

Data, Digital & Smart Foundation100%

3 present · 0 partial · 0 absent · 12 not assessed

Mobility & Transport90%

4 present · 1 partial · 0 absent · 7 not assessed

Environment, Energy & Climate50%

1 present · 2 partial · 1 absent · 9 not assessed

Infrastructure, Water & Waste75%

1 present · 1 partial · 0 absent · 9 not assessed

Health, Education, Safety & Inclusion50%

0 present · 2 partial · 0 absent · 11 not assessed

Economy, Innovation & Employment0%

0 present · 0 partial · 0 absent · 8 not assessed

Governance, Resilience & Operating Model56%

5 present · 0 partial · 4 absent · 5 not assessed

Where Sendai is strong

  • Urban Data Platform & Digital Twin
  • Public Transport & Real-Time Information
  • Climate Action & Emissions
  • Disaster Risk & Resilience
  • Critical Infrastructure Resilience

Where the gaps are

  • Air Quality & Monitoring
  • Housing & Urban Planning
  • Active & Shared Mobility
  • Smart Traffic & Electric Vehicles
  • Solid Waste & Circular Economy

Evidence highlights

Public Transport & Real-Time Information · Public transport network

The Transportation Bureau, City of Sendai, operates a public bus network, as indicated by the provision of bus-related real-time information.

https://ckan.odpt.org/dataset/odpt_sendai_municipal_bus_realtime_information

Public Transport & Real-Time Information · Real-time arrivals (GTFS-RT)

The Transportation Bureau, City of Sendai, offers real-time vehicle position information and trip updates for its buses using GTFS Realtime data.

https://ckan.odpt.org/dataset/odpt_sendai_municipal_bus_realtime_information

Smart Traffic & Electric Vehicles · Traffic / congestion open data

The Sendai Data Dashboard publishes various traffic and mobility-related datasets, including seat occupancy forecasts for public transport, city bus passenger heatmaps, Sendai subway ridership, and pedestrian flow heatmaps in the city center.

https://data.city.sendai.jp/

Governance & Smart-City Operating Model · Transparent procurement

Japanese government procurement information, including that for local governments like designated cities (which Sendai is), is published in a database accessible to users, covering notices under international agreements like WTO and Japan-EU/UK EPAs.

https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/database/procurement/

About this assessment

Sendai was assessed against the 86 criteria of the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework on 2026-07-11 by AI agents gathering evidence from official public sources. Each criterion is marked present, partial or absent, and every finding links to where it was found. Scores refresh continuously as cities publish new evidence.