City assessment
How smart is Busan?
Busan scores 59.7% against the ISO 37120-series aligned smart city framework in 2026, ranked #162 of 386 by smart reach and #230 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. 19 of 86 are not yet assessed and count as nothing until a finding is made either way. Last assessed 22 Oct 2026.
Smart reach rank
#162 / 386
Smart score
59.7%
Evidenced rank
#230 / 387
Criteria present
43 / 86
Evidence coverage
69.8%
Busan's smart city score by area
11 present · 0 partial · 2 absent · 2 not yet assessed
6 present · 3 partial · 0 absent · 3 not yet assessed
3 present · 4 partial · 1 absent · 5 not yet assessed
3 present · 4 partial · 0 absent · 4 not yet assessed
10 present · 1 partial · 2 absent
5 present · 3 partial · 0 absent
5 present · 2 partial · 2 absent · 5 not yet assessed
Where Busan is strong
- ▸Education & Digital Skills
- ▸Inclusion & Civic Participation
- ▸Culture, Tourism & Recreation
- ▸Public Transport & Real-Time Information
- ▸Smart Traffic & Electric Vehicles
Where the evidence shows gaps
- ▸Climate Action & Emissions · 1 absent, 2 partial
- ▸Public Safety & Emergency · 2 absent
- ▸Critical Infrastructure Resilience · 1 absent, 1 partial
- ▸Governance & Smart-City Operating Model · 1 absent, 1 partial
- ▸Solid Waste & Circular Economy · 3 partial
Not yet assessed
19 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.
- Energy & Smart Grid4 of 4
- Active & Shared Mobility3 of 4
- Disaster Risk & Resilience3 of 4
- Climate Adaptation & Heat2 of 3
- Housing & Urban Planning2 of 3
- Air Quality & Monitoring1 of 3
- Connectivity & ICT Infrastructure1 of 4
- Digital Government Services1 of 4
- Solid Waste & Circular Economy1 of 4
- Water & Sanitation1 of 4
Evidence highlights
Open Data & Transparency · Official open data portal
Busan operates an official open data portal called "Big-데이터웨이브" (Big-Data Wave) which provides a dashboard and data market for public data.
https://data.busan.go.kr/Open Data & Transparency · Programmatic API access
Busan's open data portal provides programmatic access to datasets, with 395 APIs listed as available, and encourages users to create applications using the public data.
https://data.busan.go.kr/Connectivity & ICT Infrastructure · Public Wi-Fi network
Busan offers a "Free Wi-Fi Service" for visitors, as mentioned on the official Visit Busan website.
https://www.busan.go.kr/eng/visitbusanInclusion & Civic Participation · Online civic participation
The Busan Metropolitan Council website provides mechanisms for citizen participation, including "Resident Ordinance Request" (주민조례청구) and "Petitions/Complaints" (진정민원).
https://council.busan.go.kr/About this assessment
Busan was assessed against the 86 criteria of the ISO 37120-series aligned smart city framework on 22 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.