// CITY_ASSESSMENT

How smart is Kota Kinabalu?

Kota Kinabalu scores 38.1% against the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework in 2026 — ranked #248 of 386 cities assessed, with every finding traceable to a public source.

Smart score

38.1%

Rank

#248 / 386

Criteria present

21 / 86

Evidence coverage

51.2%

Kota Kinabalu's smart city score by area

Data, Digital & Smart Foundation75%

6 present · 3 partial · 1 absent · 5 not assessed

Mobility & Transport100%

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

Environment, Energy & Climate70%

2 present · 3 partial · 0 absent · 8 not assessed

Infrastructure, Water & Waste50%

1 present · 5 partial · 1 absent · 4 not assessed

Health, Education, Safety & Inclusion79%

4 present · 3 partial · 0 absent · 6 not assessed

Economy, Innovation & Employment63%

3 present · 4 partial · 1 absent

Governance, Resilience & Operating Model64%

2 present · 5 partial · 0 absent · 7 not assessed

Where Kota Kinabalu is strong

  • Open Data & Transparency
  • Digital Government Services
  • Public Transport & Real-Time Information
  • Culture, Tourism & Recreation
  • Food Security & Urban Agriculture

Where the gaps are

  • Governance & Smart-City Operating Model
  • Climate Action & Emissions
  • Inclusion & Civic Participation
  • Energy & Smart Grid
  • Urban Data Platform & Digital Twin

Evidence highlights

Open Data & Transparency · Official open data portal

Malaysia operates an official open data portal at data.gov.my, which is described as "Malaysia's official open data portal" and is brought to you by the Government of Malaysia. The Department of Statistics Malaysia also runs OpenDOSM with a data catalogue.

https://data.gov.my

Open Data & Transparency · High-value datasets published

Malaysia's open data portals provide high-value datasets including population data, electricity consumption, and water production data.

https://www.data.gov.my

Open Data & Transparency · Programmatic API access

The Malaysian open data portal (data.gov.my) and OpenDOSM both feature "API Docs" and explicitly offer "Programmatic Access" and "Open API" for datasets, indicating that data is accessible via documented APIs.

https://data.gov.my

Digital Government Services · Unified online services portal

The Dewan Bandaraya Kota Kinabalu (DBKK) provides an e-services portal for municipal transactions, including property rates/assessment and license management.

https://eservices.dbkk.sabah.gov.my/

About this assessment

Kota Kinabalu 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.