// CITY_ASSESSMENT

How smart is Belfast?

Belfast, United Kingdom, scores 82.6% against the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework in 2026 — ranked #6 of 386 cities assessed, with every finding traceable to a public source.

Smart score

82.6%

Rank

#6 / 386

Criteria present

65 / 86

Evidence coverage

89.5%

Belfast's smart city score by area

Data, Digital & Smart Foundation96%

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

Mobility & Transport77%

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

Environment, Energy & Climate92%

10 present · 2 partial · 0 absent · 1 not assessed

Infrastructure, Water & Waste91%

9 present · 2 partial · 0 absent

Health, Education, Safety & Inclusion91%

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

Economy, Innovation & Employment94%

7 present · 1 partial · 0 absent

Governance, Resilience & Operating Model75%

9 present · 3 partial · 2 absent

Where Belfast is strong

  • Open Data & Transparency
  • Digital Government Services
  • Connectivity & ICT Infrastructure
  • Air Quality & Monitoring
  • Green Space & Biodiversity

Where the gaps are

  • Smart Traffic & Electric Vehicles
  • Climate Adaptation & Heat
  • Active & Shared Mobility
  • Governance & Smart-City Operating Model

Evidence highlights

Open Data & Transparency · Official open data portal

Belfast is covered by the Open Data Northern Ireland portal (opendatani.gov.uk), which publishes government and public sector datasets and allows filtering for Belfast-specific data.

https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/

Open Data & Transparency · Clear open licensing

Belfast City Council states that its open data is free to use for any legal purpose under the Open Government Licence.

https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/open-and-linked-data

Open Data & Transparency · High-value datasets published

Belfast City Council provides examples of open data including bus stops and train timetables, indicating the availability of transport-related datasets. The Open Data Northern Ireland portal also appears to host datasets related to Translink.

https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/dataset?q=translink

Open Data & Transparency · Programmatic API access

The Open Data Northern Ireland portal (opendatani.gov.uk), which is powered by a CKAN-based platform, offers programmatic API access to its datasets, including a 'translink-transport-information-api'.

https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/dataset/translink-transport-information-api

About this assessment

Belfast was assessed against the 86 criteria of the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework on 2026-07-10 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.