Saudi cities climb as Riyadh gains ground

Saudi Arabia placed eight cities in the IMD Smart City Index 2026, with Riyadh rising to 24th worldwide from 27th a year earlier, as a broader spread of urban centres across the Kingdom gained recognition for digital services, infrastructure and liveability. Makkah ranked 50th, Jeddah 55th, Al-Khobar 64th and Madinah 67th, while AlUla posted one of the sharpest advances, climbing to 85th from 112th. Hail and Hafar Al-Batin also entered the index, at 33rd and 100th respectively.

The rankings matter because the IMD index is widely watched as a measure of how residents judge the practical impact of technology and urban management on daily life, rather than as a simple tally of gadgets or headline-grabbing projects. IMD said the 2026 edition drew on the perceptions of about 400 residents in each city and compared cities by grouping them according to subnational human development levels. The study focuses on two broad pillars, structures and technology, across areas such as health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities and governance.

Riyadh’s movement higher in the table strengthens the argument Saudi policymakers have made for several years: that smart-city progress is no longer confined to one flagship capital programme but is spreading across multiple regions. The bigger story in this year’s list is the widening map. From four Saudi cities in the index in 2023, the count expanded to six in 2025 and now to eight in 2026, suggesting a faster rollout of digital services and urban upgrades beyond the largest metropolitan centres. That trajectory also aligns with the broader Vision 2030 push to improve quality of life, modernise local services and turn cities into more competitive places to live, work and visit.

AlUla’s jump stands out because it points to how tourism-led development is now feeding into the smart-city conversation. The ancient oasis and heritage destination rose 27 places, an improvement highlighted by IMD itself among the notable upward movers in this year’s ranking. That performance is likely to be read as an endorsement of the model being tested there: large-scale investment in visitor infrastructure, mobility, services and urban management tied to a tourism and heritage strategy rather than to the industrial or financial logic that often drives smart-city narratives elsewhere.

Hail’s debut at 33rd is another striking result, not least because it placed the city ahead of many more internationally visible urban names. Its entry suggests that IMD’s methodology can reward cities that deliver a strong resident experience even without the global profile of capital cities or megaproject hubs. Hafar Al-Batin’s appearance at 100th adds to that reading, reinforcing the idea that Saudi Arabia’s urban digitalisation drive is reaching secondary cities and governorates, not just the better-known tourism and commercial centres.

Still, the rankings need to be read with care. IMD’s own framing makes clear that the index is built around resident perception and liveability, not simply engineering scale or fiscal muscle. A rise in the rankings may reflect better public trust, more efficient service delivery or stronger satisfaction with everyday urban systems as much as it reflects visible new construction. That distinction is important in the Gulf context, where governments have invested heavily in major projects, but where the harder test is whether citizens and residents feel those investments improve transport, access, transparency and quality of life. IMD said the strongest-performing cities in 2026 were marked less by spectacle than by their ability to align governance, sustainability, public investment and trust.

The international comparison also shows the scale of the challenge ahead. Zurich held first place in the 2026 ranking, followed by Oslo and Geneva, with London and Copenhagen completing the top five. Dubai ranked sixth and Abu Dhabi tenth, underlining how competitive the regional field has become. For Riyadh, moving to 24th keeps it firmly in the upper tier, but it also highlights the gap that remains before Saudi cities can regularly compete for places in the global top 10.