// CITY_ASSESSMENT

How smart is Leicester?

Leicester, United Kingdom, scores 41% against the DC20 smart city framework in 2026 — ranked #154 of 213 cities assessed, with every finding traceable to a public source.

Smart score

41%

Rank

#154 / 213

Criteria present

27 / 82

Evidence coverage

47.6%

Leicester's smart city score by area

Data & Digital Foundation57%

6 present · 5 partial · 4 absent · 6 not assessed

Mobility45%

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

Environment & Resources67%

7 present · 2 partial · 3 absent · 5 not assessed

Governance & People73%

8 present · 3 partial · 2 absent · 7 not assessed

Economy & Method42%

2 present · 1 partial · 3 absent · 2 not assessed

Where Leicester is strong

  • Resilience & Climate Adaptation
  • Digital Government / e-Services
  • Interoperability & Open Standards
  • Open Data by Default
  • Smart Traffic & Adaptive Signals

Where the gaps are

  • Smart Energy & Buildings
  • Integrated Multimodal Mobility (MaaS)
  • Data Governance, Privacy & Ethics
  • Public Safety & Emergency Response
  • Outcome Measurement & KPIs

Evidence highlights

City Data Platform / Urban Data Exchange · Data sharing / exchange

Leicester operates a public data portal, data.leicester.gov.uk, which facilitates the sharing of various datasets from the city council.

https://data.leicester.gov.uk/

Pervasive IoT Sensing · Deployed sensor networks

Leicester has deployed traffic sensor networks, with data available on the city's official data portal.

https://data.leicester.gov.uk/explore/dataset/lcc-traffic-sensors-combined/information/

Interoperability & Open Standards · Identity/payment interoperability

Leicester has implemented multi-operator contactless open-loop tap-on tap-off bus ticketing, demonstrating payment interoperability.

https://www.leicesterbuses.co.uk/tap-on-tap-off

Smart Water & Waste · Recycling & circular economy

Leicester provides information on waste rates, suggesting the presence of recycling and waste management programs.

https://data.leicester.gov.uk/explore/dataset/waste-rates/information/

About this assessment

Leicester was assessed against the 82 criteria of the DC20 smart city framework on 2026-07-01 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 — see how smart cities are measured. Scores refresh continuously as cities publish new evidence.