{"id":103146,"date":"2026-04-11T12:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T09:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amlak.net.sa\/?p=103146"},"modified":"2026-04-11T12:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T09:48:10","slug":"%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%af%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b0%d9%83%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%85%d9%84%d9%83%d8%a9-%d8%ad%d8%b6%d9%88%d8%b1-%d9%83%d8%a8%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amlak.net.sa\/en\/103146\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart Cities in Saudi Arabia. Big presence in the 2026 IMD Global Index"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saudi cities in 2026 are witnessing a pivotal moment on the map <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amlak.net.sa\/en\/90857\/\">Smart cities<\/a><\/strong> global, with the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) announcing the list <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amlak.net.sa\/en\/56094\/\">Smart Cities Index <\/a><\/strong>for 2026, as eight Saudi cities have emerged as the most prominent models for innovation and digital transformation within the Kingdom's efforts to achieve Vision 2030. This progress reflects the Kingdom's commitment to developing an advanced urban environment that combines sustainability, improving the quality of life, and global urban competitiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this context, Riyadh recorded a qualitative leap in the rankings, advancing from 27th globally to 24th, reflecting the rapid development in digital infrastructure and smart services. Meanwhile, Makkah ranked 50th and Jeddah 55th, while Madinah occupied the 67th rank and Al-Khobar the 64th, affirming the balanced distribution of smart urban development across the Kingdom.<br>For the first time, the index witnessed the inclusion of Hail and the governorate of Khafji, with Hail recording the 33rd position, while Khafji came in at the 100th position among 148 cities around the world, in a clear indication of the diversity and expansion of developmental projects that include various regions of the Kingdom.<br>Taif also showed a remarkable performance, rising from 112th to 85th place, which reflects the rapid growth in its development and tourism projects, and highlights its commitment to improving the quality of life and enhancing its international competitiveness.<br>Additionally, AlUla Governorate recorded the highest improvement in the 2026 IMD Smart City Index, advancing from 112th place for 2025 to 85th place this year, placing it at the forefront of the most improved cities globally in this edition of the index, which reflects the objectives of making AlUla an ideal destination for living, working, and visiting.<br><br>This progress comes as an extension of the comprehensive sustainable development goals that the Royal Commission for AlUla has been working toward since its establishment, in accordance with Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to develop infrastructure, improve services, and enhance the quality of life for the people and residents of AlUla, while preserving the governorate's unique natural and cultural environment.<br>The IMD index is a global benchmark for measuring the progress of cities in adopting modern technologies, as it is based on evaluating residents' impressions of the quality of services and digital infrastructure and the extent of their impact on improving daily life. <br><br>And the Saudi progress in this index reflects the continuation of efforts towards building <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amlak.net.sa\/en\/85329\/\">Smart cities <\/a><\/strong>and sustainable, capable of competing with the best global cities, in conjunction with the Kingdom's celebrations of the Year of Artificial Intelligence 2026, which opens up broad horizons for enhancing innovation and urbanization at the national level.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">Minutes<\/span><\/span>Saudi cities are witnessing a pivotal moment on the global smart cities map in 2026, with the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) announcing the 2026 Smart City Index, where eight Saudi cities emerged as premier models of innovation and digital transformation as part of the Kingdom's efforts to achieve Vision 2030. This progress reflects the Kingdom's commitment to developing an advanced urban environment that combines sustainability and the improvement of... <a title=\"Smart Cities in Saudi Arabia. Big presence in the 2026 IMD Global Index\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/amlak.net.sa\/en\/103146\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Smart cities in the Kingdom: A strong presence in the 2026 IMD Global Index\">Read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":65417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[{"url":"","title":"","desc":"","thumbnail":"","duration":"","rating":"","view_count":"","tag":""}],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"amlak_video_sent":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data-research"],"acf":{"amlak_post_excerpt":"\u062b\u0645\u0627\u0646\u064a 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