// CITY_ASSESSMENT
How smart is Preston?
Preston, United Kingdom, scores 27.3% against the DC20 smart city framework in 2026 — ranked #206 of 213 cities assessed, with every finding traceable to a public source.
Smart score
27.3%
Rank
#206 / 213
Criteria present
19 / 82
Evidence coverage
31.7%
Preston's smart city score by area
6 present · 4 partial · 3 absent · 8 not assessed
2 present · 1 partial · 10 absent · 3 not assessed
6 present · 0 partial · 2 absent · 9 not assessed
5 present · 1 partial · 6 absent · 8 not assessed
0 present · 1 partial · 1 absent · 6 not assessed
Where Preston is strong
- ▸Interoperability & Open Standards
- ▸Pervasive IoT Sensing
- ▸Smart Water & Waste
- ▸Air-Quality & Climate Monitoring
- ▸Resilience & Climate Adaptation
Where the gaps are
- ▸Smart Traffic & Adaptive Signals
- ▸City Data Platform / Urban Data Exchange
- ▸EV & Active-Travel Infrastructure
- ▸Innovation Ecosystem
- ▸Digital Twin
Evidence highlights
Real-time Public Transit Intelligence · Real-time arrivals / GTFS-RT
Preston Bus offers a bus tracker for live bus times, and Stagecoach, which operates in Preston, also provides live bus times and service updates.
https://www.prestonbus.co.uk/bus-tracker/Air-Quality & Climate Monitoring · Air-quality monitoring network
Preston has air quality monitoring, as indicated by its official council website and the Lancashire County Council's environment monitoring page.
https://www.preston.gov.uk/article/1555/Air-qualityAir-Quality & Climate Monitoring · Real-time AQ open data
Real-time air quality data is openly available through the UK-AIR Defra website, which provides current levels, and Defra also operates a Data Services Platform for open environmental data.
https://environment.data.gov.uk/Digital Government / e-Services · Online transactional services
Preston offers online transactional public services, including the ability to pay Council Tax online and manage planning and building control applications.
https://www.preston.gov.uk/article/1207/Council-TaxAbout this assessment
Preston 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.