Smartest Cities In America: Fast Company Ranks Brainiest Cities (PHOTOS)

How brainy is your 'hood? That's the question posed by Dr. Boyd Cohen in a recent article published in Fast Company.

Cohen looked at cities across North America and rated them on a "smart city" scale based on characteristics ranging from livability to innovative technology use.

Cohen argues that "smart cities" prioritize green buildings techniques, entrepreneurship, societal inclusiveness, mixed-modal transportation access, governmental transparency and overall safety, among other things.

The city topping this list was Boston, which shouldn't be too surprising considering the brainpower housed in the city's litany of higher education institutions.

Cohen explains that these rankings should be aspirational as much as they are congratulatory.

"All cities around the globe must work harder to improve quality of life--and equal opportunity for all--while reducing their ecological footprint, all in the face of reduced access to national funds and increased strain on infrastructure due to urban migration," he writes. "These 10 cities have all demonstrated a willingness to begin the journey."

Earlier this year, Cohen published a similar list for looking at cites across the globe and found Vienna, Austria to be the smartest city in the world, earning high marks in innovation, green initiatives, quality of life and digital governance.

Check out the full list of smartest cities in North America here:

• Boston

  "It helps that Boston is home to more than 70 universities and colleges, eight of which are dedicated research universities with $1.5 billion in annual R&D expenditures."

• San Francisco

  "San Francisco has become a destination for technology and civic-minded entrepreneurs."

• Seattle

  "Seattle has been a North American pioneer developing its first e-government strategy in 2004, and more recently using both RFIDs to track waste and Twitter to communicate about stolen vehicles."

• Vancouver

  "Vancouver has the highest quality of life in North America as measured by Mercer."

• New York

  "It is hard to separate the city of New York?s efforts from the individual efforts of billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg."

• Washington

  "Washington D.C. has been a pioneer in the adoption of new technology, including the launch of a private cloud in 2010."

• Toronto

  "Waterfront Toronto recently built and launched Canada?s first open-access broadband community network that uses fiber optics."

• Chicago

  "Former Mayor Richard Daley helped usher in numerous innovations and was committed to greening the city, and under Rahm Emanuel, the city seems to be headed toward even more smart city improvements."

• Los Angeles

  "L.A. also is starting to create a thriving technology entrepreneurial ecosystem and is rated fourth globally in the inventive cities ranking."

• Montreal

  "One of the most 'European' cities in North America."

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/05/smartest-cities_n_2248009.html

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