I thought I knew what made cities sustainable. The data proved me completely wrong.
Armed with data from 3,476 cities and three machine learning algorithms, I set out to rank the factors driving urban sustainability. Building density? Public transportation? Modern infrastructure?
The models laughed at my assumptions.
What emerged instead was a clear, undeniable pattern: nature and clean energy dominate everything else—combined. We're talking 70% of the entire sustainability equation coming from just two factors, while traditional metrics we spend billions on barely register.
This isn't just a data science project. It's a wake-up call for every city planner, policymaker, and citizen wondering why their "smart city" initiatives aren't delivering sustainable results.
The cities of tomorrow aren't smarter. They're greener.
https://github.com/lahiruC22/data-science-projects/blob/main/cities-of-tommorow/Nov2025_lahiruwimala...
https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FlahiruC22%2Fdata-science-projects%2Fblob%2Fmain%2Fcities-of-tommorow%2FNov2025_lahiruwimalarathna_CitiesOfTomorrow.ipynb
