Safe Smart Cities and Climate Frustration

Summary

The Smart City Leaders’ Talk focused on developing safe, smart cities that address climate frustration through digital technologies and people-centered approaches. The discussion was co-organized by the Global Cities Hub, ITU, and WEGO, bringing together international organizations, city leaders, and experts to explore how digitalization can create climate-resilient urban environments.

ITU Deputy Secretary General Tomas Lamanauskas emphasized that cities account for 70% of global CO2 emissions while being vulnerable to climate shocks, highlighting the need for smart connectivity that supports both climate mitigation and adaptation. He outlined ITU’s Green Digital Action initiative and Early Warnings for All program, which work with cities worldwide to develop standardized frameworks for tracking progress and implementing disaster management systems.

Johan Stander from the World Meteorological Organization discussed the UN Secretary General’s goal of protecting everyone with early warning systems by 2027. He stressed the importance of understanding local risks, developing forecasting capabilities, and ensuring warning messages reach all people through multiple communication channels, including low-tech solutions like SMS and voice messages for illiterate populations.

WEGO Secretary General Jeong-Kee Kim highlighted the organization’s work in training young professionals through the Sustainable Smart Cities Champions Program, recognizing that today’s youth are tomorrow’s climate-conscious leaders. The Mayor of Amman, through a video message, described how the city integrates smart city strategies with climate action, aiming for 60% emissions reduction by 2040 while ensuring inclusive digital transformation.

Nadia Verjee from Expo City Dubai presented their model of building a sustainable city from scratch, emphasizing the importance of embedding climate consciousness from the initial design phase rather than retrofitting existing infrastructure. Nicholas You from Guangzhou shared insights on implementing people-centered approaches by breaking down city management to the neighborhood level, allowing communities to identify their specific resilience priorities. The discussion concluded with a call for greater involvement of local and regional governments in international smart city debates, recognizing their crucial role as implementers who understand local contexts and citizen needs.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **Digital Technologies for Climate Resilience**: How digitalization and ICT can help cities build climate-resilient infrastructure, particularly through early warning systems for extreme weather events and better data collection/monitoring capabilities.

– **People-Centered Smart City Development**: The critical importance of involving citizens, especially youth, in smart city planning and ensuring that technology serves human needs rather than being implemented for its own sake. This includes breaking down institutional silos and consulting communities at the neighborhood level.

– **Early Warning Systems and Risk Management**: The UN’s initiative to protect everyone on the planet with early warning systems by 2027, emphasizing multi-hazard approaches that are accessible to all populations, including those who are illiterate or lack access to high-tech solutions.

– **Youth Engagement and Intergenerational Equity**: Recognizing that 60% of the global population will live in urban areas by 2030, with a significant portion being youth who will bear the brunt of climate change impacts, and the need to actively involve them in policy-making and solution development.

– **Practical Implementation Models**: Examples from various cities (Amman, Dubai, Guangzhou) showing different approaches to combining smart city strategies with climate action, from retrofitting existing infrastructure to building new sustainable cities from scratch.

## Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to explore how cities can leverage digital technologies and smart city approaches to become more climate-resilient while ensuring that development remains people-centered and inclusive. The event sought to demonstrate the value of involving local and regional governments in international discussions about digitalization and climate action.

## Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a collaborative and solution-oriented tone throughout. Speakers were optimistic about the potential of technology to address climate challenges while being realistic about implementation challenges. There was a consistent emphasis on inclusivity and the need for practical, context-appropriate solutions. The tone remained professional and forward-looking, with speakers building on each other’s points and emphasizing partnership and cooperation across different levels of governance and stakeholder groups.

Speakers

– **Anh Thu Duong** – Co-director of the Global Cities Hub, moderator of the event

– **Tomas Lamanauskas** – Deputy Secretary General of ITU (International Telecommunication Union)

– **Johan Stander** – Senior Director of Services at WMO (World Meteorological Organization)

– **Jeong-Kee Kim** – Secretary General of WEGO (World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization)

– **Yousef Al Shawarbeh** – Mayor of Amman, Jordan (participated via video message)

– **Nadia Verjee** – Executive Director of Expo City Dubai (participated online)

– **Nicholas You** – Executive Director of Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation, advisor to the mayor

**Additional speakers:**

None identified beyond the provided speakers names list.

# Smart City Leaders’ Talk: Comprehensive Discussion Summary

## Introduction and Context

The Smart City Leaders’ Talk, moderated by Anh Thu Duong, Co-director of the Global Cities Hub, brought together international organisations, city leaders, and experts to explore how digitalisation can create climate-resilient urban environments. This third event in the series was co-organised by the Global Cities Hub, ITU, and WEGO, conducted in a hybrid format with both online and in-person participants, with interpretation available in English and French.

The panel featured distinguished speakers including Tomas Lamanauskas (Deputy Secretary General of ITU), Johan Stander (Senior Director of Services at WMO), Jeong-Kee Kim (Secretary General of WEGO), Yousef Al Shawarbeh (Mayor of Amman, Jordan, participating via video message after being unable to attend at the last minute), Nadia Verjee (Executive Director of Expo City Dubai), and Nicholas You (Executive Director of Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation and advisor to the mayor).

## Major Discussion Themes and Speaker Contributions

### Digital Technologies for Climate Resilience

Tomas Lamanauskas from ITU emphasized the critical role of digital technologies in building climate-resilient cities, noting that cities account for 70% of global CO2 emissions whilst being vulnerable to climate shocks. He briefly mentioned ITU’s involvement in the Green Digital Action initiative and Early Warnings for All programme, highlighting the need for standardised frameworks for tracking progress and implementing disaster management systems.

Johan Stander from the World Meteorological Organisation provided detailed insights into the UN Secretary General’s goal of protecting everyone with early warning systems by 2027. He outlined the four-pillar approach of the Early Warnings initiative: disaster risk reduction, observation and forecasting infrastructure, communication systems, and community preparedness. Stander emphasized a shift from traditional weather forecasting to impact-based forecasting, explaining: “We’ve moved away from forecasting. We’ve moved into impact-based forecasting. What should you do? Not what the weather will be, but you as an individual, what you should do when these conditions are expected in the city.”

### People-Centred Smart City Development and Youth Engagement

A central theme throughout the discussion was the importance of involving citizens, especially youth, in smart city planning. Johan Stander posed challenging questions about youth engagement: “Speaking to the converted youth, everybody knows that by 2030, 60 percent of the population will live around urban areas… Not everybody thinks that 1.8 billion people constitute the youth and by 2030, 60% of those we define as youth will live in these cities. However, are we engaging them enough when policies need to be written or decisions need to be taken? Are we co-developing solutions with them?”

Jeong-Kee Kim from WEGO, which was originally established as “the world e-government organization 15 years ago by 50 cities” before broadening its mission in 2017, highlighted the organisation’s work in training young professionals through the Sustainable Smart Cities Champions Programme. Kim announced WEGO’s inaugural Global Youth Award for 2025 to recognise exceptional young leaders in smart cities and climate action.

Nicholas You from Guangzhou provided a critical perspective, referencing COVID-19 as a wake-up call: “What happened five years ago? The world was hit by this pandemic and I think it was a gigantic wake-up call. We discovered in cities both in the global north and the global south that many people and many places were being left behind… Despite the fact that we have smart city tools around for almost 30-40 years, what went wrong?”

### Technology Adaptation and Accessibility

Johan Stander challenged high-tech assumptions by providing concrete examples of effective low-tech solutions: “Some people may say, but this is all high-tech. When high-tech works, great, we’re all happy. But high-tech technology, the funding for that is not always accessible… So two examples. One from Argentina, a city called Luján… they send out a particular warning for a particular city and what the people should do on SMS. No smart technologies, just information… Another example is in Senegal… they’ve realized that the majority of their population is illiterate… So they’ve moved into a voice-over warning system.”

This perspective influenced the discussion’s understanding of ‘smart cities,’ emphasizing that solutions must be inclusive and adapted to local contexts rather than imposing universal high-tech solutions.

### Practical Implementation Models

Mayor Yousef Al Shawarbeh of Amman, in his video message, described how the city integrates smart city strategies with climate action, aiming for 60% emissions reduction by 2040 whilst ensuring inclusive digital transformation. He emphasized that “building smart and climate-resilient cities requires fostering holistic vision that invests in digital infrastructure while ensuring inclusion of youth, women, and persons with disabilities.”

Nadia Verjee from Expo City Dubai presented their model of building a sustainable city from scratch, emphasizing embedding climate consciousness from the initial design phase. She reported specific results: “93% of our waste away from landfill,” “9% increase on our solar energy production,” and “21%” reduction in grid consumption. Verjee positioned Expo City as a testbed for the UAE’s net zero 2050 targets, piloting solutions that can be adapted and scaled elsewhere.

### Governance and Measurement Challenges

Nicholas You raised fundamental questions about governance structures in smart cities, identifying a critical structural problem: “The reason I want to turn the clock back is because if we look at how smart city approaches have been applied to cities, they have been largely following the existing structure of cities… we have still not overcome those silos. So the real challenge for us going forward is how do we use digital tools and hopefully use AI intelligently to help us bridge those silos.”

You also highlighted measurement problems in urban governance: “We recently did a study, we looked at utilities across a dozen different countries and we’re still measuring cubic meters, tons, kilometers, kilowatts, etc. We don’t see people there. So, the best way that we found to approach this problem is to put people in charge.” He described a new planning approach being used “in Guangzhou, but not only in Guangzhou, in other Chinese cities as well” that focuses on neighbourhood-level community consultation.

## Key Themes and Collaborative Insights

The discussion revealed broad alignment on several key principles. All speakers emphasized the crucial importance of youth engagement for climate-conscious smart city development, with multiple speakers highlighting that young people must be actively involved in planning processes as they will be most affected by today’s decisions.

Speakers also demonstrated agreement that smart city solutions must be people-centred and context-specific, prioritising human needs over technology and adapting solutions to local contexts. This was evident across examples ranging from simple SMS warnings in Argentina to neighbourhood-level community consultation approaches.

Additionally, there was strong emphasis on integrating climate action with smart city strategies, with speakers agreeing that smart city development cannot be separated from climate action and requires integrated approaches addressing both emissions reduction and climate adaptation.

## Institutional Advocacy and Future Directions

Moderator Anh Thu Duong made specific advocacy for greater inclusion of local and regional governments in international processes, calling for “institutionalization of local and regional governments” in WSIS processes, including “regular consultation with local and regional governments on standardization.” She emphasized that local governments are “on the front lines of implementation” and stressed the need to “consult people through local and regional governments.”

The discussion generated several concrete initiatives and calls to action. The Early Warnings for All initiative, led by WMO and UNDRR with ITU as a partner, continues working toward the 2027 goal. WEGO announced plans to launch the inaugural Global Youth Award in 2025. Expo City Dubai committed to hosting the Asia-Pacific City Summit and Mayor’s Forum for regional knowledge sharing.

Cities were encouraged to adopt standardised KPI frameworks for progress tracking, while there were calls for more systematic consultation with local and regional governments in digital infrastructure standardisation processes and implementation of neighbourhood-level data collection and community-driven priority setting.

## Ongoing Challenges

Several critical challenges remain unresolved, including ensuring adequate funding for digital infrastructure in developing countries where high-tech solutions may not be accessible, and effectively bridging institutional silos that prevent integrated smart city approaches.

The challenge of scaling successful innovations from test-bed cities to legacy cities with existing infrastructure constraints also requires further attention. Additionally, developing people-centred metrics that focus on human outcomes rather than technical measurements remains an ongoing need.

The discussion also highlighted the continuing challenge of ensuring meaningful youth participation in urban governance beyond consultation, and balancing rapid urbanisation needs with inclusive, sustainable development approaches.

## Conclusion

The Smart City Leaders’ Talk demonstrated an evolved understanding of smart cities that prioritises human needs, local context adaptation, and climate integration. The discussion emphasized that effective smart city development requires moving beyond technology-first approaches toward inclusive, community-driven models that address both digital transformation and climate resilience.

The strong emphasis on youth engagement, combined with calls for greater involvement of local and regional governments in international smart city processes, points toward more democratic and collaborative approaches to urban innovation. As cities continue to face growing climate challenges, the insights from this discussion provide guidance for developing smart city approaches that serve human needs while addressing urgent sustainability challenges.

Due to time constraints, the moderator was unable to conduct a second round of questions, though the discussion successfully highlighted the interconnected nature of digital transformation, climate action, and inclusive urban governance.

Anh Thu Duong: Good afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, we will start in really a few seconds. Can I call all speakers on the panel. Good afternoon again, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues. Very pleased to be here with you. Welcome to the Smart City Leaders’ Talk on Safe Smart Cities and Climate Frustration, co-organized by the Global Cities Hub with ITU and with our partner organization WEGO. Very pleased. Thank you. This year, we’ve chosen this topic of safe smart cities and climate frustration because a people-centered smart city approach means addressing people’s needs and expectation. And definitely, a climate conscious, climate resilient, sustainable urban future is really one of those needs and expectation. My name is Anh Thu Duong. I am the co-director of the Global Cities Hub, which is an organization which mission is twofold. Very quickly, we connect local and regional governments to international processes, and we focus on urban topics because we all know our future is urban and we need to apply this lens to everything we do, to everything we reflect on. And therefore, I’ll have the pleasure of moderating this event today. A few housekeeping matters before we start. Just to let you know that the event is hybrid. We have online participants and also online speakers who will join. You will see them at some point on the screen. We also have interpretation in English and French, so please don’t hesitate to choose the right channel to make sure you can follow the discussion which will be in English only. Now allow me to first thank the Deputy Secretary General of ITU, Tomas Lamanauskas, and your team for organizing the WSIS Plus 20 high-level events which feature the Smart City Leaders Talk and for joining us today in person. As you all know, the WSIS Plus 20 process offers the opportunity of harnessing emerging digital technologies which can accelerate the localization of sustainable development goals. In particular, those basically that facilitate local climate resilient development and can help address the global challenge of climate action through information communication technologies. The WSIS process is by nature multi-stakeholders. You see a lot of different constituencies throughout the events. You see states, private sectors, NGO, business people, academia. What we are basically fighting for, I would say, sorry fight is maybe a bit of a strong word, is to have a process that goes a little bit further and really include more local and regional governments. We advocate for the institutionalization of local and regional governments. For instance, that could be through regular consultation with local and regional governments on standardization. organization on digital infrastructure development because they are at the receiving end. So I’m looking at you Tomas, to you know convey that message and I trust that today this discussion will show, will demonstrate to you the tremendous added value of local and regional governments in this debate. The smart city leaders talk, which is I think the third in a row, if my recollection is correct, constitutes a very adequate framework for forward-looking thematic discussion between different constituencies, local and regional government, states, ITU and other relevant international organizations, as well as many other stakeholders including, as I said earlier, the private sector, academia, NGO and you name them. So in relation to our panel today, I will first invite Deputy Secretary-General Tomas Lamanauskas and Senior Director of Services at WMO, Johan Stander, to set the frame regarding the use of digitalization and ICTs to build smart cities and develop adequate early warning systems for extreme weather events. I will then turn to our mayors, city networks, city representative, other experts and ask them about how the transformative development of digital technologies and the opportunities that they offer for smart and climate resilient, for smart and climate resilient sustainable city development unfold. As we all know, extreme heat, extreme weather events, we just got through a very intense heat wave in Geneva for those who were there last week. We know that those phenomenon are getting more intense, more frequent and impact our daily lives. So today’s aim is really to discuss how can we ensure people-centered, climate resilient, smart city development And what are the necessary actions at the local level to be taken in order to confront those events? So we have a great line of speakers to address this issue. We will go with the first round of questions and I will introduce you. And we’ll start with you, Tomas Lamanauskas. As I said, you’re the Deputy Secretary General of the ITU. So tell us how, from the perspective of your own organization, how the ITU can help local leaders use digitalization and smart city approaches to develop more climate-conscious, climate-resilient cities. You have the floor.

Tomas Lamanauskas: Thank you, Ms. Anh Thu. Indeed, it’s great to have you here and have this, I would say, traditional conversation already. And I think that’s already answering your question, how we can help to have those conversations and to transform those conversations into solutions. But indeed, I liked how you said about the Geneva heat wave. Actually, some of us were in Sevilla last week for Finance for Development conference, so we only had 43 degrees Celsius. And watching the temperatures in other parts of Spain coming up to 46. So indeed, this is, I guess, new normal. Last year was the hottest year on record, but I don’t think it’s the last year on the record, regretfully. So I think that’s how, the question is how we all really address that. But then the thing before that, the specific challenge also, I think the importance of those voices from different levels of governance to really have one inclusive conversation. And it’s good here, I’m not only seeing here representatives of the cities, I also see ministers, I also see young people, I also see different UN agencies, that we’re all having this inclusive conversation together. And indeed, our great collaboration in the context of cities with the Global Cities Hub, I think enables that really to happen. Now, why we should care? Indeed, cities regretfully are also the source of emissions. And that’s kind of what we say, we talk about resiliency, how we can address that, but also urban areas account for around 70% of global CO2 emissions. So, yes, cities suffer, but they are also a bit of a culprit, so that needs to be addressed there as well. And that also makes cities vulnerable to the climate shocks, you know, from floods and heatwaves and other things that can help. And the question is now here, when we talk specifically about smart cities, do we talk about smart cities in all the right ways? Yes, we talk about connectivity, which of course IT promotes and have a lot of activities there, but also how we use that connectivity, you know, whether we just use that, you know, for which areas we use that. And we of course use that for economic development, for social inclusion, but do we use that also for climate both mitigation in terms of better use of, you know, from energy grids to other areas, but also climate adaptation in terms of, you know, being ready for disasters and better informed users as well. So now, of course, from our side, you know, so let’s say the governmental side for ITU has been an important part for quite a long while, you know, it’s also part of the business framework with our, with Action Line C7, you know, like all these numbers we keep reminding ourselves in this halls, which just talks about the environment. But also we as ITU, you know, a couple of years ago also decided to kind of give a boost of this with what’s called Green Digital Action. So on Green Digital Action initiative that started with COP28 brought together, you know, brought together stakeholders to say both how digital technologies will help solve the climate crisis for us, including cities, but how we all embrace our own responsibilities as a digital industry as well. And that’s, again, when you build digital… infrastructure in cities is important to think. Through the standards that encourage environmental sustainability, through the better reporting and transparency on greenhouse gas emissions, through disaster management, especially through the early warning systems, and we have this flagship initiative called Early Warnings for All that we run together with the UNDRR, SIRS, International Red Cross, NWMO, our partners here as well, of course. So how do we address those different areas as well? One of our partners there is also looking in the Digital Impact Alliance, is also looking into how to unlock data for climate action through what is called GERAND Learning Network for Climate Action, in which we look how to report data, how to really address the critical data needs, innovating data sharing models also for cities as well, so that we can make sure that we know it. And different cities around the world are involved, from Nairobi, Nairobi in Kenya, Desperados, Argentina, Freetown, Sierra Leone. So indeed, kind of different partners are involved already to measuring that, and I think definitely something can be applied to other cities. Now also, two current cities worldwide have adopted key performance indicators of our United for Smart, Sustainable Cities initiative, which is a standardized framework for cities to track down their progress as well. So of course, measurement and progress in this regard as well. So I think these are just a couple of initiatives that show that we find it very important, both measurement side, progress tracking side, but also then making sure the technologies are available through the right standards there and right partnerships here. But again, going back here, also it’s important to have these very inclusive dialogues in the places like that, to really see what are the needs of the cities and how other communities can contribute indeed. And I have to apologize, I will not run immediately, but I’ll have to leave a little bit earlier. Thank you very much.

Anh Thu Duong: Thank you, Tomas. I can imagine you have a busy program those days, running from one event to another. And thanks for making those points about those initiatives and how you basically, you know, help not only cities, but also, of course, states to measures to track progress, to have the right standards, to have data, basically, in order to better, you know, combat climate change. And I think it’s really important to listen from an agency like you, ITU, that you have, you know, really, you know, taken measures to, you know, go and basically fight climate change. So, thanks a lot for that. Also, to mention maybe that cities have tools that they can use, but for that, they need to contact you and they need to engage in a regular dialogue, I would say, with you. Thanks so much for that. We turn now to Johan Stander, as I said, Director, Senior Director of Services at the World Meteorological Organization, WMO. So, can you tell us, because you must probably work on this issue of urban, you know, so can you tell us how can the transformative development of digital technologies minimize the loss of life from severe weather events? And we’ve seen them, unfortunately, unfold in Texas very recently. How do you, how, basically, can you harness those digital technology and strengthen also early warnings and early action system?

Johan Stander: Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity, Thomas. Thank you. It’s great to be here and to represent the WMO on behalf of the Secretary General, Professor Celeste Salo. I would like to take a leap from what Thomas has indicated about the youth, just start slightly different. Speaking to the converted youth, everybody knows that by 2030, 60 percent of the population will live around urban areas. and as we know most of those people will move towards cities close to the ocean. Now, Tomas spoke about the youth. Not everybody thinks that 1.8 billion people constitute the youth and by 2030, 60% of those we define as youth will live in these cities. However, are we engaging them enough when policies need to be written or decisions need to be taken? Are we co-developing solutions with them? Because most of them, not my generation, but we’re feeling the brunt, are experiencing climate change and the impact of climate change. But are we really engaging those people, the food soldiers, so to speak, those people living in informal settlements? And if we think of Africa, they do expect that 60% of the population of Africa will live in cities by 2030. Now, that’s a staggering amount if you can consider the amount of people that live in Africa. Now, Tomas touched on the early warnings of the United Nations Secretary General Guterres with the end of 2022 indicated that everybody on the planet must be protected by early warning systems by 2027. Now, it is requested the WMO with the UNDRR to lead this initiative, but when we started this process, when we developed this high-level action plan, we immediately realized this can’t be done just by us. And we’ve got this four-pillar lead, so working with ITU, which I will go now into, and IFRC. So on the disaster risk reduction side, it’s important to understand the risk. What is the risk in that particular city? Because each city may be different. Can the infrastructure cope with the extreme heat that we’re experiencing? Can cities cope with intense rainfall over a short space of time? Can the cities cope with flash floods and all those that are associated? The microclimate in a city, we spoke about earlier, you know, the people living in a city where the buildings may not be built for air conditioning or cooling systems, or what about the workers outside making sure the streets are clean? Is it safe for them to still work over 2 o’clock or 3 o’clock in the afternoon to do their work? So we need to understand the risk when we develop these technologies. Number two is where the WMO comes in. So making sure we’ve got the infrastructure out there to support this. So we need to make sure we’ve got sufficient information, observation information. What is the temperature? What is the rainfall upstream and downstream that goes towards the city area? And then the modelling capabilities which we can help with, and then the forecasting capabilities. Sending out those early warning messages to the people in the city, to those in the rural community that there’s extreme heat expected in a certain area or in the city, and what should you do? We’ve moved away from forecasting. We’ve moved into impact-based forecasting. What should you do? Not what the weather will be, but you as an individual, what you should do when these conditions are expected in the city. So you need to take action on those warnings. Number three is with the ITU. making sure that the message reach each person. Now people may say, but what if the cell phone system or mobile system goes down? This is where IT is so brilliant. They’re working with the satellite communication people to make sure that if the mobile service goes down, you still get your warning through satellite at no cost to the individual, because they also would like to save lives. And then with the IFRC, making sure the last people are reached at the end of the day, because this whole system which we developed, co-developed with everybody, is a people-centric multi-hazard early warning system. So we must look at all hazards, volcanoes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, heat and so on. Now let us look at two examples. Some people may say, but this is all high-tech. When high-tech works, great, we’re all happy. But high-tech technology, the funding for that is not always accessible for those in developing, all these developed countries. So two examples. One from Argentina, a city called Lujan, so when they’ve got the extreme heat expected in their particular area, they send out a particular warning for a particular city and what the people should do on SMS. No smart technologies, just information they receive from the National Meteorological and Hydrological Service. Another example is in Senegal. And apart from using the SMS system, they’ve realized that the majority of their population is illiterate. They cannot read or write. So they’ve moved into a voice-over warning system. So they get the warning, people get the warnings by just listening to the message. Now that’s practical. It’s not costing a lot of money, but they’re still reaching the people at the end of the day. We earlier spoke about floods and all of those type of things, but what about the cities close to the ocean? What about sea level rise? A lot of these cities’ outlets are in the ocean, but if you’ve got sea level rise, you’ve got extremely high waves, what is happening is pushing the water back, so the water cannot flow into the ocean. Can you deal with that? What do you need to do to adapt to those things if the infrastructure is in such a way that it cannot push the water down into the ocean? When we talk about local leaders, I think it’s really important that we understand that we involve everybody. We need to make sure that we’ve got institutional engagement, involve the people as full partners from the start of the process for smart city innovations, education, capacity development and support for those who need it. Sometimes we forget that we need to do that training on the foot soldiers on the ground level and then leverage global networks. I would like to end with a couple of remarks, if I may. Incorporating the views and expectations of a climate-conscious generation is crucial for people-centric, climate-resilient smart cities. Local leaders can create structures and cultures that treat all as partners in urban innovation, while global leaders and organizations provide the support, the framework and resources which Thomas related to earlier. When all people are empowered to influence and shape climate responses in cities, results are much more inclusive, creative and future-proof. By embracing intergenerational collaboration today, city builders and policy makers can cultivate urban environments that are sustainable, resilient and responsive to the hopes of the next generation. Thank you.

Anh Thu Duong: Thank you so much for those very important thoughts, concluding thoughts. I think you really showed how basically defining smart must be adapted to each local context, you know, it’s not always very much, very high, costly, high tech, but it has to respond to a demand from people on the ground. And for that, basically consulting with local and regional governments who know their people, who know their context, who know their actors is very important. Thanks a lot for that. Let me now turn to my next speaker, Mr. Jeong-Kee Kim, U.S. Secretary General of WECO, a smart city organization that gathers quite a number of cities worldwide, working on smart solutions with those cities. We’re very glad to see you here because we’ve been partnering for a long time with WECO, so thanks a lot for the trust and again for the collaboration around this event. May I ask you how local and global leaders can factor in the views and expectations of people who become more climate conscious in smart city development? And you mentioned it earlier, in particular among the young generation who take on more importance, these are people we should listen to them, we should listen to. How do local leaders factor in those views?

Jeong-Kee Kim: Thank you. Hello, good afternoon. I am Mr. Jeong-Kee Kim, the Secretary General of the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization. It is truly an honor to be here with you today. It is a great pleasure to be to the beautiful and innovative city of Geneva for the second edition of the Smart Cities Leaders’ Talk at WSIS Plus 20 high-level event. Allow me to begin by extending my sincere gratitude to our partners, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of ITU, Tomas Lamanauskas, Deputy Secretary General of ITU, he left present today, and their wonderful team for organizing this important summit and for their warm hospitality. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Global Cities Hub, represented by Anh Thu Duong. Am I correct?

Anh Thu Duong: Yes.

Jeong-Kee Kim: Thank you. Co-Director of Global Cities Hub for their continued partnership and support in co-hosting today’s session. Moreover, I wish to extend a warm welcome to our esteemed WIGO member, Mr. Umar Nasir Usman, Deputy Mayor of Abuja, Nigeria. Additionally, I express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Joseph R. Chawarowe, Mayor of Amman. Mr. Nicholas Yu, Executive Director of the Gangzhou Institute for Sustainable Smart Cities Champions Program. Ms. Nadia Verjee, Executive Director of Expo3Dubai, Mr. Johan Stander, Senior Director of the World Meteorological Organization. We hope to welcome you in the family very soon. Today’s gathering is a unique opportunity to discuss and shape the development of safe and smart cities. It is a chance to reflect on how local and global leaders can integrate the views and expectations of climate-conscious citizens, particularly the youth, into the development of urban spaces. Organizations like the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization, also known as WIGO, has been instrumental in this journey as a global network dedicated to support local leaders in transforming cities into smart, sustainable environments. WIGO was established as the world e-government organization 15 years ago by 50 cities leading in ICT development, mainly led by Seoul Metropolitan Government. Responding to the evolving landscape in city governance and climate consciousness, WIGO broadened its mission and vision to support the development of smart and sustainable cities in 2017. Today, with over 2,200 members worldwide and 6 regional offices operating across all of the continents, WIGO fosters collaboration in sustainable and inclusive development. inclusive development by acting as a central hub among cities in the world. A key aspect to this action is engaging the younger generation, whose forward-thinking ideas are essential for building cities that are smart, resilient, and sustainable. This is the objective of the WEGO, Sustainable Smart Cities Champions Program, recognizing today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders. The program aims to build the students’ and young professionals’ expertise in smart and resilient city development by partnering with domestic and international universities and through a combination of online lectures and in-person workshops conducted by accredited professors. The program seeks to build an active community of future leaders who are climate-conscious and equipped to make a significant impact. By hosting workshops around the world, we offer a platform for interaction, networking, and active engagement to share ideas and explore these topics. In addition, in 2025, WEGO aims to involve young people even further by launching its inaugural Global Youth Award. This initiative is set to recognize exceptional global youth leaders excelling in areas such as smart cities, advanced technologies, net-zero initiatives, digital innovation, cultural Since the beginning of this initiative in 2022, we have observed the growing interest of local and global leaders in getting involved and actively preparing their young communities to face these issues. This is why, as we move forward, I would like to call upon global and local leaders to reflect on the importance of this mission and to join us in such an initiative. By integrating the youth into development strategies and initiatives, we can ensure the development of innovative, inclusive, and climate-focused cities for the benefit of all the people in the world. Thank you.

Anh Thu Duong: Thank you very much, Jeong-Kee Kim. Very interesting to learn about how you train the youth, basically, to make sure that you have a future generation of smart city leaders and that basically respond to their own expectations and needs. Thank you for that. We need to accelerate a little bit. I’m looking at the time. You mentioned in your remarks that Amman was a member of WECO. We have the mayor of Amman, who was supposed to come, who could not come at the last minute. He sent us a video message very kindly where, basically, he responds to this question. How can Amman in Jordan combine a smart city strategy with climate action and economic growth at the local level? How does, basically, that city combine all those different objectives at their local level? The message will be delivered in Arabic. Again, please use your headphones to make sure you have the right language.

Yousef Al Shawarbeh: Warm greetings from Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. We are a city steadily advancing toward a smart, safe and sustainable urban future, guided by a comprehensive vision that places people and climate at the heart of its urban policies. It is my pleasure to join you at this important global event, which highlights the critical role of smart cities in addressing climate change challenges and enhancing urban safety through digital solutions driven by artificial intelligence and advanced technologies. In a time where climate risks are accelerating and the need for integrated and innovative responses is even more pressing, Amman has adopted an integrated approach to the Alliance in Smart Cities strategy with the updated 2024 Climate Action Plan, the Comprehensive Transport Strategy and the City’s Green Growth Plan, all within a coordinated framework that ensures maximum impact on quality of life, emissions reduction and urban resilience. The greater Amman municipality has developed a smart city roadmap built on our interrelated pillars, digital transformation, smart and sustainable mobility, green infrastructure and integrated environmental management. Across all pillars, climate resilience and adaptation are mainstream. Our Climate Action Plan aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2040 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. We have made smart transformation a strategic tool to achieve three core objectives, enhancing urban resilience to climate change. improving quality of life and building an inclusive, data-driven and innovation-based city supported by effective governance. In this context, Amman officially launched its Smart City Strategy in October 2023, a milestone that reflects the directive of His Majesty King Abdullah II to improve public services, attract investment and create a resilient and safe urban environment. This strategy builds on efforts initiated by the municipality since 2009. The strategy is structured around five clear strategic goals, enhancing the efficiency of urban services, promoting community engagement and improving quality of life, increasing the city’s resilience to climate change and disasters, ensuring environmental, economic and social sustainability, preserving the city’s identity while enabling digital transformation. In terms of mobility, the bus rapid transit system is a leading model of smart and sustainable public transport, reducing the city’s carbon footprint and improving traffic efficiency, supported by electronic ticketing and AI-powered smart traffic systems. On the digital front, we have digitized core municipal services, introduced smart lighting systems, citizen engagement platforms and unified complaint applications, all of which have contributed to enhanced efficiency, transparency and data-driven decision-making. In terms of infrastructure, the city is promoting green building standards and low-emission constructions alongside improved waste management through recycling and composting initiatives and smart tracking tools to boost operational efficiency. Building a smart and climate-resilient city is not just about technology adoption. It is about fostering a holistic vision that invests in digital infrastructure, builds public trust, strengthens national and international partnerships, and ensures the inclusions of all, especially youth, women and persons with disabilities. I would like to thank the organizers of this important summit and reaffirm Amman’s strong commitment to both its achievements and its aspirations to be a model for equitable, smart climate transformation and a proactive international partner in building the cities of tomorrow. Cities that are more sustainable, inclusive and secure. Thank you.

Anh Thu Duong: Thank you. I apologize to our speakers here who don’t have the interpretation. I’ll provide you with a translation of his statement. But what’s again very interesting to hear in Amman’s basically intervention, it’s again this question of definition of smartness. It’s not about only technology adoption, but how to be as inclusive as possible, how to make sure that all the public services reach the right people in the city, including the youth, including the women, people with disabilities, and responding to your basic mandate as mayor is servicing people. We now move on to Nadia Vergy. I hope you are online with us. I think you are. Great. Thanks. Welcome, Nadia. Welcome to Girona. Nadia, you are Executive Director of Expo City Dubai. It’s a very special example of creating a city from scratch. Expo City Dubai presents itself as a pioneering model for sustainable urban development. Interestingly, in preparing this event, I found that your city, Expo City Dubai, prides itself in not being just a city, but in being tomorrow’s living model for how we live, how we work, how we have leisure, how we connect in the future. So tell us, you know, from your experience, from your standpoint, how does Expo City Dubai reconcile smart city technologies and climate consciousness? The floor is yours.

Nadia Verjee: Thank you very much for having me on the panel today. I hope you can hear me well, and it’s an honor to participate. So Expo City Dubai is the new center of gravity of the future growth of the city of Dubai. So it’s not a retrofit, but it’s a city really born out of intention. And that, I think, and I think it’s very important to say, that it comes with a profound opportunity, but also a very serious responsibility when the stakes are this high. And we’re talking about climate change, digital disruption, rising expectations around safety, equity. Our colleague from WHO is really speaking about intergenerational equity and inclusion. And I think that these are really essential ingredients of how to design holistic. We haven’t really layered sustainability or infrastructure on top of legacy systems. We really embedded it from the very beginning. And so really thinking about the design master plan of this space, how can we think about mobility, energy, waste, data flow in a single system? So almost really thinking of a different paradigm. We’re a 15 minute city by design. scale, walkable, digitally integrated. Our infrastructure like district cooling, sensor-enabled waste was really planned from the outset. We really do prioritise renewable energy, eco-friendly designs, smart urban planning, sort of that whole facility for residents and tenants and everybody who’s living in this city to really benefit from an improved quality of life. In 2024, to give you just a few anchors of statistics, we diverted 93% of our waste away from landfill. We had a 9% increase on our solar energy production. We’re a certified autism centre. On our road to decarbonisation, reducing our consumption of grid and year on year from last year was 21%. So all of this kind of gives you an idea of the fact that we serve as this test bed for the city of Dubai, but for the UAE that’s got its own net zero targets for 2050. So we can pilot, we fail fast. We try to scale because the governance, the land, the institutional framework is all aligned. So we’re not kind of trapped in those long term cycles. And I think this is something that’s very well known about Dubai and the UAE, the sort of governance agility, and that can really accelerate our response to climate. But then I guess the flip side of that is ensuring inclusion, and it’s not enough to have the technology. We have to sort of ask ourselves, well, what does it take to really reduce emissions, improve air quality, and really focus on human dignity? And so that we like to call ourselves a green print, almost a model for export, but really a testbed for solutions that can be adapted, that can be scaled, and that can be tested elsewhere, particularly in the global south. And so, you know, we really, really believe that it’s really got to be. incredibly responsive. Safety is really about physical infrastructure, about digital safeguards and emotional security. So really creating trust in how the city listens and adapts and really sort of creates that enabling environment for the citizens and for folks who are living there. You know, we’re working with colleagues on the panel. You know, EGO is joining us in October at one of our big events that we’re hosting, and I’ll tell you a bit more about that. But really the idea is to co-develop frameworks that measure not just smartness, but really focused on impact. And like I said, on emissions, on equity, this focus on intergenerational equity is a priority for us and really human dignity. So what we’ve done over the course of the last couple of years is really design our own urban framework, which really helps cities benchmark themselves across global standards, but then our own metrics of what we’ve put in place to become this city that’s really based on metrics of sustainability, innovation, R&D, SME support, and really broad international cooperation. So my day job is to take the city into the world and then bring value back from the world into the city for the purposes of really benefiting from what great advances are happening in the rest of the world too. And so, you know, we recognize that it may look a little bit utopian perhaps, or a little bit inaccessible, that this idea of starting from scratch is sort of disconnected from some of these real world urban complexities, but Dubai has its own fair share of urban complexities. And so the burden is on us to kind of really collaborate, showcase what we’re doing, and really build relationships with cities around the world, which is why we’re hosting the Asia-Pacific City Summit and Mayor’s Forum, which is our global mayoral forum, really bringing the BIASA regions, Middle East, South Asia, and Africa region to the table. Because urbanization is happening at such an exponential speed in this part of the world, how do you really interrogate what works, what can scale, and what really inspires adaptation? So we’re really seeing this as an inflection point for cities to think about climate-conscious transformation through digital, through policy innovation, really bringing all of these leaders together to tackle challenges across climate, connectivity, infrastructure, and inclusion. And really for us, we really believe that Expo City is not just about the physical infrastructure, but it’s at the service of really a platform for urban imagination. So we hosted the World Expo, we hosted COP28, and now we believe that the frustration that we all feel about climate inaction, siloed planning, this idea of exclusionary design, really can be redirected into solutions that allow us to converge if we can create spaces to do that. So we’re a work in progress, and our invitation extends to every city to really build with purpose, build with urgency and integrity for what we all deserve and for what the next generations deserve too.

Anh Thu Duong: Thank you so much, Nadia. That sounds absolutely fascinating. I guess a lot of cities worldwide must look at you with a little bit of envy, being able to build a city from scratch. However, I might just rely on that figure that UN-Habitat keeps bringing up, saying that 60% of urban infrastructure by 2050, I think, is still to be built. So we still have a lot of white pages to draw on our urban future. But thanks so much for your intervention and about telling us how you work with that and how you’ve been able to embed all those considerations about climate resilience, climate consciousness from the very start. Very interesting. Now, let me turn to Nicholas You. the last but not the least. You are Executive Director of Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation but I’ve learned just before the panel that you were actually the advisor to the mayor which you know is much more interesting from our point of view I have to say because we’re looking for those connections with cities directly. So you’re basically, you extensively work on the concept of innovation in improving social, economic, environmental sustainability in cities. As such you’ve become really an expert on smart cities and advocate for a people-centered approach which we’ve heard throughout you know different interventions. Can you tell us more about the importance of why this is so important to have this people-centered approach? It sounds obvious but it’s not always when you design those smart cities. How does that play out in the context of smart climate resilient cities?

Nicholas You: Thank you very much and greetings to everybody. I would like to start just by turning the clock back five years. What happened five years ago? The world was hit by this pandemic and I think it was a gigantic wake-up call. We discovered in cities both in the global north and the global south that many people and many places were being left behind. I personally had to deal with emergencies in approximately a dozen cities. We were monitoring very closely what was happening and it was quite shocking to find out that even in wealthy cities there were entire neighborhoods where people did not have access to recreational green space. Entire communities did not have access to fresh food that a lot of children were really missing out on their education because of the digital divide. So what didn’t work? Despite the fact that we have smart city tools around for almost 30-40 years, what went wrong? And the reason I want to turn the clock back is because if we look at how smart city approaches have been applied to cities, they have been largely following the existing structure of cities. And our cities today, the structure that we use to govern our cities, manage our cities, was born out of the Industrial Revolution, when cities exploded in growth, in speed, in population, and it became so complex that we had to break down and simplify the city into bite-sized pieces. We call those bite-sized pieces the silos. And what COVID revealed to us was that despite all our efforts on smart city planning, smart city management, etc., we have still not overcome those silos. So the real challenge for us going forward is how do we use digital tools and hopefully use AI intelligently to help us bridge those silos in order to meet the green climate and digital transitions, right? And Guangzhou is no different. We discovered the same problems as other cities around the world, and I just want to use it as an example. We started our digital transition a long time ago already. As most people are aware, China’s pretty much at the forefront of using AI and all kinds of digital tools. But we also had the same problems, and we decided to use this wake-up call to rethink how we plan and design the city, not like Dubai. We’re a legacy city of 18 million people, so it’s pretty hard to try to do something completely new. The key issue here was how to become people-centered to make your city more resilient, was to rethink the management of the city down to the neighborhood level. So there’s a new planning approach in Guangzhou, but not only in Guangzhou, in other Chinese cities as well, where the city is broken down into wards, and most of the data that is being collected and being monitored is being done at the ward level. So we ask neighborhood by neighborhood, what are your priorities in making your neighborhood, your residential area, your community more resilient? It changes from neighborhood to neighborhood, depending on the age of the neighborhood, its type of architecture, when it was planned, when it was built, the age, gender split in that neighborhood. So we found out that some neighborhoods, in order to become more resilient, they primarily had to deal with solid waste. In others, it was urban cooling. How do you actually cool down the temperature of your neighborhood? Yet in others, it was water, but Chinese cities have an overall strategy of the sponge city. Yet in others, it was greening, how to integrate micro parks, micro recreational spaces into an existing urban fabric. So this bottom-up approach to looking at resilience is the strategy that Guangzhou is now pursuing. As I mentioned, most of the data is being collected at the community level. It’s being generated at the community level. It’s using simple applications, using mobile phone technology, while the city itself is monitoring other things, the overall temperature. wind direction, water, etc. etc. So, what basically what I’m getting at is that in order for a city, people-centered smart city to work, we have to re-look at all of our KPIs, sector by sector, silo by solo, to make sure that people are at the center. This is not the case today. We recently did a study, we looked at utilities across a dozen different countries and we’re still measuring cubic meters, tons, kilometers, kilowatts, etc. We don’t see people there. So, the best way that we found to approach this problem is to put people in charge. Put people in charge of collecting, defining which data they want to collect, which are the problems they want to solve, have them be part of the ecosystem that is looking at the data, coming up with solutions, feeding that back into the urban planning and day-to-day management of the city. In conclusion, what I want to say is that for people-centered to work, we have to make this a real pillar of how we measure what we’re doing. It has to be a fundamental pillar. It cannot just be objectives that we fix to a project or to a three-year initiative, etc. It has to become a permanent feature of how we measure progress. Most importantly, I think it implies that we adopt a systems approach, which means that from the governance perspective, we will have to bridge, if not break down those silos. The only way we can do that is really by putting people and communities at the forefront of the decision-making process.

Anh Thu Duong: Thank you so much, Nicolas. It’s really back to basics, basically. If you want a people-centered approach, ask the people. Go to the neighbourhood level, go to the ward level to understand what are their needs and expectations. in terms of smartness of their own city. We had a last speaker, but I think unfortunately we had connection issues. Unfortunately, so therefore we’re coming to the end of this event without having the opportunity to go for a second round of questions. I’m so sorry about this. I feel that this discussion could have lasted much longer, but allow me to simply like express my heartfelt thanks to all of the speakers both in person but also online for their time and valuable contributions. Allow me to also extend sincere gratitude for the ITU team who’ve enabled this event as well as to my colleague Andras Szorenyi who’s worked very hard to gather all those fantastic speakers. I hope we’ve successfully highlighted the critical role that local and regional governments must play in the current but also the future debates on smart cities and you understood that smart is a very big word where we put a lot of things. It means different things for different purple people, but please do consult your own people through local and regional governments who are the level of authority that is in proximity with those people who again know the context, know the territory, know basically what are the needs that need to be responded to. As with many issues discussed at the international level, we must recognize that local and regional governments are often on the front lines of implementation, of decision being made at the state level, at the international level. So their involvement in those discussions is crucial. This is what we’ve attempted to do today by having this focus on city level. And so we know that local and regional governments have the ability to drive real progress when it comes to climate resilience because ITU mentioned it earlier. Nadia, they are the drivers of the climate change, but they’re also the ones being most impacted. So let’s listen to them. Let’s consult people to ensure that we have a people-centered, smart city development. And I thank you again and hope to see you soon.

Agreement points

Youth engagement is crucial for climate-conscious smart city development

Speakers

– Johan Stander
– Jeong-Kee Kim
– Yousef Al Shawarbeh
– Anh Thu Duong

Arguments

1.8 billion youth will constitute 60% of urban population by 2030, but they need to be engaged in policy-making and solution co-development

WEGO’s Sustainable Smart Cities Champions Program builds students’ and young professionals’ expertise through online lectures and workshops to create climate-conscious future leaders

Building smart and climate-resilient cities requires fostering holistic vision that invests in digital infrastructure while ensuring inclusion of youth, women, and persons with disabilities

Incorporating views of climate-conscious generation is crucial for people-centric, climate-resilient smart cities

Summary

All speakers emphasized that young people must be actively involved in smart city planning and development, as they will be the primary urban residents and most affected by climate change decisions made today

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Smart city solutions must be people-centered and context-specific

Speakers

– Johan Stander
– Yousef Al Shawarbeh
– Nicholas You
– Anh Thu Duong

Arguments

Smart solutions must be adapted to local contexts – simple SMS warnings in Argentina and voice-over systems for illiterate populations in Senegal prove effective

Building smart and climate-resilient cities requires fostering holistic vision that invests in digital infrastructure while ensuring inclusion of youth, women, and persons with disabilities

Cities must rethink management at neighborhood level, asking communities what their priorities are for resilience, which varies by neighborhood characteristics

Smart city development must address people’s needs and expectations, particularly climate-conscious and climate-resilient urban futures

Summary

Speakers agreed that effective smart cities must prioritize human needs over technology, adapting solutions to local contexts and ensuring inclusive participation in planning processes

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Integration of climate action with smart city strategies is essential

Speakers

– Tomas Lamanauskas
– Yousef Al Shawarbeh
– Nadia Verjee

Arguments

Cities account for 70% of global CO2 emissions and are vulnerable to climate shocks, requiring smart connectivity for both mitigation and adaptation

Climate Action Plan aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2040 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through integrated smart city strategy

Expo City Dubai diverted 93% of waste from landfill, increased solar energy production by 9%, and reduced grid consumption by 21% through embedded sustainability design

Summary

Speakers emphasized that smart city development cannot be separated from climate action, requiring integrated approaches that address both emissions reduction and climate adaptation

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the critical importance of robust early warning systems that can reach all populations, with ITU and WMO working together to ensure communication infrastructure resilience during disasters

Speakers

– Tomas Lamanauskas
– Johan Stander

Arguments

ITU helps through satellite communication backup when mobile systems fail, ensuring warning messages reach everyone at no cost

Early Warnings for All initiative aims to protect everyone on the planet by 2027 through four-pillar approach: understanding risk, infrastructure, communication, and reaching last people

Topics

Infrastructure | Development

Both speakers highlighted the importance of standardized frameworks and metrics that allow cities to measure and compare their smart city progress globally

Speakers

– Tomas Lamanauskas
– Nadia Verjee

Arguments

Two thousand cities worldwide have adopted key performance indicators from United for Smart, Sustainable Cities initiative for standardized progress tracking

WEGO developed urban framework helping cities benchmark across global standards with metrics focused on sustainability, innovation, R&D, and international cooperation

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Both speakers emphasized that high-tech solutions are not always the answer, and that accessibility and inclusion must be prioritized to ensure smart city benefits reach all populations

Speakers

– Johan Stander
– Nicholas You

Arguments

Smart solutions must be adapted to local contexts – simple SMS warnings in Argentina and voice-over systems for illiterate populations in Senegal prove effective

COVID-19 revealed that despite 30-40 years of smart city tools, many people were left behind due to digital divides and lack of access to basic services

Topics

Development | Human rights

Unexpected consensus

Need for governance transformation beyond technology implementation

Speakers

– Nicholas You
– Yousef Al Shawarbeh
– Anh Thu Duong

Arguments

People-centered approach requires breaking down silos and adopting systems approach with communities at forefront of decision-making process

Building smart and climate-resilient cities requires fostering holistic vision that invests in digital infrastructure while ensuring inclusion of youth, women, and persons with disabilities

WSIS process needs institutionalization of local and regional governments through regular consultation on standardization and digital infrastructure development

Explanation

Unexpectedly, speakers from different backgrounds (academic, municipal, and international organization) all emphasized that smart cities require fundamental governance changes, not just technological upgrades. This suggests a mature understanding that technology alone cannot solve urban challenges without institutional reform

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Measurement systems need fundamental redesign to focus on human outcomes

Speakers

– Nicholas You
– Tomas Lamanauskas
– Nadia Verjee

Arguments

Current utility measurements across dozen countries still focus on cubic meters, tons, kilometers rather than people-centered metrics

Two thousand cities worldwide have adopted key performance indicators from United for Smart, Sustainable Cities initiative for standardized progress tracking

WEGO developed urban framework helping cities benchmark across global standards with metrics focused on sustainability, innovation, R&D, and international cooperation

Explanation

There was unexpected consensus that current measurement approaches are inadequate, with speakers agreeing that metrics must shift from technical outputs to human-centered outcomes, despite coming from different organizational perspectives

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Overall assessment

Summary

Speakers demonstrated strong consensus on the need for people-centered, climate-integrated smart city approaches that prioritize youth engagement, local context adaptation, and governance transformation over pure technological solutions

Consensus level

High level of consensus with significant implications for smart city development, suggesting a paradigm shift from technology-first to human-needs-first approaches. This consensus indicates that the smart cities field is maturing beyond initial technology enthusiasm toward more holistic, inclusive, and sustainable urban development models that recognize the interconnected nature of digital transformation, climate action, and social equity.

Different viewpoints

Definition and approach to smart city development

Speakers

– Nadia Verjee
– Nicholas You

Arguments

Expo City Dubai diverted 93% of waste from landfill, increased solar energy production by 9%, and reduced grid consumption by 21% through embedded sustainability design

Cities must rethink management at neighborhood level, asking communities what their priorities are for resilience, which varies by neighborhood characteristics

Summary

Nadia Verjee advocates for a top-down, comprehensive design approach where sustainability is embedded from the beginning in new cities, while Nicholas You argues for a bottom-up, neighborhood-level approach that adapts to existing urban contexts and community-defined priorities.

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Technology complexity and accessibility in smart city solutions

Speakers

– Johan Stander
– Nicholas You

Arguments

Smart solutions must be adapted to local contexts – simple SMS warnings in Argentina and voice-over systems for illiterate populations in Senegal prove effective

COVID-19 revealed that despite 30-40 years of smart city tools, many people were left behind due to digital divides and lack of access to basic services

Summary

Johan Stander emphasizes that simple, low-tech solutions can be effective when properly adapted to local contexts, while Nicholas You argues that existing smart city approaches have fundamentally failed to address digital divides and exclusion, requiring more systemic changes.

Topics

Development | Human rights

Unexpected differences

Role of governance structures in smart city implementation

Speakers

– Nadia Verjee
– Nicholas You

Arguments

Expo City serves as testbed for UAE’s net zero 2050 targets, piloting solutions that can be adapted and scaled elsewhere, particularly in global south

People-centered approach requires breaking down silos and adopting systems approach with communities at forefront of decision-making process

Explanation

This disagreement is unexpected because both speakers advocate for people-centered approaches, yet they have fundamentally different views on governance. Verjee celebrates governance agility and top-down efficiency, while You argues that existing governance structures are the problem and need to be fundamentally restructured to put communities in charge.

Topics

Development | Sociocultural

Overall assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement center around the approach to smart city development (top-down vs. bottom-up), the role of technology complexity, measurement systems, and governance structures. While all speakers agree on the importance of people-centered, climate-resilient cities, they differ significantly on implementation strategies.

Disagreement level

Moderate disagreement level with significant implications. The disagreements reflect fundamental philosophical differences about urban development approaches that could lead to very different policy outcomes. However, the disagreements are constructive and focus on methodology rather than goals, suggesting potential for synthesis and learning across approaches.

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the critical importance of robust early warning systems that can reach all populations, with ITU and WMO working together to ensure communication infrastructure resilience during disasters

Speakers

– Tomas Lamanauskas
– Johan Stander

Arguments

ITU helps through satellite communication backup when mobile systems fail, ensuring warning messages reach everyone at no cost

Early Warnings for All initiative aims to protect everyone on the planet by 2027 through four-pillar approach: understanding risk, infrastructure, communication, and reaching last people

Topics

Infrastructure | Development

Both speakers highlighted the importance of standardized frameworks and metrics that allow cities to measure and compare their smart city progress globally

Speakers

– Tomas Lamanauskas
– Nadia Verjee

Arguments

Two thousand cities worldwide have adopted key performance indicators from United for Smart, Sustainable Cities initiative for standardized progress tracking

WEGO developed urban framework helping cities benchmark across global standards with metrics focused on sustainability, innovation, R&D, and international cooperation

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Both speakers emphasized that high-tech solutions are not always the answer, and that accessibility and inclusion must be prioritized to ensure smart city benefits reach all populations

Speakers

– Johan Stander
– Nicholas You

Arguments

Smart solutions must be adapted to local contexts – simple SMS warnings in Argentina and voice-over systems for illiterate populations in Senegal prove effective

COVID-19 revealed that despite 30-40 years of smart city tools, many people were left behind due to digital divides and lack of access to basic services

Topics

Development | Human rights

Key takeaways

Smart cities must integrate climate resilience from the outset, with cities being both major contributors (70% of CO2 emissions) and victims of climate change

A people-centered approach is essential for effective smart city development, requiring consultation with local communities at the neighborhood level to understand their specific needs

Digital technologies and early warning systems can save lives when adapted to local contexts – from high-tech solutions to simple SMS and voice messages for illiterate populations

Youth engagement is critical as 60% of the 1.8 billion youth globally will live in cities by 2030, and they must be involved in policy-making and solution development

Local and regional governments are on the front lines of implementation and must be institutionalized in international processes like WSIS for effective smart city governance

Smart city success requires breaking down institutional silos and adopting systems approaches that put communities at the center of decision-making

Technology alone is insufficient – smart cities need inclusive governance that ensures all populations, including marginalized groups, have access to services and benefits

Standardized frameworks and KPIs are needed to measure progress, but metrics must shift from technical measurements to people-centered indicators

Resolutions and action items

ITU to continue supporting cities through Early Warnings for All initiative to protect everyone by 2027

WEGO to launch inaugural Global Youth Award in 2025 to recognize exceptional young leaders in smart cities and climate action

Expo City Dubai to host Asia-Pacific City Summit and Mayor’s Forum to bring regional leaders together for knowledge sharing

Cities to adopt United for Smart, Sustainable Cities KPI framework for standardized progress tracking

Local and regional governments to be more systematically consulted in WSIS processes and digital infrastructure standardization

Cities to implement neighborhood-level data collection and community-driven priority setting for resilience planning

Unresolved issues

How to ensure adequate funding for digital infrastructure in developing countries where high-tech solutions may not be accessible

How to effectively bridge institutional silos that prevent integrated smart city approaches despite decades of available tools

How to scale successful pilot projects and innovations from test-bed cities like Expo City Dubai to legacy cities with existing infrastructure constraints

How to develop people-centered metrics that replace current technical measurements (cubic meters, tons, kilometers) with human-focused indicators

How to balance the need for rapid urbanization (60% of population in cities by 2030) with inclusive, sustainable development

How to ensure intergenerational equity and meaningful youth participation in urban governance beyond consultation

Suggested compromises

Use hybrid approaches combining high-tech and low-tech solutions based on local contexts and resources (SMS in Argentina, voice messages in Senegal)

Implement bottom-up community-driven approaches while maintaining city-wide coordination and standards

Balance rapid innovation and pilot testing with inclusive governance that ensures no communities are left behind

Combine global frameworks and standards with local adaptation and community-specific solutions

Integrate climate mitigation and adaptation strategies within smart city development rather than treating them as separate initiatives

Speaking to the converted youth, everybody knows that by 2030, 60 percent of the population will live around urban areas… Not everybody thinks that 1.8 billion people constitute the youth and by 2030, 60% of those we define as youth will live in these cities. However, are we engaging them enough when policies need to be written or decisions need to be taken? Are we co-developing solutions with them?

Speaker

Johan Stander

Reason

This comment reframes the entire discussion by challenging the assumption that youth engagement is adequate. It introduces the concept of ‘co-development’ rather than just consultation, and highlights a critical gap between demographic reality and policy-making processes.

Impact

This comment shifted the conversation from technical solutions to human-centered governance. It influenced subsequent speakers like Jeong-Kee Kim to elaborate on WEGO’s youth programs and Nicholas You to emphasize bottom-up approaches. It established youth engagement as a central theme throughout the remaining discussion.

We’ve moved away from forecasting. We’ve moved into impact-based forecasting. What should you do? Not what the weather will be, but you as an individual, what you should do when these conditions are expected in the city.

Speaker

Johan Stander

Reason

This represents a fundamental paradigm shift from information provision to actionable guidance. It challenges the traditional meteorological approach and emphasizes individual agency and practical response over technical data.

Impact

This comment introduced the concept of actionable intelligence, which resonated through later discussions about people-centered approaches. It helped establish the framework that technology should serve human needs rather than exist for its own sake.

Some people may say, but this is all high-tech. When high-tech works, great, we’re all happy. But high-tech technology, the funding for that is not always accessible… So two examples. One from Argentina, a city called Lujan… they send out a particular warning for a particular city and what the people should do on SMS. No smart technologies, just information… Another example is in Senegal… they’ve realized that the majority of their population is illiterate… So they’ve moved into a voice-over warning system.

Speaker

Johan Stander

Reason

This comment challenges the high-tech bias in smart city discussions by demonstrating that effective solutions can be low-tech and context-appropriate. It introduces equity considerations and shows that ‘smart’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘sophisticated technology.’

Impact

This fundamentally altered the definition of ‘smart cities’ throughout the discussion. Later speakers, including the Mayor of Amman and Nicholas You, built on this theme by emphasizing that smart city solutions must be inclusive and adapted to local contexts rather than imposing universal high-tech solutions.

What happened five years ago? The world was hit by this pandemic and I think it was a gigantic wake-up call. We discovered in cities both in the global north and the global south that many people and many places were being left behind… Despite the fact that we have smart city tools around for almost 30-40 years, what went wrong?

Speaker

Nicholas You

Reason

This comment provides a critical historical perspective that challenges the entire smart cities movement. By using COVID-19 as a lens, it reveals fundamental flaws in existing approaches and questions decades of smart city development.

Impact

This comment served as a turning point that brought critical analysis to what had been a largely promotional discussion. It forced a reckoning with the limitations of current approaches and set up his subsequent argument about the need to break down silos and truly center people in urban planning.

The reason I want to turn the clock back is because if we look at how smart city approaches have been applied to cities, they have been largely following the existing structure of cities… we have still not overcome those silos. So the real challenge for us going forward is how do we use digital tools and hopefully use AI intelligently to help us bridge those silos.

Speaker

Nicholas You

Reason

This comment identifies a fundamental structural problem that explains why smart city initiatives often fail. It moves beyond surface-level solutions to address systemic governance issues and proposes a new role for technology as a bridge-builder rather than a solution in itself.

Impact

This insight reframed the entire discussion about the purpose of smart city technology. It connected with earlier themes about people-centered approaches and provided a structural explanation for why consultation and bottom-up approaches are necessary rather than just preferable.

We recently did a study, we looked at utilities across a dozen different countries and we’re still measuring cubic meters, tons, kilometers, kilowatts, etc. We don’t see people there. So, the best way that we found to approach this problem is to put people in charge.

Speaker

Nicholas You

Reason

This comment exposes a fundamental measurement problem in urban governance – that current metrics are dehumanized. It challenges the entire framework of how cities evaluate success and proposes a radical shift toward human-centered metrics.

Impact

This comment provided concrete evidence for the abstract concept of ‘people-centered’ approaches discussed throughout the panel. It gave practical meaning to earlier discussions about youth engagement and inclusive design by showing how measurement systems themselves exclude people.

Overall assessment

These key comments fundamentally transformed what could have been a typical technology-focused smart cities discussion into a critical examination of power, inclusion, and effectiveness. Johan Stander’s interventions early in the discussion established youth engagement and practical accessibility as central themes, while his examples of low-tech solutions challenged high-tech assumptions. Nicholas You’s historical analysis using COVID-19 as a lens provided a critical framework that questioned the entire smart cities movement, leading to deeper structural insights about silos and measurement systems. Together, these comments created a progression from identifying problems (youth exclusion, high-tech bias) to understanding root causes (structural silos, dehumanized metrics) to proposing solutions (co-development, people-centered measurement). The discussion evolved from promotional presentations about smart city initiatives to a more nuanced conversation about governance, equity, and the fundamental purpose of urban technology.

How can we ensure more regular consultation with local and regional governments on standardization and digital infrastructure development?

Speaker

Anh Thu Duong

Explanation

This addresses the need for institutionalization of local and regional governments in the WSIS process, as they are at the receiving end of digital infrastructure decisions

Are we engaging youth enough when policies need to be written or decisions need to be taken? Are we co-developing solutions with them?

Speaker

Johan Stander

Explanation

This highlights the gap in youth engagement in policy-making processes, particularly important since 60% of youth will live in cities by 2030 and they are experiencing the brunt of climate change

How can cities cope with infrastructure challenges related to extreme weather – intense rainfall, flash floods, extreme heat?

Speaker

Johan Stander

Explanation

This addresses the practical infrastructure resilience needs that cities must address as climate events become more frequent and intense

What about sea level rise impacts on cities close to the ocean, particularly when water outlets cannot flow into the ocean due to high waves and sea level rise?

Speaker

Johan Stander

Explanation

This identifies a specific infrastructure challenge for coastal cities that needs further research and solutions

How do we use digital tools and AI intelligently to help bridge silos in city governance to meet green, climate and digital transitions?

Speaker

Nicholas You

Explanation

This addresses the fundamental challenge of overcoming sectoral silos in city management that prevent effective smart city implementation

How do we re-look at all KPIs sector by sector to make sure people are at the center, moving beyond measuring cubic meters, tons, kilometers, kilowatts to measuring people-centered outcomes?

Speaker

Nicholas You

Explanation

This calls for fundamental research into developing new measurement frameworks that prioritize human-centered metrics over technical metrics

How can solutions tested in cities like Expo City Dubai be adapted and scaled elsewhere, particularly in the global south?

Speaker

Nadia Verjee

Explanation

This addresses the need for research on transferability and adaptation of smart city solutions across different contexts and economic conditions

How do we build frameworks that measure not just smartness, but focus on impact – on emissions, equity, and human dignity?

Speaker

Nadia Verjee

Explanation

This calls for developing new evaluation frameworks that go beyond technical smartness to measure real-world impact on climate and social outcomes