Track: Living & Inclusion

Welcome to the Smart City Expo World Congress! This first session of the event aims to welcome the audience to the SCEWC with an opening speech by the event directors Ugo Valenti and Maria Tsavachidis. It will also count on the participation of high-level representatives who will address how cities are working to transform, innovate, and create to live, move & build better.

Rural and remote areas miss economic opportunities due to costly broadband. Learn how satellite broadband can bridge this gap through development planning with insights from experts.

It has been established that “smartness” is a form of branding to market cities as modern, innovative, and efficient. Submerged under these overarching values are several others that depend on who is wielding the terminology, ranging from sustainability to entrepreneurship. Smartness rarely centers low-tech common-sense solutions or meeting the demands of those most vulnerable in society. This talk unearths what we mean by smartness and considers the inherent challenges of making smart city technology “ethical.” Finally, it addresses initial steps to make “doing ethics” easier.

This session aims to discuss the role of human potential in meeting the current and future challenges that all local and regional governments must face. Join us to learn more about what is at stake for local and regional governments and their associations.

This session explores two impactful books that tackle the intersection of technology, society, and equity. Being Human in Digital Cities by Myria Georgiou delves into how technology reshapes urban life, advocating for human-centered cities rooted in social justice. Digitally Invisible by Nicol Turner Lee highlights the growing digital divide in America, sharing stories from the emerging digital underclass and calling for equitable tech access. Join us to discuss how both authors envision a more inclusive, digital future.

When used for city services, do advanced technologies guarantee data protection and facilitate digital trust? How are governments responding to the consequences of implementing new technologies in urban living? This session will reflect on the evolving relationships between citizens and technology, discuss the evolution of threats like cyberattacks, fake news, and digital bias, and debate regulation in the digital age.

To create cities that truly cater to all residents, urban environments must prioritize social justice, equality, and dignity. City leaders should focus on innovative approaches that guarantee equal access to opportunities and resources while recognizing the crucial role of urban innovation in building not only sustainable but also equitable cities. This session will bring together experts to share strategies and solutions that pave the way for equality, offering valuable insights into how cities can evolve to meet the diverse needs of their populations.

Building resilient and smart cities requires integrating nature into urban ecosystems, with trees playing a pivotal role. Trees enhance air quality and mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis. Their shade lowers surface temperatures and fosters healthier communities. By prioritizing urban forests, cities can create resilient and liveable environments to face future challenges. This session will discuss Plant-for-the-Planet’s Green Belt project in Granada, a new ecosystem of native species for the city.

Dive into the UN CitiVerse Initiative, where cutting-edge technologies like AI, digital twins, and quantum computing converge to create an urban living environment that truly responds to citizens’ needs and aspirations. Learn how cities around the world are already harnessing technologies to make everyday life smarter, greener, and more connected, and shaping a future where the diverse needs of our communities are best supported.

Focusing on the intersection of technology and urban innovation, this session highlights the practical solutions for redefining cities for the 21st century. Through the lens of efficiency, sustainability, and social equity, the showcased solutions will display how advanced technologies are being implemented to create smarter, greener, and more inclusive urban environments. How are cities leveraging innovation to meet the demands of modern living while ensuring a balanced and equitable approach to urban growth?

This session will feature the participation of our global partners Microsoft, PwC in Middle East, Aramco

Explore how cloud-based technologies can drive sustainable urban transformations with innovative solutions and success stories from global cities to tackle climate change adaptation and mitigation across urban sectors. Discuss new ways to integrate Generative AI to enhance ability of these innovations and strategies for cities to leverage the cloud to reduce emissions, mitigate climate risks, and lead the global charge against the climate crisis.

This keynote addresses the need to move beyond traditional top-down and bottom-up approaches in smart city development, advocating for a hybrid model that integrates both. By balancing technological innovations with community-driven initiatives, hybrid smartness creates more equitable and sustainable urban environments. Drawing from the evolution of smart city discourse, this talk highlights how hybrid smartness can solve urban challenges more effectively by intertwining top-down infrastructure with bottom-up citizen engagement. The keynote will explore how this socio-technical integration can reshape cities to be inclusive and responsive to both human and environmental needs.

The effects of the climate emergency are disrupting our urban lifestyles. How can cities integrate environmental considerations into urban development to create more resilient, livable, and sustainable public spaces? How do green spaces in cities contribute to improving the quality of life for residents, fostering community engagement, ensuring accessibility and safety, and enhancing mental and physical well-being?

How do cities ensure the protection of human rights for all residents? What measures can decision-makers implement to address the diverse aspects of human security within their governance frameworks? This roundtable will discuss how local administrations are protecting citizens’ rights through public policies that promote equality, social justice, and overall well-being ensuring access to healthcare, education, and political participation.

The future of inclusive city living relies on leveraging the latest technological tools to enhance affordability, inclusivity, and access in urban areas. Cities are increasingly embracing diversity, ensuring fairness, and fostering social cohesion through tech-driven solutions. However, as the urban landscape evolves, challenges like the digital divide and systemic inequalities persist. Can technology successfully bridge these gaps and create truly inclusive cities?

This session will feature the participation of our global partners Saudi Data and AI Authority, NVIDIA Corporation

Presentations by Argentinian mayors and urban and territorial policy specialists, that will talk about actions that generate a humanized urbanization agenda.
How to define the lines of territorial management having as its main objective the comprehensive human development of its inhabitants.
Thus, social sustainability implies inclusion by acting on issues such as disability, gender, age, immigration, among others.
Economic sustainability must link productivity and competitiveness with the Access to quality and well-paid employment;
Environmental sustainability imposes mitigation of climate change and conservation of biodiversity by stimulating communal green areas and healthy activities.
Finally, spatial sustainability and urban density implies territorial planning that allows better quality of life.

The session will highlight the role of cities in fostering human rights in the digital era and promoting a human-centered digital transformation. A first dialogue will expose how and why cities are relevant to addressing digital rights challenges. It will be followed by a solution dialogue, showcasing different projects from cities to uphold digital rights in urban spaces.

Catalyse NEB 2024 Demo Day showcases sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship. As part of the Smart City Expo, this event will feature 24 start-ups from the EIT Community NEB’s 8-month accelerator. These start-ups, developed under the principles of the New European Bauhaus, represent a future where societal well-being is aligned with economic prosperity. Join us to discover these promising ventures and great people!

The session will bring together stakeholders from cities, local governments, and European institutions to discuss how to uphold the place of digital rights in local and European programs and policies and what is needed at all levels of decision-making to build a digital rights focused digital transformation.

In this talk, Ruha Benjamin takes us into the liberating power of the imagination. Deadly systems all emerged from the human imagination, and have real-world, often deadly impacts. To fight harmful systems and create a world in which everyone can thrive, we will have to imagine things differently. Drawing on work that critically examines “smart” technologies that perpetuate inequities and engaging with grassroots approaches to community building, she offers a pragmatic and poetic approach to worldbuilding that invites each of us to consider the role we play in maintaining or transforming the oppressive status quo.

City governments must strive to leave no one behind. As global inequalities intensify, cities have the potential to become sanctuaries where all citizens are given equal opportunities. This starts with forward-thinking, bold, and decisive policy planning and implementation. By harnessing the power of community engagement, accessible technologies, and sustainable development, cities can evolve to meet their residents' diverse needs and foster a sense of belonging for all citizens.

This session will feature the participation of our global partners Government of Malaysia, KPMG

We live in complex times that are shaping the course of the cities and people who will inhabit the cities of the future. We propose an inspirational session to find out: What will their families be like? What priorities, fears and struggles will remain? How will they communicate and relate to each other? Where will they work? What will be their main leisure activities? We propose a space for dialogue to reflect on how to make the cities of the future more liveable.

In the midst of the struggle to balance supply-driven and demand-driven technology adoption, city officials face the challenge of ensuring the practical implementation of human-centricity in their smart cities. How can cities translate strategies and theories into actionable initiatives that prioritize livability and inclusivity in technology adoption? Madinah, Saudi Arabia has tackled these dilemmas by introducing its City Experience Playbook.

This event will launch the DeCiDE project, a collaborative effort to enhance democratic, inclusive urban governance. By doing so the project promotes cities as a better place to live by ensuring human rights through new participatory solutions. This project aims to develop a monitoring tool for human rights in cities. Academics,local administrators, and civil society organizations from 10 different cities will co-develop this innovative tool.

How are cities adjusting to evolving urban dynamics to meet the needs of their residents effectively? What strategies can cities adopt to guarantee equitable access to essential resources for all their citizens? The session will delve into the measures being put into place by local governments to ensure access to urban design necessities, discussing the policies that are globally shaping more inclusive, sustainable, and secure cities.

The Cities Coalition for Digital Rights yearly meet up will gather its members to update on the latest activities of the Coalition and leave a space for open discussion to foster cities’ engagement in the Coalition.

Livable cities entail full participation in all areas of life for people with disabilities. In spite of the many efforts that have been made in this regard, ableism is still pervasive in areas such as higher education and the arts, with students and academics facing attitudinal barriers, invisible work and a lack of accessibility literacy. A number of solutions for these mostly easy to overcome barriers are put forward.

Discussions will focus on how the 'International Guidelines on People-Centred Smart Cities' can contribute to more inclusive smart city development, as they are developed upon the request of 193 Member States. The event emphasizes the strategic convergence of global frameworks with local leadership, particularly highlighting the critical roles city leaders play in driving urban digital transformation, supported by practical examples.

Using concrete AI deployment examples, from Madrid and Barcelona, panellists from Microsoft and other Spanish public administrations will discuss how AI will help provide solutions to problems faced by citizens in need enhancing the accessibility and effectiveness of services.  If from one side AI is starting to revolutionise social services, its dependency on large volumes of data may arise legal and ethical concerns. 

This keynote presents a toolkit for developing four pillars of digital democracy –democratic governance, participatory citizenship, digital diversity and rights to information. The toolkit charts a collection of instruments, measures and guidelines to empower marginal social groups. It thus enables those dispossessed of the public sphere of the city and the digital realm alike, to claim, inhabit and thrive in both urban and digital spaces.

How can smart cities improve well-being and life satisfaction of citizens? Takehiko will present a new smart city policy design approach that focuses on both subjective and objective well-being of citizens as a basis of designing smart city polities. This one of the kind approach was developed by Smart City Institute Japan and has been extended to use in about 100 cities in Japan as part of the national digital transformation strategy to revitalize regional economy and society.

What obstacles arise in urban environments that hinder digital equality and inclusion, and how can cities address them? In what ways are local governments promoting digital equity and social justice to ensure equal access to technology? This roundtable will explore the innovative strategies that cities are employing to bridge the digital divide, ensuring that all residents have equitable access to technology, digital literacy, and the opportunities they facilitate.