From Smart Cities to Citiverse the voice of city leaders count

On 8 July 2025 the GCH in cooperation with WeGo and ITU organized the Smart City Leaders’ Talk on “Safe smart cities and climate frustration”. This is a highly important topic because a people-centered smart city approach means finding answers to peoples’ needs – and a climate conscious sustainable urban future is clearly one of them. The GCH was proud to contribute to the discussions both at the AI for Good summit and the WSIS+20 High-level Events in Geneva.

The Smart City Leaders’ Talk discussed how smart cities can contribute to facing climate emergencies in a people-centered way. Speakers enlightened opportunities smart city technologies bring to social, economic and environmental development and ways to overcome the limitations local leaders face in disaster risk reduction.

SDG of ITU Tomas Lamanauskas and Senior Director of WMO Johan Stander set the frame regarding the use of digitalization and ICT to build smart cities as well as to use technology to develop adequate early warning systems. We heard about the Digital Impact Alliance and the U4SSC, explaining how digital technology can contribute to solving urban climate challenges.

ICT plays a crucial role in coping with flash floods, heatwaves and other extreme weather events. We must make sure the right messages reach every citizen – using high-tech or low-tech – to save lives and livelihoods. The transformative development of digital technologies can minimize the loss of life from severe weather events by strengthening both early warnings and early action.

A people-centered smart city approach means putting people ahead of technology. It covers all areas of life, from safety to security, from climate-resilience to sustainability. Local and global leaders must also factor in the views and expectations of a more climate-conscious young generation.

Given the rapid pace of urbanization, we can learn from each other’s experiences, be it a legacy city like Amman and Guangzhou or a newly developed one like Dubai. Purpose-built cities can co-develop smartness and impact, considering generational equity. Urban infrastructure, digital connectivity and livable planet are all crucial parts of urban imagination.

Participating leaders contributed to the debate highlighting different aspects of smartness, including advancing climate adaptation and resilience, protection, promotion and fulfillment of human rights, strengthening social inclusion, and achieving the relevant sustainable development goals.

We build smart cities to make the life of citizens and communities better. Local and regional government leaders are best positioned to understand the needs of the local population and offer tailored answers for the local communities – be it better connectivity, more green spaces, fresh food or access to water and sanitation. Smart city leaders can use technology to deliver on real needs.

The GCH was glad to facilitate a meaningful discussion among leaders of international organizations, city-networks and cities from different regions. Including LRGs into policymaking at the global level is key to making sure that the outcomes of those processes are adequate and implementable on the ground. Delivering municipal services through smart city technologies is the last mile delivery of SDG and human rights.

Thank you to our great speakers for sharing their wisdom and guidance:

• Thomas Lamanauskas, Deputy Secretary General, ITU
• Johan Stander, Senior Director of the Services Department, WMO
• Yousef Al Shawarbeh, Mayor of Amman (Jordan)
• Jeong-kee Kim, Secretary General, WeGO, Seoul (Republic of Korea)
• Nadia Verjee, Executive Director, Expo City Dubai (UAE)
• Nicholas You, Executive Director, Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation (China)

On 9 July the GCH co-organized the “AI & virtual worlds: Building the cities and governments of tomorrow” segment of the AI for Good summit. The high-level segment brought together mayors, ministers, senior government officials, UN principals, and other global leaders to explore how AI-powered virtual worlds and the Citiverse are redefining the future of cities and countries alike.

Speakers shared national and local strategies, policy priorities, and collaborative efforts to harness digital innovation for public good—advancing inclusive, secure, and sustainable societies in line with the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact. Inclusivity and human dignity were emphasized as cornerstones of any digital advancement.

The session dedicated to “Citiverse: AI-Powered Virtual Worlds for Resilient, Smart and Inclusive Cities” offered a point of view of LRGs, featuring – among others – the region of Catalonia (Spain) and the city of Evian (France). The citiverse might be considered as a revolution of how LRGs deliver services to their citizens, making sure that everyone has access and can afford it.

Speakers explained how digital solutions and the citiverse can transform the ways cities plan, operate, and engage with their inhabitants. By integrating AI, digital twins, and immersive virtual environments, urban leaders can enhance real-time decision-making, optimize infrastructure, and build more resilient, inclusive, and efficient cities. AI solutions can be developed and deployed for everyday problems, such as water system leaks, connected building management, remote access to municipal services, etc.

Ensuring equitable access requires robust standards and policy frameworks that can be adapted to local realities and applied in an adequate manner.

Thank you to all speakers for their insightful contributions:

• Maria Galindo Garcia-Delgado, Secretary of Digital Policies, Governement of Catalonia
• Lise Nicoud, Deputy Mayor of Evian (France)
• Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Advisor, Digital Dubai
• Jeong-kee Kim, Secretary General, WeGO, Seoul (Republic of Korea)
• Pilar Orero, Professor at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain)
• Martin Brynskov, Founding Director of OASC

The GCH is eager to continue the multistakeholder discussion, including LRGs, on these important issues. We are looking forward to the next editions of the “AI and Virtual Worlds Day” in May 2026, and “Smart City Leaders Talk” and “AI for Good Summit” in July 2026 in Geneva. See you there!