What is a citiverse ? And how can it contribute to sustainable city development?

If there’s more than one metaverse, there will obviously be more than one citiverse. How can we anticipate which might be the most useful one for Local and Regional Governments (LRGs)?

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Digital transformation, smart city development, emerging technologies like the metaverse and citiverses are crucial areas for LRGs. Strategically assembled, properly regulated and efficiently managed people-centered citiverses have the potential to answer the challenges of rapid urbanization and can contribute to the development of cities as agents of solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The rapid growth of cities across the globe represents a challenge and tests the limit of infrastructure development and equitable delivery of services. Planning future needs and designing inclusive, resilient and sustainable cities requires complex approaches that might be well supported by digital technologies. United Nations agencies like the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is key in ensuring that cities play a central role not only in accelerating digital transformation but also in leveraging technologies to achieve the targets enshrined in the SDGs. UN-Habitat focuses on people-centered smart city development from the perspective of urbanization.

The event aims to discuss the potential role of citiverses – taking into account different social and economic aspects – and identify areas of collaboration between relevant International Organizations and LRGs. It will provide an insight into the necessity of an inclusive multistakeholder approach to actively listen to the needs of LRGs and share views, insights, and guidance on the very principles to follow when shaping a citiverse. It elaborates its potential contribution to LRGs’ delivering sustainable services, thus achieving 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Experts will elaborate on the concept, reveal their suggestions on necessary technical standards, as well as relevant policies and regulations in developing open, interoperable, secure, and inclusive citiverses.

Speakers

• Davis Mwamfupe, Mayor of Dodoma, Tanzania
• Dr. Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Advisor, Dubai Digital Authority
• Cristina Bueti, Counsellor, Focal Point, ITU
• Isabel Shirin Enyonam Wetzel, Programme Officer, UN-Habitat
• Cristina Martinez, Deputy Head, European Commission

Moderated by Andras Szorenyi, Senior Policy Advisor, GCH

Registration

Please follow the link to register.