The Urbanist Planning the cities of the future at the Smart City Expo World Congress
Nov 13, 2025
Hugo Valenti, Managing Director of the Smart City Expo, discusses why Barcelona excels in urban innovation and citizen engagement. Maimouna Binti Maud Sharif, former mayor of Kuala Lumpur, shares her insights on repurposing heritage buildings for community revitalization. Futurist Nikki Greenberg emphasizes designing cities for future generations with emerging technologies, while Tina Backstrom from LA highlights the importance of biking infrastructure and AI in post-disaster recovery. Together, they unravel the challenges and creative solutions shaping tomorrow's cities.
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Barcelona As A Global Showcase
- Barcelona serves as a scalable smart-city showcase with solutions translatable to megacities and smaller cities alike.
- Hugo Valenti says the event bridges public and private language to push citizen-centred tech use.
Use Tech As A Tool Not The Goal
- Cities should use technology as a tool, not an end, and craft policy from citizen needs up.
- Hugo Valenti recommends exchanging best practices so regulation can catch up with fast tech.
Superblocks Migrated Worldwide
- Valenti cites Barcelona's superblocks—three-by-three street grids prioritising pedestrians—as a widely copied design.
- He points to Times Square and parts of Broadway as examples inspired by that approach.