By Alice Chambers |
Speakers from technology companies, city governments and academic institutions explored how AI, digital twins and data-driven solutions are reshaping urban environments at Smart City Expo World Congress 2025.
Christina Yan Zhang, CEO of The Metaverse Institute, summarised the potential of AI as an effective tool to empower end users and improve quality of life in cities. The organisation is exploring the convergence of digital twins and generative AI, integrating as many as 11,000 generative models to simulate and optimise urban environments.
However, Yan Zhang also noted the need for balance, referencing an MIT report that found 95 per cent of generative AI companies are failing. She urged city leaders to focus on how technology can benefit citizens, not just drive innovation for its own sake.
The Metaverse Institute is developing the concept of the ‘citiverse’, a metaverse for cities designed around a human-centred approach. This includes working with Unicef to help city planners create child-friendly urban spaces and ensure that families are supported. The discussion also touched on how cities can leverage digital tools to attract tourism and align with the United Nations’ “5Ps” framework: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.
Next, Kirk Arthur, worldwide government solutions lead at Microsoft, highlighted the pace of technological change. “Everything is changing quicker,” he said. “At the end of the day, technology has got to solve problems.”
Arthur emphasised the link between technology and economic growth, noting that “every city, region, country has to focus on AI” and consider its implications for GDP and education. With 90 per cent of the global population soon to have 5G connectivity, he said, governments have a huge opportunity to leverage AI to improve services.
Citing Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2025, Arthur discussed the concept of agentic AI where hybrid teams are made up of humans and intelligent agents. “We as humans are going to lead these agentic teams,” he said. “This will give us a level of scale, especially in civil service, that we’ve never had before.”
He advised governments to focus on their mission purpose, improve access to services, train their workforces on AI tools and ensure data readiness. He also encouraged experimentation: “Learn and fail fast. Let teams bring ideas in for AI. If it’s not fit for purpose, dump it and move onto the next one.”
He also reminded the audience that Microsoft is the world’s largest cybersecurity company, ensuring governments can innovate securely.
Esteve Almirall, full professor at Esade Business & Law School’s, discussed how generative AI is transforming public sector operations, particularly through the evolution of chatbots. He outlined four levels of chatbot capability, from guided informational tools to fully conversational agents with access to data and the ability to act.
He argued that AI-powered assistants could bridge the democratic divide by making public services more responsive and accessible. New government models, he said, may soon rely on WhatsApp-style chatbots rather than traditional websites, giving citizens instant support and enabling humans to collaborate seamlessly with digital agents.
Plus, Juan Corro, manager of the Autonomous IT Agency for Madrid City Council, shared how the city began its AI transformation two years ago. Early experiments were cautious – “we started closing down actions with ChatGPT,” he said – but Madrid has since identified practical ways to extract value from AI.
One of its most successful projects helps analyse traffic fines by understanding the context of citizen submissions. Generative AI now assists the city in interpreting and routing citizen requests, ensuring they reach the right department more efficiently.
“Being able to reduce complexity is the key power of AI,” said Corro. “Being able to speak normally with citizens is the key part of being a smart city.” Looking ahead, he predicted a shift in focus: “Next year it may not be a smart city expo but an ‘agentic city expo.’”
He also reflected on the broader challenge for public administration: “There is no such thing as a high-performing public sector.”
Finally, José Melo, deputy CEO of Veolia, explored how combining technology with deep human expertise can turn disruption into direction. The company’s Hubgrade platform delivers digital services that provide data analysis, monitoring, optimisation and predictive systems for urban infrastructure.
Melo showcased an urban heating and cooling network in Barcelona that repurposes cold loss from liquefied natural gas to improve energy efficiency. He stressed the long-term value of data, noting that “data as a decision engine will be the base of future development.”