Jeff Merritt

As cities adapt to growing pressures such as climate change and population growth, urban leaders must rethink infrastructure, buildings, and energy systems to build safer, more sustainable, and future-ready urban environments. Built on today’s breakthroughs and tomorrow’s innovations, what lies ahead is both ambitious and fast approaching. Yet making this vision a reality will require the right funding models and strategic partnerships. This plenary explores what resilient urban infrastructure could look like by 2050, and how AI, energy systems, adaptive design principles, and new models of collaboration may reshape the future of urban life.

Most of what makes a smart city work isn’t visible. It sits in the background: networks, sensors, data centers, and devices quietly enabling all aspects of urban life. As cities rely more on real-time data and AI, this underlying infrastructure is under growing pressure to deliver faster, more reliable performance. That shift is driving innovation, while making issues such as cybersecurity, long-term maintenance, and the resilience of critical infrastructure in the face of disruptions and emerging threats increasingly important. Getting this foundation right is key to keeping urban systems running smoothly, securely, and at scale.