Michael Lake

Cities face unprecedented challenges: environmental degradation, climate change, and chronic health issues. Urban nature improves health and wellbeing. This presentation highlights global evidence, pathways, and synergies between environmental and human health goals, showing how nature can support healthier, more resilient urban communities.

The Smart Monitoring System by the Eastern Province Municipality supports Vision 2030 through an integrated digital infrastructure with IoT, drones, GIS, and AI. It enables proactive monitoring of traffic, crowd safety, environment, and tourism, integrating population and vehicle data to improve city management, efficiency, and data-driven decision-making.

Achieving EU landfill reduction goals requires boosting material and energy recovery, modernizing treatment plants, and strong public-private collaboration. The CIRCULAR BIOCARBON project, led by Urbaser, transforms urban waste into biopolymers, biofertilizers, and green graphene, showcasing a scalable circular economy, sustainability, and innovation, making circularity a real solution for our production and consumption.

Can cities turn data into foresight? With advanced analytics, predictive modeling, and strong data governance, urban leaders can anticipate change, optimize planning, and boost resilience. Leveraging the full power of data is key to advancing towards smarter, more sustainable, and future-ready cities.