Track: | Living & Inclusion |

"The Planner’s Compass brings together experienced urban professionals, emerging planners and the SCEWC community to discuss career paths, transitions, skills and opportunities. Through an intergenerational conversation and a live mentoring session, participants can share career questions, hear different perspectives and gain ideas, experience and connections to help navigate their own professional path."

Smart cities started with infrastructure. Now they are evolving to put people first, and culture and creativity are part of how. Hosted by EIT Culture & Creativity, this side event brings together startups, universities and local authorities to explore what that looks like in practice. Expect conversations on how cities learn, build and adapt, from education and digital platforms to new materials, design and resilience.

Check out the full programme and speakers here.

This session presents the MICAD Toolkit, a practical guide for local and metropolitan authorities to design inclusive climate and digital transition roadmaps. Through key insights and examples, it shows how to move beyond smart city solutions towards coordinated, participatory and metropolitan-scale transformation.

Can youth ideas help shape the future of our cities? This inspiring session brings together global city leaders and brilliant youth voices from the C40's Youth Reinventing Cities competition. Through a dynamic roundtable, discover practical, groundbreaking approaches to tackling urban climate challenges and innovation. Join us to unlock powerful collaboration strategies that translate youth-led ideas into real-world urban transformation.

Urban livability is shaped by a wide range of cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors, making each city experience unique, constantly evolving. What defines a “good place to live” can vary significantly, yet there are shared approaches that help improve quality of life across different contexts. Taking a comprehensive view of society, addressing the needs of diverse groups across multiple dimensions, from accessibility and equity to public space and daily well-being. This session presents practical case studies and tangible approaches aimed at enhancing everyday urban living conditions.

A livable city is one that enables people to move, access services, care and be cared for safely and independently. Co-organized by CAF and UN Women, this session will explore how gender perspectives can be integrated into urban planning through safer and more inclusive mobility, care infrastructure, and the right to time, while addressing the inequalities that limit women’s autonomy and economic opportunities. It will also examine how investment can help scale solutions that make cities more inclusive and livable for all.

Wellbeing in city is shaped not only by access to services, but by how care is woven into the fabric of everyday life. As populations age and social needs become more complex, cities are moving beyond isolated systems toward more connected approaches that link health, social services, housing, and community networks. This shift places greater emphasis on prevention, inclusion, and proximity, ensuring support is accessible across all stages of life. From child-friendly environments to age-inclusive strategies, the focus is on creating conditions that enable independence, connection, and dignity, while strengthening the social and economic foundations that underpin long-term urban wellbeing.

Urban health systems, social services and age-friendly strategies are redefining what it means to live well in a city – for children, aging populations and everyone in between.

Smart cities must focus on people and be as human as those who inhabit them. Integrating a child-centered approach—addressing the needs and voices of children and adolescents through their participation—improves responses to challenges such as climate, mobility, and housing. UNICEF promotes a rights-based approach, with global standards and participation, to achieve more accessible, sustainable, and inclusive cities.

A city starts to feel like home in the small, everyday moments: walking down a street, sitting in a square, running errands close by. These experiences depend greatly on how public spaces are designed, managed, and cared for. When people come first, these spaces become more than functional; they foster connection, safety, and a shared sense of belonging. Increasingly, cities are rethinking how public space is planned and maintained, from accessibility and inclusion to the role communities can play in shaping and sustaining it. Creating places that feel welcoming, lived-in, and meaningful is essential to building urban environments that people genuinely value.

Future Urban Health Culture calls for a shift from designing livable cities to creating places that actively support human health and societal resilience. This requires a new planning mindset—more interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral, and holistic—where health, sustainability, equity, and quality of life are addressed together. By balancing the needs of people with broader societal agendas, we can shape a shared vision for healthier, more future-ready cities.

Cities are shaped not only by infrastructure, but by the people who sustain them. When urban development overlooks women’s contributions—particularly essential care work—it reinforces inequality and weakens social wellbeing and resilience. Advancing women’s meaningful participation and integrating gender-responsive approaches into urban planning and decision-making are therefore essential to building inclusive, liveable and resilient cities.

Human-centered design, accessible public spaces and everyday services are not just amenities – they are the building blocks of belonging. How do cities create places where people genuinely want to live?

Cities are moving from digital ambition to real-world impact. This session explores how AI and digital technologies can support inclusive, sustainable and resilient urban development through practical city experiences and implementation pathways. It will show how people-centred principles can become scalable strategies and solutions, while gathering insights for the U4SSC People-Centred Smart Cities Toolbox to help cities leave no one behind.

Urban regeneration is no longer only about renewing buildings or infrastructure, but about reshaping everyday life in the city. This session will explore how cities can reclaim and redesign neighborhoods and public spaces to make them more livable, inclusive, safe and resilient, bringing together governance, planning, design, investment and innovation to create lasting public value.

Welcome to our 2026 edition – the global stage where urban innovation comes to life. This opening session sets the tone for an exciting journey ahead, with a warm welcome from Smart City Expo director Ugo Valenti and Tomorrow.Mobility president Marc Rozendal. Joining them are high-level representatives who will share how territories around the world are becoming better places to live and thrive. Get ready for three action-packed days of bold ideas and groundbreaking strategies from around the globe.

WeMind Summit, part of the WeMind International Forum, brings together experts to explore key trends in mental health, longevity and neuroscience. The event covers longevity, care, digital transformation and child and adolescent mental health, fostering knowledge exchange, innovation and collaboration across the international health ecosystem. https://www.wemindforum.com/en/program/#nov4

A relaxed moment to have a drink and mingle with other attendees at the venue’s main entrance after the World Smart City Awards gala.

What would our cities look like if women's voices shaped every tech decision? This session unites European Mayors and Women in Tech® Global to explore the real-world impact of women in urban governance, digital entrepreneurship, and smart city innovation. Honest, inspiring, and forward-looking, a conversation that challenges cities to do more and shows them how.

Explore how robotics, AI and robot-avatar technologies are transforming cities and society. Featuring insights from Japan and Catalonia, the session will highlight Dr. Takayuki Kanda’s pioneering work in Human-Robot Interaction and Social Robotics, with a live robot-avatar demonstration. Three Catalan startups will conclude the session with elevator pitches showcasing innovative solutions with global potential.

How does a policy vision become a place people actually live in? In this panel, city representatives will share how the New European Bauhaus values of sustainability, beauty and inclusion are taking shape where they work, and what it takes to make them last. Hosted by EIT Culture & Creativity, the session also looks at how its NEB Academy initiatives can help public administrations take local innovation further.

Digital transformation requires networks and partnerships that help cities turn ambition into implementation. Moderated by IDB Cities LAB, this interactive discussion brings together representatives from Brazil’s Ministry of Cities and Spain’s Smart Cities Network (RECI) to explore how national programs and city networks accelerate innovation, strengthen local capacities, and scale knowledge exchange.

Barcelona Smart Silver presents innovative housing models for active ageing. This panel brings together leading stakeholders, developers, operators, investors and providers of disruptive solutions to explore scalable alternatives in response to demographic change. Concrete case studies will show how cities can promote quality housing, community-based services and new business models for older people.

This session is organised by Barcelona Smart Silver by Fira.

As cities grow and diversify, the quality of urban life after dark is becoming a key challenge for city leaders. Drawing on the experience of Montpellier, this session explores how lighting can go beyond safety and visibility to shape more livable, inclusive and sustainable public spaces. From energy transition and smart control systems to biodiversity protection and “dark infrastructures”, it will showcase how integrated lighting strategies can enhance urban identity, improve wellbeing and create better nighttime environments.

In increasingly digital cities, opportunity is shaped by more than connectivity—it depends on who has the access, skills, and rights to participate fully. While digital technologies are transforming economies and public services, they also risk deepening existing inequalities if inclusion is not addressed from the outset. Cities are beginning to take a more holistic approach, combining infrastructure, education, and rights-based frameworks to expand access to digital opportunity. As AI reshapes the workforce and decision-making systems, the challenge is not only to bridge divides, but to build inclusive digital ecosystems where innovation supports social equity, economic participation, and individual empowerment.

This conversation will explore how meaningful access can expand education, skills, public services and civic participation, especially for young people and underserved communities. Moving beyond infrastructure, the session will reflect on what cities and institutions must do to turn connectivity into social inclusion, economic opportunity and lasting urban impact.

In the digital age, opportunity is unevenly distributed. Addressing the divides in access, literacy and rights that define who benefits from urban innovation and who gets left behind.

Beyond access and literacy, this session argues for a genuine digital understanding: the ability of every citizen to navigate the digital world critically, distinguish reliable information from manipulation, and make informed, mindful choices about personal data and attention. It calls for a sustained civic commitment to building a digitally mature society and nurturing a shared digital culture.

Cities are becoming the new engines of inclusive prosperity. As affordability, wellbeing and social cohesion become defining urban challenges, livability is emerging as the new frontier of competitiveness. This high-level roundtable will explore how cities can design economies, services and policies around people’s everyday lives and needs, turning inclusion into growth, public space into connection and quality of life into a strategic asset. Because the most successful cities will not only attract investment and talent; they will make people want to stay, belong and thrive.

The CC4DR Annual Meeting brings together political representatives as well as technical staffs from member cities worldwide and institutional partners to set the Coalition's shared strategy. In 2026, the CC4DR becomes a nonprofit organization and will host its first official Annual Meeting at SCEWC.

The public finals of the international Spanish-Czech Challenge HackaTEEN 2026 competition. A total of 10 teams from the Czech Republic and Spain will present their proposed solutions to real-world challenges facing modern cities to the audience at the SCEWC. The session will offer a unique insight into how young people envision the future of smart cities and will culminate in the announcement of the winners and an awards ceremony.

The Women’s New European Bauhaus is an official partner of the NEB working for new urban settings and lifestyles that promote well-being, beauty and equity, experimenting with research, circularity, sustainable mobility, innovative cohabitation, care, and technological innovation. It identifies effective methodologies for radical changes towards a sustainable way of life, through spreading knowledge and practices of women's active citizenship

As cities increasingly adopt “smart” solutions, the role of communities in shaping these innovations becomes essential. This panel discusses how Living Labs support smart cities through participation, co-creation, local knowledge, and collective intelligence. Through real experiences and examples, speakers will share how people-centred innovation can help cities become not only more digital, but also more inclusive and resilient in the long-term.

Cities face growing pressure from climate change, rapid urbanization, and technological change, while urban identity remains overlooked. This session explores how identity can act as a catalyst for inclusive and resilient cities through governance, participatory design, and place-based approaches, highlighting the role of women leaders in shaping human-centered urban futures.

The day after the 2026 Pattis Family Foundation Global Cities Book Award is announced, the author of the 2026 awarded book will take the stage for their first public conversation since the award ceremony. The conversation will explore how the world's most pressing urban challenges are being captured, questioned, and met with real solutions and alternative futures, from storytelling to practice. A one-time conversation between global voices from around the world, together in Barcelona.

From accessibility and public services to safety and community wellbeing, cities face challenges that directly shape people’s everyday lives. The technological revolution is opening new possibilities to respond to these needs in practical and inclusive ways. This session showcases solutions that combine innovation with a people-centred approach, exploring through real-world cases how technology can improve urban experiences and respond to diverse needs across the city.

Culture shapes not only how cities are experienced, but how they are lived and understood by the people who call them home. Through education, creative expression, and everyday participation in urban life, culture helps build identity, strengthen belonging, and deepen the relationship between communities and their surroundings. The challenge lies in supporting this vibrancy while maintaining authenticity, accessibility, and balance. As cultural activity drives economic value and social cohesion, cities are exploring more integrated approaches that connect culture with planning, community life, and local economies, ensuring it remains a living, inclusive force that evolves from within rather than being imposed.

Tourism can energize cities, but its future increasingly depends on how well cities connect their cultural identity, innovative solutions and local quality of life. Through the experiences of Medellín and Dubrovnik, this conversation explores how data, digital tools and governance can support more thoughtful tourism strategies, improve accessibility and visitor management, strengthen cultural identity and contribute to more sustainable urban development.

Education, civic life, creative industries and responsible tourism are not the backdrop to urban development. They are its engine. How cultural ecosystems build identity, care and quality of life from within.