Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Experts stressed in the main sessions of the second day of the “Dubai Future Forum 2025” that designing smart cities and societies of the future will benefit from the tremendous development in technologies and the growing integration between sciences and various specializations, to create qualitative future opportunities in existing and completely new vital sectors.
Adam Scott, co-founder of Experience, a foundation specializing in future strategies and design, stressed in a keynote session the importance of having smart operating systems for tomorrow’s cities and communities, which coordinate all tasks by introducing new smart coding and programming systems for their various operational processes and daily service facilities by taking advantage of artificial intelligence technologies and employing the principle of partnership and centralization of open public data.
He said that the cities of the future need a new vision that focuses on human and social ties, not isolated projects.
He explained that stories that express people and their interactions within cities are the foundation for building collective responsibility and mutual care between generations.
He added that returning to local and global living patterns gives those working in planning future cities a common language, helping them develop what he described as “cooperative industrialization” as a model that links places, cultures and societies.
Continuity of renewal and development
Eng. Marwan bin Ghalita, Director General of Dubai Municipality, stressed that Dubai’s strength lies in the continuity of renewal and development.
He pointed out that it is a global city designed for people.
He said: “We have succeeded in creating integrated communities in which residents can access various basic services within twenty minutes, and in some areas even within only five minutes”. This means that Dubai has become an integrated city that serves people and meets their real needs.
In turn, Professor Leslie Loco, founder and president of the African Futures Institute, confirmed that the cities of the future will comprehensively impact the identity of their communities.
In a session titled “How Are Future Cities Redrawing the Features of Community Identity?”, she said that the future is not a final stop, but rather a continuous path of learning and change, which is evident in Dubai’s experience, which was able to combine its deep historical legacy with the speed of its contemporary development.
She pointed out that concepts such as knowledge, dialogue and curiosity have become pivotal elements in shaping the future of societies.
Dubai stands out as a global model that strikes a balance between constant mobility and the ability to create urban structures that transcend traditional notions of identity and urbanism.
