Smart City Leaders Convene in Geneva for a High-Level Dialogue on Human-Centered and Climate-Resilient Urban Development
Geneva, May 28th – WeGO and Global Cities Hub (GCH) co-organized a high-level dialogue titled ‘Smart City Leaders’ Talk’. This event aimed to delve into the multifaceted aspects of smart city development, emphasizing a people-centered approach and climate resilience. The dialogue underscored the importance of aligning smart city initiatives with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), safeguarding human rights, enhancing social inclusion, and advancing climate adaptation and resilience strategies.
A series of distinguished speakers set the stage for the dialogue, each providing insights on the role of international organizations in smart city development. The speakers included Tomas Lamanauskas, Deputy Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Peggy Hicks, Director of Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures, and Right to Development at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Kazumi Ogawa, Principal Coordination Officer at UN-Habitat, and Jung-Sook Park, Secretary General of WeGO,
“The journey towards building human-centered smart cities is a collective endeavor that requires vision, collaboration, and a steadfast commitment to the well-being of all citizens.” The Secretary General of WeGO stated.
The session continued to feature a talk by smart city leaders sharing their unique experiences on smart city development by Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation, Bangladesh, Jacquis Kemleu Tchabgou, Mayor of Dschang Municipality Cameroon, Sami Kanaan, Deputy-Mayor of Geneva, Switzerland, Theo Blackwell, Chief Digital Officer of London, United Kingdom, Manuel de Araujo, Mayor of Quelimane City, Mozambique, Azhar Arshad, Mayor of Seberang Perai, Malaysia.
The leaders stressed the importance of robust infrastructure and digital inclusion as foundational elements for successful smart city projects. The discussion also mentioned the challenges posed by rapid urbanization requiring scalable solutions, community engagement and local capacity building leveraging data, digital innovation to improve public services and citizen participation and finally, spoke on the importance of climate adaptation measures and the role of international partnerships in building resilient urban infrastructures.
Additionally, a network of women ministers and leaders in ICT gathered in the morning for a breakfast meeting and had a dialogue on the different experiences of female leadership in male dominated fields. The key message was the significance of women empowerment through support and uplifting female counterparts all over the globe.
About WeGO
The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), is a membership-based international association of local governments, smart tech solution providers, and institutions committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities through facilitating public-private partnerships (PPP). WeGO was founded by 50 member cities in 2010 as the World e-Governments Organization, hence our acronym. In response to the evolving concept of smart cities, WeGO expanded its vision and mandate at the 7th General Assembly (2017) and its name to the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization. WeGO’s Secretariat is based in Seoul, Korea, and has regional offices in East Asia (Chengdu, China), the Mediterranean (Beyoglu, Turkey), Africa (Abuja, Nigeria), Middle East & North Africa (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), Latin America (Cuenca, Ecuador), and Central Asia (Almaty, Kazakhstan). As the leading platform on smart city development, WeGO’s mission is to share knowledge and good practices in e-Governance; strengthen administrative efficiency and transparency; advance digital capacity; facilitate civic involvement; bridge the digital divide and inequality; and promote cooperation solidarity among cities and local governments around the world.
WeGO serves for its members as their international platform to improve the quality of life, innovate in the delivery of public services, and strengthen regional competitiveness.
Press Contact:
Name: Kakim Danabayev
E-mail: kakim@we-gov.org
Phone: +82-70-4202-9169