13/05/2024
Last week, I spent fantastictwo days at AIM Congress in Abu Dhabi, exchanging ideas, knowledge,and discussions with global experts.
My first panel discussion was under and track, "Empowering Emerging Countries: Future Cities as Catalysts for Sustainable Development and Inclusive Growth" with fellow panelist Bertrand Badré who brought his immense experience from The World Bank and current role as an investor and Daouda GUEYE Deputy Mayor of Dakar City who knows very well what it takes to run cities in current challenges and bringing vision of sustainable future. Our session was very well managed and moderated by Dr. Houda
Through my participation, I brought a holistic approach to this dialogue. Here is the summary.
● When talking about , we can not forget making our current cities and overcome current barriers.
● While planning future we need to keep focus on cities that work for its purpose. We can not have sheer return on investment' approach and construct only prime real estate to accommodate elite of the society. We need . Therefore, we definitely need housing and infrastructure for masses. Given the availability of mostly sub-prime & remote locations for new megacities and to acquire uptake from buyers, renters, and businesses; we need a fully functioning city to avoid futuristic ghost towns.
● We need to think beyond as they last only a few years. We need to develop for future working worlds, where topics like societies and economies, households and individuals are priority. So when it comes to our priority should be
In the past, our cities grew mostly organically. Now we have the opportunity to bring and include knowledge as well as learned experiences of our citizens and leaving a little space for organic settlement.
● To achieve we need to educate our urban population, public-private sector.
