5 Smart City trends for 2025

The annual Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona brings together the world’s top experts in urban development. We visited the event and listed five trends that will change the development of smart cities in the future.

1. Combating Segregation – the smart city also belongs to minorities

On whose terms do we develop smart cities? Do we genuinely include minorities and the disadvantaged in urban development? This was the question posed in a speech at the Barcelona Expo by Ruha Benjamin, Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University in the United States.

She emphasised that smart technology can be used to monitor people or even protesters. At borders, smart technology can lead to unreasonable situations and deaths as migrants try to enter the country. Robot dogs can be cute, but they can also be used for very rough tasks as police dogs. The use of artificial intelligence also significantly increases global climate emissions.

“Whose mind does artificial intelligence model? Does it take into account the world of the disadvantaged – or is the starting point always the well-off middle class?”, she asked.

Benjamin hoped that instead of artificial intelligence, people would genuinely open their minds and listen to those who have been left behind by technological development. The solution to inequality in smart cities lies in the culture of community and inclusion.

2. Artificial Intelligence accelerates tourism

The development of smart cities is increasingly intertwined with the utilization of artificial intelligence. Cities around the world are utilising generative artificial intelligence. It can be used to bring city data to the use of citizens, create new digital services, and increase the transparency of administration.

Artificial intelligence is also widely used in tourism. Madrid’s Visitmadridgpt is an artificial intelligence chatbot that gives recommendations to tourists based on their wishes. The most frequently asked topics are good places to eat and getting from one place to another. The artificial intelligence is conversational and asks clarifying questions as the session progresses.

The city of Madrid receives information through the chatbot about when tourists are planning their trips, and thus the city can plan events, for example, taking into account the tourist seasons. The chatbot can recommend personalised neighborhoods, restaurants, or entire day programs. It can also take into account the time needed for travel and the experiences themselves. The chatbot also follows the user to Whatsapp, where it is easy to ask more questions during the trip.

3. Disinformation is being addressed more and more severely

The US presidential election saw an exceptional amount of disinformation, i.e., intentionally spread false information. According to the authorities, a lot of disinformation came from Russia. Ruthbea Yesner, Vice President of the American consulting firm IDC, spoke in Barcelona about the dangers of disinformation.

“Citizens need to be taught critical thinking and how to identify reliable sources of information. Authorities can no longer, for example, warn about storms or inform about vaccines if people do not believe the authorities’ messages,” Yesner said.

Producers of disinformation are currently ahead of those combating it. Once false information has spread, it is difficult to refute. According to Yesner, cities, for example, should have their own established digital communication channels that residents can trust. She hoped that politicians would be held more accountable for spreading disinformation. Yesner believes that disinformation will be taken more and more seriously in the future.

According to Yesner, generative artificial intelligence produces a huge amount of disinformation, but artificial intelligence can also be used to combat disinformation. Active measures are also being taken in Finland to combat disinformation. For example, Yleisradio (the Finnish Broadcasting Company) recently announced the establishment of a team whose task is to verify information and identify deepfakes by, among other things, examining videos and images.

4. It is necessary to adapt to climate change – even old tricks are being used

At the Barcelona Expo, help was collected for the over 200 victims of the DANA storm in Spain. Extreme weather conditions and floods are increasing due to climate change, so all kinds of solutions for adapting to climate change are playing an increasingly important role.

Cities, in particular, are getting hotter. The Spanish company Vortex marketed a water playground at the Expo that can be built in the city center and can be entered even while passing by. Spraying and flowing water cools the air and people.

Similar water parks in stone cities have been seen before, especially in Southern Europe. Their new arrival indicates that technologies and innovations in the development of smart cities do not always progress linearly. Sometimes an old and simple solution makes a comeback.

This was emphasised by the well-known blogger Seth Pallenberg in his keynote speech. He called for simple and holistic, i.e., interconnected urban services also for the world of changing climate. Pallenberg speculated that various solutions related to weather forecasting will become more common. Strengthened by digital twins and artificial intelligence, weather forecasts will become hyper-accurate in the future, allowing the movements of typhoons to be predicted with meter-level accuracy.

Also, Forum Virium Helsinki’s Regions4Climate project focuses on adapting to climate change and social justice.

5. Digital twins are evolving and Helsinki is at the forefront.

Forum Virium Helsinki’s experts had a record ten appearances at this year’s Smart City Expo. The utilisation of data in urban development and Helsinki’s digital twins, which collect city data in a usable format, were highlighted in almost all speeches.

Forum Virium’s experts who spoke included Jussi Knuuttila, who presented traffic data, Matias Oikari, who presented intelligent logistics, Jaana Halonen, who spoke about the social dimension of the digital twin, Heli Ponto, who spoke about solutions for adapting to climate change, Timo Sillander and Kaisa Spilling, who presented Helsinki’s digitalisation, Minna Torppa, who spoke about city experimentation platforms, and Renske Martijnse-Hartikka, who spoke about digital twins, drones, and satellite data in three different sessions.

To top it all off, during the Expo week, the cybersecurity consulting company ThoughtLab selected the City of Helsinki’s digital twin as one of the best in the world. According to the company’s assessment, Helsinki is effectively promoting a climate-neutral, safe, and inclusive future city by utilising digital solutions.