Smart Cities 

Being a Pioneer City in the Smart Cities Alliance is an excellent opportunity for us to promote the innovative work that is taking place in Leeds right now, but also facilitates the opening of doors where we can learn from other leading cities around the world and implement best practice in our city.

Transforming our cities into smart cities is a great tool to improve people's life quality. That is why we are committed to continue incorporating technology, developing innovative public policies, and to work together with the G20 cities to build a modern and efficient State that makes life easier for everyone who lives, works, studies or visits us in Buenos Aires.

We need to work together to realise the potential of data to solve city challenges by putting it in the hands of those who can make a difference. But we also need to do it in a way that is safe, ethical and responsible. London is proud to join this global initiative as a pioneer city to promote the adoption of ethical smart city policies.

We will adopt a transparent and participatory philosophy of local governance in the City of Istanbul. Our aim is to empathise with all segments of society, and value the participation of everyone, ensuring that the majority of the people are represented - not the few.

Technology and knowledge are two strategic assets to build inclusive, data-driven, and sustainable smart cities capable of tackling new and emerging challenges. That is why Milan is joining the Global Smart Cities Alliance, as this initiative will allow us to share best practices with innovative cities around the world. Today more than ever, in fact, we need to collaborate with each other to identify the most effective tools to face global threats like COVID-19.

This opportunity to collaborate as a  pioneer city on a new roadmap for safely adopting new technology is very welcome indeed as we work to develop a Belfast Smart District and to weave digital innovation into every part of our economy.  We’ll be exploiting new technologies and data to tackle city challenges in areas such as health and mobility to improve our citizens’ quality of life – and we must ensure that this is done ethically in a way that prioritises transparency, privacy, equity and inclusion.  

The Global Smart Cities Alliance will provide us with a global partnership to accelerate the adoption of technologies in a responsible manner and for the benefit of the citizen, debating complex issues and seeking joint solutions. Therefore, Brasilia is eager to participate in this joint work.

The G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance offers a unique opportunity to develop common ethical standards, foster digital sovereignty and therefore create and build a new resilient “trust-infrastructure for cities and citizens”. As trust is going to become one of the most important and most vulnerable resources of our future.

We believe that technology is a key enabler that can transform our cities into smart cities leading to delivery of improved services to citizens and businesses. We are keen to collaborate with G20 cities in formulating policy frameworks to improve quality of life of our citizens using emerging technologies.

The pandemic presents an opportunity to reshape our future, with renewed digital rights and tools that should allow access for all and people centred government. Local and regional governments will need to lead this shift to ensure the application of technology promotes human rights through equitable public service provision; putting our communities and planet first. The G20 Smart Cities Alliance is an important mechanism to help facilitate this transformation, bringing together a critical network of partners to collectively address and mitigate future crises.