The world is irreversibly urban and digital at the same time. Digital technology is reshaping all aspects of human existence including education, health, employment, politics and more. At the same time, most of the global population now resides in cities and will continue to do so. Humanity’s present and future is urban. Achieving a better quality of life for urban residents worldwide is urgent, and digital technology offers a crucial opportunity to make this happen. Digital advancements are already transforming how people live and work in cities across the globe. Yet, in 2023, one-third of the global population – approximately 2.6 billion people – remained offline.

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced even greater urgency for local and national governments alike to bridge the digital divide especially for marginalized groups and informal settlement communities, build more efficient and secure data management systems, and protect citizens’ privacy when using digital services. These activities are the foundation for sustainable, inclusive and resilient smart cities.

The flagship programme People Centred-Smart Cities ensures that deployment of technology and innovation is used to ensure sustainability, inclusivity, prosperity and human rights in cities. It supports national and local governments with their digital transition, applying a multi-level governance strategy to help build skills and capabilities to develop, procure and effectively use digital technologies in an ethical and inclusive way to make sure that no one is left behind. Our programme includes the first United Nations Innovation technology Accelerator for Cities in Hamburg (UNITAC-Hamburg), a digital rights governance framework for local and regional governments, the challenge-driven methodology and a broad range of initiatives in digital transformation and governance centred on people. 

At the second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly in June 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya , 193 countries requested UN-Habitat to develop international guidelines on people-centred smart cities through Resolution HSP/HA.2/Res.1. The guidelines will serve as a non-binding framework for developing national and local smart city regulations, plans and strategies, to ensure that digital urban infrastructure and data contribute to making cities and human settlements sustainable, inclusive and prosperous and respectful of human rights. The guidelines development process has started and is expected to be finalized in 2025.

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