WRLDCTY

PODCAST: What happens when cities run out of space? WRLDCTY Fellow, Steven Cornwell of ERA-co joined Lars Jensen, Copenhagen's Chief Architect, in conversation about the tensions of growth - and the strains on talent, livability, lovability, and authenticity of place. For many cities, it's crunch time... how do you design for a good urban life when feeling squeezed? https://lnkd.in/dgf8GMQa The Urban Question is a 3-part series of conversations with WRLDCTY Fellows and design and urban visionaries in Copenhagen - exploring that city's transformation through a global lens. Hosted by FORESIGHT Climate & Energy with leadership from BLOXHUB. Listen now! https://lnkd.in/dgf8GMQa

Iain Montgomery joined as a WRLDCTY Fellow in 2025 and has been hosting rich and candid conversations with peer Fellows - including this one with our co-founder, Anupam Yog about conscious cities, experience improvement districts (XIDs) and the need for empathy and connection for the urban world to make good on its promise of enhancing human potential.

The future of cities is not just built; it is cultivated through dialogue, imagination, and a shared commitment to transformation. Thank you to our 2025 WRLDCTY Fellows, speakers and friends who came together over dinner last week to share, inspire and challenge one another as we look to the world and our urban futures and ask ourselves what matters and what we do about it.

The Screen is Killing the City, said Greg Lindsay last week at WRLDCTY. People are spending 90 minutes more per day at home than they did in 2018. Much of that is on a screen 🖥️ . Add to that the otherworldly load of $$$ investment into Artificial Intelligence - and the augmented city we dreamt utopian dreams of is fast becoming a fallacy unless we do something human about it. What's the right balance and approach of augmented vs real? These are the critical and prickly conversations we dig into together at WRLDCTY.

Typically known for their international advocacy for urban cycling infrastructure, Melissa Bruntlett and Chris Bruntlett took to the WRLDCTY stage to share tales of profound change being led by women to make cities more livable, lovable, prosperous and equitable - from Delhi to Barcelona, and from Bogota to Brussels. The presentation scratched the surface, and we can't wait to dive into the book. You should too!

Whereas arenas and stadiums used to be on islands in the centre of endless parking lots on the outskirts of many cities, in his WRLDCTY keynote conversation, Populous' Jonathan Mallie shared how the rise of arena districts is unlocking a more integrated approach; anchoring arenas as centres in neighbourhoods, and injecting new life and local economic energy into cities around the world. When experience, belonging, pride, and resilience matter - one of the most competitive and compelling catalysts of urban change is proving to be sports and entertainment districts.

THAT'S A WRAP! It's a place of community. An exchange of perspectives. A peer forum where we stretch one another's ideas in a shared effort towards shaping better urban futures. THANK YOU to all who joined us at WRLDCTY 2025 in beautiful Vancouver, Canada! Special thank you to Resonance, Centre for Liveable Cities, World Cities Summit, Design Workshop, Populous, DIALOG, Lemay, Destination Vancouver, Downtown Van, Happy Cities, BLOXHUB, Arcadis, Hudson Pacific Properties, Bosa Properties , Pooni Group, hcma architecture + design, Arup, Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, NorthStar Development, British Properties

💡That’s a wrap for #WRLDCTY 2025, proudly presented by Resonance and our amazing partners in our home town of Vancouver. Watch this space for how we apply the dozens of topics and learnings in our insights for the year ahead. —- #Cities #Urbanism #Placemaking #CityMaking

The final day of WRLDCTY 2025 began by rolling up our sleeves with a workshop, Happy Cities in an Age of Despair. From Calgary to Copenhagen, Singapore to St Louis, London to Buenos Aires ... attendees from cities around the world stretched ideas and urban solutions for public realm, culture, economy, community, and more. Special thanks to our partners Happy Cities for hosting such an engaging morning of activities, and to Microsoft's 725 Campus for being venue host.

💥 What a mid-point highlight on the 2025 stage in Vancouver: Announcing WRLDCTY x World Cities Summit in Singapore. We were honoured to welcome Michael Koh, Executive Fellow, Centre for Liveable Cities, to the stage to announce our collaboration with the World Cities Summit in Singapore June 14-16, 2026. WRLDCTY has partnered with the World Cities Summit to program a dedicated stage and community experiences - bringing our global community of urban innovators, whose diverse ideas and experiences are shaping the future of global cities for the better - to this renowned global event. Join us in Singapore! More information and tickets to be released soon. cc: Hugh Lim Anupam Yog Chris Fair Peter Hyland Jasmine Palardy