Executive Summary

Cities are now the most critical stage for digital transformation. As global hubs of culture, commerce, and innovation, they sit at the intersection of technology and humanity. This paper explores the urgent opportunity for mayors to lead the digital age through cooperation, human-centric frameworks, and sustainable solutions. The roundtable, hosted at AIM Congress 2025, unites regional leaders and institutional allies to drive collective action based on the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and International Guidelines on People-Centered Smart Cities (IG-PCSC). This paper outlines a new blueprint for city-first digital futures.

1. Introduction: Cities at the Core of the Digital Future

In a world shaped by algorithms, platforms, and data, cities must define their place not just as users of technology, but as shapers of digital society. Urban leaders have a unique responsibility: ensure that innovation advances rights, resilience, and inclusion. With over half the world’s population living in cities, mayors are entrusted to localize global commitments—from SDGs to digital governance compacts—into impactful, measurable strategies. The time to act is now.

2. Roundtable Participants

- Bérangère Boëll – UN Resident Coordinator for the UAE
- Edlam Yemeru – Director (a.i), UN-Habitat
- Eunbyul Cho – Head of Program Department, WeGO
- John-Charuk Saah Siafa – Mayor of Monrovia, Liberia
- Nadia Verjee – Executive Director, Global Initiatives, Expo City Dubai
- Tamraz Taghiyev – Mayor of Narimanov & Chair, Azerbaijani Municipal Association
- Tanjong Martin Meshongong – Mayor of Tubah Council, Cameroon
- Zubair Ali – Mayor of Peshawar, Pakistan

3. Strategic Pillars of the Roundtable

3.1 Localized Digital Solutions

Cities cannot afford a one-size-fits-all digital strategy. The roundtable emphasized that successful digital policy begins with localized adaptation. Urban centers must integrate global frameworks like the GDC and IG-PCSC within the realities of their social, economic, and infrastructure contexts. Case studies from Tubah, Narimanov, and Peshawar illustrated how cities are implementing agile pilots, leveraging public data, and crowdsourcing innovation to address urban mobility, digital literacy, and climate adaptation.

3.2 Leadership in Urban Digital Transformation

Transformational leadership requires more than vision—it demands policy execution. Mayors shared practical steps, including establishing digital advisory boards, launching smart city task forces, and embedding digital equity targets in city budgets. Community engagement is central to this effort. Leaders are advancing inclusive urban design where technology is a tool for empowerment—not exclusion.

3.3 Governance and Ethics in the Digital Age

Urban innovation must not come at the expense of civil liberties. Mayors debated the creation of city-level digital charters that establish clear guidelines on data privacy, surveillance, and ethical AI. Pioneering cities are piloting open algorithms, co-governed data labs, and public consultations on tech deployments. The roundtable agreed: digital sovereignty must include accountability, accessibility, and citizen rights.

3.4 Collaborative Innovation

Cross-city alliances and smart city coalitions were identified as crucial engines of scale. Through WeGO, UN-Habitat, and other networks, cities are pooling resources, sharing toolkits, and attracting multi-city finance to de-risk investment. Delegates proposed a digital commons platform where cities could exchange policy templates, pilot outcomes, and procurement tools.

4. Objectives and Scope of the Roundtable

The roundtable aimed to go beyond discussion—to mobilize concrete, city-led action. Each participating mayor shared their unique approach to localizing the GDC and IG-PCSC within their jurisdiction, identifying pain points and untapped opportunities. Through curated dialogue, city leaders engaged directly with institutional partners to map where collaborative efforts, blended finance, and digital infrastructure can unlock the most impact. The roundtable also served as a launchpad to broaden participation in the Global Alliance of Mayors for Digital Cooperation (GAM-4-DC), ensuring a global footprint for peer learning and shared innovation.

Key objectives included:

- Identifying mayoral priorities for implementing the GDC and IG-PCSC.
- Facilitating knowledge-sharing among city leaders on localized digital transformation.
- Unlocking partnerships and investment to support city-scale digital projects.
- Catalyzing new commitments and city memberships in the GAM-4-DC network.

5. Expected Outcomes

This roundtable generated immediate and long-term commitments across multiple levels of governance. Cities shared replicable digital policies, sparked cross-border dialogue, and initiated new public-private financing frameworks. Importantly, participating mayors reaffirmed their alignment with international digital principles and committed to accelerating implementation.

Key outcomes included:

- Best practices documented for deploying digital tools to improve urban life.
- Tangible frameworks for cooperation among cities and global institutions.
- Launch of new partnerships and multilateral initiatives supporting digital access, literacy, and infrastructure.
- Signing of the Charter for Digital Cooperation by participating mayors, underscoring their leadership in the ethical and inclusive digital future.

6. Policy Recommendations

To scale the impact of digital governance, the roundtable proposes five key recommendations:

1. **Localized Action Plans:** Cities must adopt digital transformation blueprints that embed IG-PCSC principles while addressing unique urban needs—particularly those related to digital inclusion, public data governance, and connectivity gaps.

2. **Sustainable Financing:** Governments and multilateral institutions should deploy capital to enable local governments to de-risk digital investments. Priority should be given to integrated funding instruments—combining municipal budgets, donor funds, and impact-driven private investment.

3. **Ethical Urban Governance:** Develop city-level digital charters and create independent review panels to evaluate emerging technologies through a human-rights lens. Prioritize data protection, transparency, and algorithmic accountability.

4. **Capacity and Skills Development:** Equip municipalities with the tools and training required to lead and manage digital ecosystems. This includes tech literacy programs for city officials, youth engagement platforms, and policy accelerators.

5. **Global City Leadership:** Expand the GAM-4-DC to ensure diverse regional representation and institutionalize a common voice for city mayors in global forums on digital cooperation, AI governance, and the future of technology.

7. Conclusion and Call to Action

The digital age will be won—or lost—in cities. From smart waste systems to predictive health data, the frontlines of innovation must be guided by ethics, equity, and inclusion. The roundtable showcased city mayors as global change agents. BlkSculpt Capital is honored to support this agenda through strategic investment, city-government partnerships, and infrastructure planning. Cities must now move from pilots to platforms—from strategy to scale.

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