At this year’s Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, one truth was inescapable: cities are not just backdrops to change, they are the drivers of it. As the world heads towards a future where seven in ten people will live in urban areas by 2050, the nature of collaboration between cities will define whether we continue to fashion environments that struggle to meet the needs of fast-changing communities – or whether we build inclusive, sustainable urban spaces that prioritise dignity and prosperity for people, families, businesses and all of society.
For countries like the UAE and India, this urban future is already unfolding. What was striking at Raisina was how far and how fast the conversation has moved, from legacy models rooted in bricks and mortar, to something more layered and more meaningful: technology, innovation, and sustainability as vehicles for urban inclusion.
This is where city-to-city collaboration comes into its own, as cities in our region with growing global influence, bold urban agendas, and diverse populations, must work not in parallel but in partnership.
On 27-29 October this year, Dubai will host the Asia Pacific Cities Summit and Mayors’ Forum (APCS Dubai). This will be another critical opportunity at which to ask the questions that matter: how can we build cities that are not just smarter, but fairer? How do we ensure that tech and infrastructure do not widen divides, but close them? How can cities, with all their contrasts and commonalities, collaborate to accelerate solutions that lift all of society?
India and the UAE already have a close and deeply rooted relationship. What is particularly exciting is that we are entering a new phase, one driven by the ready exchange of knowledge, technology, and the mutual embrace of the idea that urban innovation must serve the greater urban good.
Expo City Dubai, a living legacy of Expo 2020 Dubai and host of COP28, is a case in point. Designed around principles of people-first urbanism, sustainability, and connectedness, it has become a testbed for future city thinking. With integrated mobility, sustainable infrastructure, and a growing focus on inclusive design, it offers a powerful model of what’s possible when technology is embedded thoughtfully into the cityscape.
Yet no one city has a monopoly on answers. What India brings to the table, such as through its Smart Cities Mission, launched in 2015 across 100 cities, is a grounded, scalable approach to urban transformation.
At Raisina, we heard examples that brought this to life: waste-to-energy initiatives, smart classrooms that have boosted student enrolment by 22 per cent, and large-scale affordable housing schemes. These are not abstract innovations. They are lived solutions, created under the pressures of scale, diversity, and resource constraints.
It is precisely this kind of pragmatism from which cities around the world can learn. India’s last-mile connectivity, enabled by extensive rail networks and decentralised hubs, offers real insights as it builds toward a unified railway system that will redefine trade, travel, and urban connection across the region.
Let us be clear: city collaboration cannot be reduced to technology transfer alone. The most valuable exchange is not in hardware, it is in ethos. It is the shared belief that innovation must be in service of equity. That a city’s greatness lies not in its skyline but in its ability to serve the needs of all its people, and that sustainable growth must be inclusive growth.
This is where forums like Raisina Dialogue and the upcoming APCS Dubai become more than events, they become catalysts. They allow us to reimagine what leadership in the urban century looks like. They provide the space for cities to co-create the next chapter of urban development – one rooted in collaboration, not competition.
At APCS Dubai, we hope to use the opportunity as a platform not only to showcase success stories but to forge partnerships, share policy insights, and launch joint initiatives that tackle the hard questions around infrastructure funding, the optimisation of regulatory frameworks to unlock urban innovation and how we embed climate resilience in city planning.
Already, we are seeing concrete examples of what this kind of cooperation can look like. One is the establishment of an Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) campus at Expo City Dubai, a space dedicated to knowledge exchange around sustainability, urban innovation, and economic strategy. It is the kind of quiet but powerful initiative that lays the groundwork for long-term capacity building and city diplomacy.
As we move ahead, I am convinced that value chain thinking – multisectoral, cross-border, and deeply human – will define the future of urban leadership. Cities do not operate in silos, and neither should we.
If the challenge ahead is massive, then so is the opportunity. Whether it is through transportation networks, digital infrastructure, education, or public health, cities that share ideas will move faster and go further. Cities that collaborate will not only cope with urbanisation – they will shape it.
