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the 24th china international investment and trade fair, hosted by the investment and technology promotion office of the united nations industrial development organization, held the "fourth industrial revolution and smart city investment dialogue" at the xiamen international conference center on september 8. liu daizong, chief representative of the institute for transportation and development policy (itdp) east asia, attended and participated in the roundtable dialogue, and discussed with the guests the sustainable development strategy of smart cities from the perspective of esg. before the dialogue, liu daizong was interviewed and shared his views on the impact of climate change and artificial intelligence on the construction of smart cities.

question 1: could you please first talk about the impact of climate change on the future development of smart cities?

liu daizong:

it is a good time to discuss this topic now. recently, makara has affected haikou, and there are still water and power outages in haikou today. last year, we learned that july 2023 was the hottest month on record, and the data for the same period in 2024 broke the record again. so we can see that the climate is changing rapidly, and how our cities can better cope with climate challenges requires a lot of smart means to assist.

for example, recent extreme weather events, such as floods and hurricanes in zhengzhou, and high temperatures in chongqing and chengdu this summer, have brought huge challenges to cities. these urgent problems need to be solved as soon as possible, because most cities are likely to face similar climate problems. therefore, we need to explore how to use existing technology, industry, planning and design and other comprehensive means to enhance the resilience of cities to better cope with climate change.

this topic requires the mobilization of all companies to participate in order to achieve this goal. it represents an important systemic transformation of the whole society, and it is not a problem that can be solved by the independent actions of a single technology, individual or city. so i think today's big discussion is very important for this.

question 2: given the current state of urban development, can you elaborate on how cities should integrate ai technology to enhance their resilience and become smarter and more sustainable?

liu daizong:

i believe that the impact of digital transformation on urban construction is mainly reflected in the following three aspects:

first, cities need to better integrate with data technology. ai technology has had a wide-ranging impact on all walks of life. ai has already brought about changes in the education industry, and this impact also applies to urban planning and design. through ai-assisted design, we can optimize buildings, urban spaces, and industrial products to make them more efficient and environmentally friendly.

secondly, as a complex complex, key elements of the city, such as population and jobs, are being affected by ai technology. the development of ai may change people's living and working patterns. for example, the popularity of remote work may lead to changes in urban population distribution. therefore, cities need to consider how to adapt to such changes to maintain their attractiveness and vitality.

finally, the advancement of communication technology and ai technology has had a significant impact on the overall form and industrial layout of cities. for example, the advancement of communication technology during the epidemic has made remote work possible, which has led to the problem of vacant office space in large cities. cities need to adapt to this technological change and replan their spatial structure and industrial layout.

in summary, in the face of the rapid changes brought about by ai technology, cities need to change their systems, planning, governance, and environment to cope with the various challenges that may arise. this includes investment in infrastructure and preparation for population concentration and industry changes.

question 3: what are your thoughts on future smart city design?

liu daizong:

our traditional design is very rigid. for example, when planning a city, we design residences, office buildings or shopping malls. but with the advancement of ai technology and the adjustment of business formats, design needs to emphasize the flexibility of functions, not just the beauty of appearance. design should be able to meet future challenges and be plastic, and should not be limited to specific uses. for example, a residence may need to be transformed into an office space, or an office space into a shopping mall. the future urban planning system may change. in the past, we may have planned that it would be a shopping mall for the next 50 years, but changes in technology make it impossible for us to guarantee that it will still be a shopping mall in 10 years. buildings should be able to transform from one mode to another. for example, with the decline of movie theaters, their space may need to be transformed into a vr experience or e-sports venue. design needs to consider how to change the physical use of space.

in addition, the design should be more integrated with ai technology and communication technology to reduce the cost of future renovations. buildings should be more digital, such as the digitalization of windows and indoor air, so that they can be updated more easily. the entire building, public space and infrastructure need to be better integrated with ai technology, which is called digital twins in the industry, to prepare for future digitalization and ai systems. such ai systems can better assist our development. this is a complex system that includes climate performance, fire resistance, etc. with climate change, we need to quickly improve the adaptability standards of buildings to the climate. this is a huge engineering challenge because a large number of building spaces need to be updated while solving the problems of funding and large-scale volume adaptation.