Fireside chat: City as a product – lessons from running Guatemala’s Cayalá urban development like a high-performance organisation

Ciudad Cayalá, was conceived as a vibrant, humanist extension of Guatemala City. A sustainable, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented environment run less like a municipality and more like a product. This session offers a practical, evidence-based look at the real operational transformation that made it work. From the hard decisions taken, structural changes implemented, and cultural shifts that unlocked the ability to execute at scale. From merging agility and technology departments into a single unified force, to embedding agile methodology across the entire organisation, to tying every transformation initiative to measurable financial, social and EBITDA outcomes. Join us to consider this visionary, non-traditional approach to urban management that tangibly lifts living standards and drives equity.

Key talking points: 

• Hear Grupo Cayalá adopted modern product development processes, including agile frameworks and the thinking behind this across the entire organisation to encourage city personnel to move faster, serve residents better, and make smarter investment decisions. Insights into cultural transformation strategy
• Explore the results from merging agility and digital transformation functions under one roof to eliminate the friction between strategy and execution
• Adaptive infrastructure that raises living standards and builds equity doesn’t happen by accident, consider the organisational structures, the metrics, and the willingness to fundamentally change how you work that was taken in this Guatemalan city development project