SmartCitiesWorld Summit 2026: connecting climate action, resilience and urban innovation

Cities are facing an era of overlapping challenges. Climate change is intensifying environmental pressures, infrastructure systems are under strain, and digital technologies are rapidly reshaping how urban services are planned and delivered.

For many city leaders, these pressures increasingly intersect. Efforts to decarbonise energy systems, strengthen infrastructure resilience and deploy new digital tools often influence one another, even if they are addressed through different departments, strategies or policy frameworks.

The SmartCitiesWorld Summit 2026, taking place during London Climate Action Week, will bring together city leaders, policymakers, infrastructure experts and technology partners to explore how these challenges are being approached in practice.

The event marks an important evolution, building on the foundation of the Cities Climate Action Summit, hosted by SmartCitiesWorld since 2023. While climate action remains a core focus, the expanded Summit reflects the broader set of issues cities are grappling with today and creates space to explore how climate, resilience and innovation intersect while also allowing deeper conversations within each area. By bringing these themes together in one forum, the Summit aims to provide a city-focused platform that supports collaboration, knowledge exchange and practical delivery.

From climate action to a broader city conversation

The Cities Climate Action Summit was originally established to address one of the most pressing challenges facing urban areas: reducing emissions and accelerating the transition to net zero. Cities account for a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions and are often the places where the impacts of climate change are felt most acutely. The Summit was designed as a platform where municipal leaders, policymakers and industry partners could share strategies for decarbonising urban systems and financing climate initiatives.

As the event has developed, the conversations taking place around climate action have increasingly touched on related questions about infrastructure resilience, digital technologies and urban governance. In many cities, these areas are already closely linked through cross-departmental programmes and integrated strategies. In others, they remain managed through separate teams and policy frameworks. Across this spectrum, however, there is growing interest in understanding how these different agendas interact and what lessons can be shared between cities.

The transition to the SmartCitiesWorld Summit reflects this broader conversation. Rather than assuming a single model of city governance, the Summit creates a space where different perspectives and approaches can come together, allowing participants to explore connections between climate action, resilience and innovation while still giving each topic the time and depth it deserves.

A city-first event focused on delivery

A defining feature of the SmartCitiesWorld Summit is its city-first perspective. Municipal leaders will play a central role in shaping the agenda, ensuring that discussions reflect the operational challenges cities face when implementing policies, technologies and infrastructure projects. Technology companies, infrastructure providers and researchers will participate as partners and enablers, contributing insights on tools, platforms and delivery frameworks that can help cities achieve their goals.

The programme will also emphasise practical implementation, examining the mechanisms that turn strategy into action. Discussions will look at governance structures, procurement models and financing approaches that support city programmes across climate, resilience and innovation.

By focusing on these practical dimensions, the Summit aims to equip city leaders and practitioners with insights and examples they can adapt to their own local contexts.

Three streams for deeper insight and connected dialogue

The 2026 programme will be organised around three content streams: climate action, urban resilience and smart city innovation.

Each stream will provide space for deeper conversations within its respective field, allowing participants to explore specific challenges, technologies and policy frameworks in detail.

At the same time, the streams will be connected through plenary sessions and shared themes such as finance, governance and policy. These cross-cutting discussions will highlight the ways different areas of city leadership intersect, while recognising that cities approach these relationships in different ways.

This structure is designed to balance focus and connectivity, enabling participants to engage deeply with specific topics while also gaining insight into how related agendas are evolving across the urban landscape.

Accelerating progress on climate action

The Cities Climate Action stream will focus on the policies, infrastructure and partnerships required to achieve net zero in urban environments.

Cities play a central role in transforming some of the most complex systems in the global economy, from energy networks and transport systems to housing and commercial buildings. Delivering these changes requires coordination across multiple sectors as well as sustained financial investment.

Discussions in this stream will examine how cities are aligning local energy strategies with wider grid transformation, expanding electric mobility infrastructure and accelerating the decarbonisation of the built environment through large-scale retrofit programmes.

Financing will also feature prominently in the programme, with sessions exploring how cities can mobilise capital through instruments such as municipal bonds, climate funds and public–private partnerships.

Download Cities Climate Action agenda

Key speakers so far

• Cecilia Vaca Jones, Executive Director, Breathe Cities
• Katarzyna Szymczak-Pomianowska, Director of Strategy and Sustainable Development Department, Municipality of Wroclaw
• Nigel Banks, Technical Director – Zero Bills & Low Carbon Homes, Octopus Energy
• Jason Lowe OBE, Principal Fellow, Head of Climate Serivces, Met Office
• Delphine Queniart, Director, Climate City Capital Hub & Head of Institutional Clients, Bankers without Boundaries (BwB)

Strengthening resilience across urban systems

Alongside mitigation, cities must also prepare for the impacts of climate change and other disruptions that can affect urban systems. The Urban Resilience stream will explore how cities can strengthen their ability to anticipate, absorb and recover from shocks and stresses. While climate-related risks such as flooding and extreme heat remain central concerns, resilience planning increasingly encompasses a broader range of challenges including infrastructure reliability, public health and social vulnerability.

Sessions will examine how cities are using climate risk modelling and data analysis to inform planning decisions, as well as how infrastructure systems can be redesigned to withstand more extreme environmental conditions. Nature-based solutions and community-focused resilience strategies will also feature prominently in the programme, highlighting how environmental and social approaches can contribute to stronger and more adaptive cities.

Download the Urban Resilience agenda

Key speakers so far

• Susan Aitken, Leader, Glasgow City Council
• Rachael Owens, Co-Director, National Retrofit Hub
• Konstantina Karydi, Managing Director, Resilient Cities Catalyst
• Jack Ostrofsky, Programme Director, Retrofit London, London Councils

Digital innovation as a city enabler

The introduction of a Smart City Innovation stream reflects the growing role of digital technologies in urban governance and service delivery.

Cities are increasingly experimenting with tools such as artificial intelligence, digital twins, sensor networks and integrated data platforms to better understand and manage urban systems.

Rather than focusing on technology for its own sake, the programme will examine how these tools can support practical outcomes such as improved infrastructure management, more efficient transport systems and better-informed planning decisions. A recurring theme will be the challenge many cities face in moving from pilot projects to wider deployment. Sessions will explore how governance frameworks, procurement approaches and financing models can support the scaling of innovation where it proves effective.

Download Smart City Innovation agenda

Key speakers so far:

• Liz St Louis, Smart CIty Director, Sunderland City Council
• Juan Carlos López, Chief Value Management Officer & CTO, Grupo Cayalá, City of Cayalá
• Richard Whittle, Professor of AI & Public Policy / Advisor, University of Salford / Manchester Digital Strategy
• Ian Preston, Director of Development, Centre for Sustainable Energy

A global conversation on the future of cities

The SmartCitiesWorld Summit will bring together perspectives from cities across multiple regions, encouraging dialogue between urban leaders working within different economic, environmental and governance contexts.

By creating space for both focused discussion and cross-sector exchange, the Summit aims to support collaboration and shared learning between cities tackling similar challenges in different ways. As cities navigate an increasingly complex future, the SmartCitiesWorld Summit 2026 seeks to provide a platform where climate action, resilience and innovation can be explored together – while still allowing the depth of conversation needed to move from ideas to implementation.