Cities are entering a new phase of evolution. For years, we have spoken about “smart cities” enhanced by sensors, data, and digital infrastructure. Today, that vision is no longer sufficient. We need a shift toward a more integrated model, one where cities orchestrate essential services and place citizens at the center, a transition I describe as “City-as-a-Service.”
City-as-a-Service means moving beyond isolated digital initiatives toward a coordinated ecosystem where transport, health, education, logistics, and public services operate as a single experience for citizens. Technology must serve real human needs, helping people move, work, study, and access care efficiently. The main obstacle is organizational, not technological. Cities are still managed in silos, with mobility, education, healthcare, and urban services operating separately despite their deeply interconnected challenges.
Digitalization is therefore only an enabler; integration is the objective. Many mobility challenges are tied to school schedules, healthcare access, or demographic trends. By connecting data and services, cities can coordinate flows more intelligently, anticipate demand and deliver more inclusive, efficient services. Achieving this shift requires moving from fragmented management to systemic orchestration, with public and private actors collaborating around shared outcomes.
Open, Integrated and Scalable Urban Systems
Public transport must remain the backbone of urban mobility, for both decarbonization and social inclusion. The future lies in interconnection: integrating transport with parking, shared mobility, and emerging solutions. Sustainable mobility should be the natural choice, supported by technology rather than imposed.
Digital twins, dynamic models integrating multiple layers of urban data, allow cities to act in real time and simulate scenarios, improving decision-making and operational efficiency. As cities grow more complex, this capacity to anticipate challenges becomes essential. Innovation evolves faster than regulations, and ecosystems must remain open. Shared mobility shows how disruptive solutions can integrate into city systems when openness and interoperability are preserved.
Cities as structured innovation platforms
Cities must increasingly operate as open and interoperable innovation platforms where solutions can be tested, integrated, and scaled under real conditions. This approach strengthens institutional capacity, accelerates implementation cycles, and helps cities preserve strategic autonomy in a context where technological change outpaces regulation.
When city systems are better coordinated, residents experience it in very concrete ways: less time spent navigating bureaucracy, safer and more efficient mobility, quicker emergency response, and clearer communication from public authorities. Access to healthcare becomes more seamless; schools are better connected to community and social services, and essential services are easier to reach across neighborhoods. Most importantly, better coordination reduces the small frictions that accumulate in everyday life: delays, duplicated procedures, information gaps, unreliable transport connections, and services that do not speak to each other.
Urban transformation is therefore not an abstract modernization project. It is a way of making the city work better in practice, so that public services feel smoother, fairer, and more reliable. Its success is measured not by the sophistication of its infrastructure, but by tangible improvements in people’s daily routines, long-term security, and overall quality of life.
In a City‑as‑a‑Service vision, the city is experienced as a continuous service rather than a collection of silos. Citizens interact through seamless, data‑driven experiences, while intelligence quietly orchestrates services and data in the background. A city that adapts, anticipates, and responds, making complexity invisible.
