Egypt embarks on smart city development drive

Egypt's ambitious plan was announced at a recent conference organised by the UN-Habitat Egypt Office and co-organised with and the Egyptian Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities through the Housing and Building Research Council's (HBRC) Urban Training and Studies Institute, and under the auspices of the prime minister.

Smart cities need to be sustainable and inclusive - this was one of the key messages to emerge during a conference. The event brought together over 120 experts including Egypt’s national-level experts, senior officials with international-level expertise from UN-Habitat’s headquarters providing stimulating discussions on defining a smart city, the structure and building blocks of smart cities and methods to govern localising sustainable development at the city level.

The event, held over two days, included intensive discussions with specialised tracks covering smart urban infrastructure, smart economy, smart energy, smart mobility and smart urban governance.