I’m thrilled to be invited to provide a keynote talk at the Smart Cities America Conference in connection with the Smart Cities Council on October 7th in Miami, Florida.
My talk focuses on a fundamental mismatch: we’re designing smart cities with a level of technological complexity that is accelerating exponentially, but it is to be used by human beings with cognitive architecture that hasn’t changed in 100,000 years.
The evidence of the mismatch is sobering. Recent MIT research shows 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail to scale. McKinsey found 38% of digital transformations get “stalled in pilot purgatory.” Smart city projects demonstrate impressive capabilities in controlled pilots, then fracture when they encounter the institutional complexity and unpredictable human behavior of actual cities.
The issue isn’t insufficient computing power—it’s that we’re optimizing for algorithmic dominance instead of bounded intelligence. Systems that work within human-defined civic and ethical boundaries consistently outperform those that attempt to replace human judgment entirely.
Here’s the core challenge: people can’t reliably predict what they want, only describe how they want to feel. When we optimize for stated preferences rather than lived experience, we create brittle solutions that collapse under real-world conditions.
The path forward lies in recognizing that urban intelligence has always been fundamentally collaborative—from ancient Sumerian irrigation networks to Victorian cholera mapping. Individual human insight is realized through collaborative development, adoption, and implementation. Digital tools should amplify collective human wisdom, not override it. The technology must enhance rather than replace human judgment.
Looking forward to exploring how we build systems that are powerful precisely because they know where to stop.
#SmartCities #UrbanPlanning #AI #Technology #Governance
Join us at October 6–8, 2025, the 6th edition of SMART CITY EXPO MIAMI – RE:IMAGINE URBAN SPACES will take over Miami Dade College’s AI Lab in Downtown Miami.
For three days, the city will become the beating heart of the smart city movement. Leaders from government, tech, business, and academia will gather to share breakthrough ideas, and you need to be there.
Be part of a global conversation rooted in Miami
By joining us, you’ll connect with leaders from across the Americas, Europe, and beyond, while seeing firsthand how Miami is shaping the future of cities.
