The Key Takeaways

The cases we discussed during the speech provided practical insights into the impactful journey of MDA in developing the Madinah Smart Strategy. We also explored the Decision Support Center’s evidence-based approach, which informs sustainable and resilient development.  For those who couldn’t attend, I've summarized the key messages and takeaways for your consideration below;

Takeaway no.1: Evidence-based strategic leadership is the beacon guiding us toward a balanced regional development. Over the past two decades, the world has faced a series of devastating shocks that have tested all urban systems. These shocks, whether economic (recessions), Health-related (Covid), Environmental (Climate change effects), or Technological (AI), have underscored the necessity of evidence-based strategic leadership. This leadership empowers regional authorities to plan for sustainable growth and enhance cities’ resilience jointly.

Takeaway no.2: A Smart city is a Resilient one. The loose definitions of those concepts in literature might hinder authorities’ capability to strategize and develop effective plans. The human-centric smart strategy and playbook developed by MDA’s Smart Madinah Program illustrate the type of evidence-based leadership required to lead regional initiatives harnessing technology (as a vehicle) to achieve Madinah’s smart city north star. To illustrate the strategic balance required in regional planning to accommodate the disaster risk reduction and resilience agenda, the epistemological approach to evidence-based strategic planning was illustrated.

Takeaway no.3: Invest in understanding your context and destination. Technology is just a vehicle. In this day and age, when globalization is at its peak, cities around the world are more inclined to replicate best practices rather than capitalizing on their uniqueness. Cities’ aspiration towards Over-diversification and/or adoption of unsustainable growth plans is becoming more common. The way forward for smart, sustainable, and resilient cities is to first invest in understanding their corresponding contexts, which hold cities’ identity, legacy, and the essence of their competitive advantage that are unique to their corresponding environments. This is to prevent the loss of the city’s identity (perceived brand) as it races towards the future. Secondly, invest in designing the city’s destination, factoring sustainability and resilience goals. Such exercises must be driven by stakeholders in the local community. After that, approaching technology providers to select the most effective vehicle to enable the city to achieve its destination would be sensible and will improve the success of technological projects.

Takeaway no.4: Evidence-based planning and decisions will remove the “black box” effect. From a financial sustainability perspective, cities should grow with sustainable investment plans. Regions and cities become more investable in the presence of strategic plans based on evidence and auditable analysis. Investors and entrepreneurs are less likely to be attracted to black-box markets where they struggle to understand the return on their investment due to a lack of reliable evidence (data).

Takeaway no. 5: As cities move forward, be mindful of WHAT and WHOM you are leaving behind. Nations are racing against time, motivated by economic, environmental, and technological pressures. “What” refers to cities’ identity and history as they globalize at an accelerated rate, eventually impacting their socioeconomic competitiveness. “Whom” refers to the vulnerable societal groups that are most exposed to the risks to growth and advancement.  For cities to be sustainable and resilient, strategic planners must design the way forward without leaving anyone behind.