Casablanca Smart City 2024 Focuses on Citizen Participation and Sustainable Urban Development

Marrakech – The inaugural day of the Casablanca Smart City 2024 event, organized by Casablanca Events & Animation, featured yesterday engaging discussions and workshops centered around the theme “From Smart Citizen to Smart Metropolis.”

The event, aimed at professionals, provided a platform to showcase, exchange ideas, conduct strategic reflections, and propose concrete operational solutions to address the challenges of rapid metropolization, exacerbated issues such as water stress, energy consumption, scarcity and complexity of land, and the encroachment on agricultural land.

Following the opening ceremony, the event delved into its first plenary session titled “Integrated and Sustainable Metropolitan Planning.”

The session began with a workshop by UN-HABITAT focusing on a human-centric approach to smart cities.

The workshop emphasized the importance of citizen participation in metropolitan governance through the use of digital tools, new participation models, and the evaluation of existing processes.

By actively engaging local communities in urban planning and recognizing the crucial role of citizens, the workshop aimed to ensure sustainable and inclusive urban development where every citizen contributes to shaping the future of their city.

The event then transitioned into two engaging discussion circles. The first circle, titled “E-Governance and Participatory Citizen Planning,” highlighted the crucial role of e-governance and participatory metropolitan planning in creating resilient and inclusive metropolises.

By showcasing best practices in electronic governance and addressing the challenges and opportunities associated with the use of digital technologies in metropolitan planning, the circle encouraged the exchange of experiences and ideas to promote democratic and transparent governance in smart metropolises.

The second circle, “Citizen Management of Metropolitan Resources,” focused on the direct involvement of citizens in the management of crucial urban resources such as water, energy, waste, and materials.

Through leveraging digital advancements and participatory approaches, the discussion aimed to create innovative and sustainable solutions.

According to the organizers, this integrated and inclusive approach seeks to establish resilient and sustainable metropolises where citizens play a central role in decision-making and the implementation of concrete solutions to address urban challenges.

The first day of the Casablanca Smart City event set the stage for further discussions and collaborations aimed at capitalizing on human resources to transform metropolises into sustainable, inclusive, and resilient urban ecosystems.

Casablanca Smart City provides a platform to continue to explore innovative solutions and best practices to tackle the challenges of rapid urbanization, while ensuring the active participation of citizens in shaping the future of their cities.