The world is becoming increasingly interconnected and complex, with rising interdependencies creating a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. Traditional business models, worldviews, and collective behaviors are no longer viable. The VUCA world calls for new paradigms—roadmaps that guide this generation toward sustainability and inspire future ones.

Paradigm shifts often occur when enough people recognise the need for change or when powerful events propel societies into new directions. Over the past 15 years, climate change catastrophes, wars, and humanitarian crises have shifted social readiness toward a more sustainable coexistence model for humanity and other beings on Earth. At the same time, the rise of smart urbanisation has made citizens increasingly dependent on technology and exposed them to the impacts of digitalisation.

The challenge of this technological encounter arises from the fact that smart urbanisation has historically been techno-centric, excluding people from the design of modern urban societies. This technology-focused approach has often neglected the social, cultural, emotional, and spiritual elements that contribute to a fulfilling urban life. As a result, cities may appear "smart" on the surface, but the industry is recognizing the dangers of this techno-centric view and shifting toward more people-centric approaches.

In my book Mindful Smart Cities, I propose a roadmap that integrates intelligence and innovation within urban systems, treating smartness as a unique journey for each city. Building on this vision, we have developed the world’s first Mindful Smart Citizenship platform—people-centric and evolutionary in nature. Our mission is to lead this emerging ecosystem of people-centred smart cities, offering a transformative approach to urban communities worldwide.

Dr. Shima Beigi
CEO and Founder