The European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO) is a leading European space for dialogue and exchange of experiences between cities working to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Held annually, this forum brings together experts, municipal representatives and innovative projects to discuss strategies and solutions that allow cities to prepare for phenomena such as heat waves, floods or rising sea levels.
This year, at the meeting in Guimarães from 17 to 19 June, the forum has placed special emphasis on the synergies between technology and urban resilience, a central theme for understanding how cities can use advanced tools to improve their adaptive capacity . Beyond being a platform for sharing knowledge, EURESFO is a space to build alliances and promote coordinated actions at European level. Its importance lies in its ability to connect key actors and accelerate the transition towards more resilient and sustainable cities .
Barcelona Climate Ready: present at the roundtable on AI and resilience
In this context, the Barcelona Climate Ready project has been invited by ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability Network) to present the example of La Meva Energia , the application that integrates all information on energy management in homes with climate notifications.
The panel, which also included representatives from the European Commission (CNECT), the United Nations (UN-Habitat), ICLEI and the consultancy Gartner, focused on the standardisation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in urban management . The participants agreed that cities are no longer asking whether they should use AI, but rather how to do it in the best possible way, always prioritising fundamental principles such as transparency, equity, privacy, security and data protection.
During the debate, it was highlighted that AI has become a mainstream tool, which makes it necessary to increase the digital literacy of the general population to ensure its responsible use. The importance of putting people at the center — not technology — was underlined, recognizing that, currently, not all voices are represented in AI training models. In addition, there was discussion on how to integrate people without connectivity into the process, as well as the difficulties faced by smaller cities, which often lack the technical capacity or resources to implement these tools.
There has also been a debate on the need to guarantee security and trust in technology , taking into account its social dimension, and to structure information well to put it at the service of citizen needs through clear and co-creation processes. The issue of responsibility in the use of AI has been another central focus of the discussion.
Barcelona Climate Ready’s contribution to this round table highlighted how the project integrates artificial intelligence tools to design more effective climate adaptation strategies.
Conclusion: innovation and collaboration for resilient cities
The experience of Barcelona, with projects such as Climate Ready and La Meva Energia , demonstrates that AI can be an important instrument of social transformation when applied with an ethical, transparent and people-centered vision.
The debate in Guimarães has confirmed that the future of urban resilience involves integrating technology responsibly , ensuring that no person or city is left behind.
This participation reinforces Barcelona’s commitment to open and collaborative innovation, and opens new avenues to explore how AI can be an ally in the fight against climate change , always with people and the common good as the central axis.
