City Dialogues Vienna marks the 4th edition of the signature series, and is the 2nd edition being held overseas. This year, in partnership with Urban Innovation Vienna (UIV), the Dialogue will serve as a platform for candid and solution-driven discussions among city leaders, industry experts, and scholars. The event also aims to generate practical and actionable recommendations that can serve as a stimulus and catalyst for positive change in urban development.

Notably, City Dialogues Vienna is a partner event of the Mayors Forum of the World Cities Summit (WCS) 2025, hosted by the City of Vienna and co-organised by the Centre for Liveable Cities, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore, and UIV. SMU’s senior leadership will participate in Mayors Forum as speakers and moderators, further enhancing the University’s contribution to the discourse. SMU was a Patron Sponsor of WCS Singapore in 2022 and 2024.

Theme: What is the Value of Urban Resilience?

The risks associated with urban development in a climate-disrupted and a dynamic digital world are well known, and solutions that can reduce these risks abound. However, the actions that enable – or impede – these solutions vary from region to region and city to city. Hence timely discussion to deploy these actions by governments, corporates and communities is crucial.  

In this City Dialogues, we will explore the multifaceted value of resilience through various lenses, including: economic benefits, social equality, environment sustainability, public-private partnerships, innovation & technology, and more. Effective resilience strategies necessitate the integration of both ‘hardware’ – investment in robust, state-of-the-art infrastructure – and ‘software’ or ‘orgware’ – the capacity to adapt to new challenges, foster innovation and establish new partnerships.

This dialogue aims to illuminate how these elements interplay to enhance urban resilience amidst rapid, and often disruptive, change.