Smart cities and buildings are on our horizon, what are they, what will they offer, what might life be like living in fully connected, technology rich built environment are some of the questions I got to answer at the Nanjing China Tech Week 2020 conference beamed live from its s.

When signals like Living in a Smart City emerge, organisations that engage early have the advantage of choosing their response rather than reacting to events. That gap between those who prepared and those who did not is where competitive positioning is actually made or lost.

The most important question is not whether Living in a Smart City will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.