CONFERENCE AGENDA

Opening remarks

Two systems, one city

The systems that make a city work are often the ones residents notice least — until they stop working.

Digital government determines how easily people and businesses can interact with a city. Physical infrastructure determines where and how that city can grow.

This conversation brings those two systems together to explore how Abu Dhabi is building ahead of demand — creating the digital, regulatory and physical capacity for a city designed not only for today, but for the residents, businesses and investment of the decade ahead.

The honest mayor

What does it really take to lead a city when every decision is public, every resource has limits and there is rarely a perfect answer?

From housing pressure and long-term infrastructure to climate investment and the decisions that may be right for a city but difficult politically, urban leadership is built on choices with real consequences.

No prepared remarks. No policy announcements. An open conversation about the realities, trade-offs and responsibilities of governing a city today.

The stubborn optimist:
Why sustainable cities are the defining investment of our generation

The transition to more sustainable cities is often framed as a cost. What if it is one of the greatest investment opportunities of our generation?

Cities are where the pressures of climate change, population growth, infrastructure demand and economic ambition increasingly meet — but they are also where solutions can create impact at extraordinary scale.

A case for optimism, investment and action: why building cities that are cleaner, more resilient and more sustainable is not simply an environmental imperative, but an economic opportunity.

Density:
The solution to everything or the cause of everything?

How much city is too much city?

Density can make cities more efficient, connected and economically productive. It can support public transport, reduce land use and bring everyday life closer together. But when poorly designed, it can also intensify pressure on housing, public space and quality of life.

At the other end of the spectrum, lower-density living offers space and privacy — often at the cost of longer journeys, greater land use and higher resource consumption.

This debate asks one of urban planning’s most enduring questions: what is the right density for a city people genuinely want to live in?

The neighbourhood is the unit of civilisation

Liveability is experienced at street level.

It is the school you can reach, the park you use, the neighbour you know, the clinic nearby and the places that make everyday life feel connected, safe and convenient. That is why the neighbourhood — not simply the city — may be the most important scale at which quality of life is created.

This conversation explores what makes a neighbourhood genuinely work, and how planning for proximity, health, opportunity and human connection can turn a collection of buildings into a community.

The art of living well:
Luxury, design and the cities people choose

Why do some places simply feel better to live in?

The answer is rarely one thing. It is the relationship between architecture, interiors, public realm, culture and the small details that shape how a place makes people feel.

Moving from the home to the neighbourhood and the city itself, this conversation explores what luxury and great design can teach us about liveability — and why the highest standard of living is ultimately less about a price point than the quality of the experience a city creates.

Lift-off for urban mobility:
What the cities that got it right actually did

The future of urban mobility is not simply about moving faster. It is about making movement easier, more connected and more human.

The cities that have successfully reduced car dependency and made public transport, walking and cycling genuine everyday choices did more than introduce new technology. They redesigned streets, connected systems and made long-term decisions about who the city should work for.

This session looks at what successful mobility transformation actually takes — and what cities can learn from the places already changing how people move.

Built to move:
How Abu Dhabi designs for an active life

Abu Dhabi’s approach to liveability extends beyond the visible features of its neighbourhoods. It encompasses the systems and spaces that enable people to remain active, healthy and socially connected throughout their lives. Safe cycling routes, accessible public spaces, community sports facilities and parks designed for movement are not amenities added after development. They are essential components of a city that supports better health and quality of life.

This fireside chat explores how cities can design environments that encourage movement and make active living part of everyday life. The conversation will examine which interventions, from neighbourhood planning and active mobility networks to accessible sports and recreation, can influence behaviour and support healthier communities. It will also consider how Abu Dhabi is bringing planning, mobility, public space and sport together to create the conditions for residents to lead longer, healthier and more active lives.

Healthy cities, healthy people:
What science, policy and psychology agree on

What if better health begins long before someone enters a hospital?

The environments we live in shape how we feel and function every day — from air quality, noise and access to green space to walkability, social connection and the design of our neighbourhoods.

Bringing together science, policy and psychology, this conversation explores what changes when cities treat wellbeing as an urban outcome — and design places that actively support healthier lives.

The hospital was never enough:
Healthcare as urban design

What if the healthiest cities are the ones that help keep people out of hospital in the first place?

Our health is shaped long before we enter a clinic — by the air we breathe, the streets we walk, the green spaces around us, the food we can access and the communities we belong to.

This session explores how health can be designed into the fabric of a city, from preventative and age-inclusive design to neighbourhoods built for healthier lives. Looking ahead to 2050, what does a city look like when health is not an afterthought, but a principle it is built around?

The investment follows the life

After two and a half days exploring what makes a city better to live in, this session turns the conversation into its economic consequence.

This is not a theoretical discussion about the value of liveability. It looks at the real numbers, allocation decisions and returns shaping where capital goes — and why the quality of life a city creates is increasingly part of the investment case.

Bringing together government, real estate and investment perspectives, the conversation explores why liveability-led urban markets are attracting patient capital, what investors are looking for when making long-term decisions, and what the cities successfully attracting that capital have in common.

You cannot build culture. You have to mean it.

Infrastructure can make a city function. Culture is what can make people care about it.

The places people genuinely love are shaped by more than buildings and services. Heritage, public art, shared experiences, community programming and a distinctive sense of identity all influence whether a city feels memorable, meaningful and impossible to replicate.

This conversation explores why culture cannot simply be added at the end of development — and why the cities that protect and invest in identity may build the strongest sense of belonging of all.

Cities, rewired:
What governments owe their residents in the age of everything possible

As cities become more capable, what should residents be able to expect from them?

Technology is expanding what governments can deliver. Climate change is reshaping what cities must prepare for. At the same time, affordability, access and inequality continue to challenge the idea that urban progress benefits everyone equally.

This closing conversation asks a bigger question behind the entire LIVEX programme: what is the social contract between a city and the people who call it home — and what should good urban governance mean in an age when more is possible than ever before?

Capital follows compassion:
How philanthropic cities build global impact

Cities that invest deeply in their own populations develop the capability to lead globally.

Abu Dhabi’s liveability agenda and approach to humanitarian development are closely connected. The investments that have shaped the country’s own development — in health, education, infrastructure and opportunity — today form the anchors of its humanitarian and philanthropic approach, with an emphasis on partnership and long-term impact.

This conversation explores how cities can turn their expertise, innovation and convening power into global impact — bringing together capital and commitment to create progress that is measurable, sustained and built to last.