WGS 2024: Dubai to strengthen use of AI for municipal work, says head of Dubai Municipality

He said: “Governments must constantly deal with residents’ high expectations and work hard to meet these rapidly changing demands. Keeping this in mind, Dubai Municipality has taken a proactive stance by using artificial intelligence technologies for urban planning, such as (Urbanist AI).”

According to the head of DM, these tools help planners generate solutions adapted to urban environments, facilitating precise changes and advancements and significantly saving time and costs.

On Tuesday, Dubai Municipality also signed a cooperation agreement with the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) to support and enhance “Artificial Intelligence in Dubai”. The agreement will be followed by the development of a comprehensive proposal for the ‘Artificial Intelligence in Dubai: Pioneering Urban Intelligence for a Comprehensive and Sustainable Future’ project.

This project aims to improve collaboration in several areas of work, including the creation of an AI governance strategy for Dubai urban planning and the implementation of AI-powered simulation tools to improve priority areas and optimize operations and services of urban planning.

Al Hajri said that while waste management remains a challenge for cities around the world, Dubai Municipality sees it as a major economic opportunity.

“Using the largest waste treatment and energy conversion facility on the planet, we have harnessed waste to help illuminate 135,000 residential buildings across the Emirate of Dubai. This facility uses cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence systems, which further increase operational efficiency,” Al Hajri explained.

The treatment plants treat more than 360 million cubic meters of wastewater each year. Al Hajri highlighted the efforts being made by Dubai Municipality to harness this resource to launch its innovative ‘Green Dubai’ programme.

“With the help of recycled water from the Dubai Municipality nursery, the municipality has successfully planted more than 700,000 trees in the last five years. This AI-enabled nursery also enables the production of 90 million seedlings per year,” he said.

During his keynote address, Al Hajri also reviewed the critical axes of Cities of Opportunity and how they serve as a basis for shaping the cities of the future.

Al Hajri discussed the five-pillar framework for Cities of Opportunity: knowledge economy and technology, culture and society, environment, planning and accessibility, and infrastructure. “These pillars serve as main axes and foundations for cities to recognize possibilities and accelerate their progress,” he said.