Resilient City Digest. Final 2025

2025 marked the year when the smart city concept fully transitioned from futuristic presentations to real-world implementation. IoT, big data, and smart mobility are reshaping the urban landscape. In this final digest, we have brought together the most compelling insights from the seven previous editions of Resilient City Digest and are ready to share the key takeaways from the year now coming to a close.

Global trends: the technological foundation of the modern city

Throughout the year, we observed the evolution of key technologies that have become the backbone of urban systems:

Artificial Intelligence

AI is becoming the “brain” of the city, analysing data flows in real time and helping to reduce response times through automated event detection and call prioritisation.

Through predictive analytics, cities can make forward-looking management decisions, forecasting traffic congestion, energy consumption, and environmental risks. Resilient City Digest. Edition 2✔️AI is an indispensable tool for infrastructure operations, enabling predictive maintenance. Leveraging AI & ML for predictive maintenance in manufacturing

It also supports the planning of urban spaces. Generative urban modelling for walkable neighbourhood

Research by Data Insights Market confirms this trend: big data is becoming the backbone of urban governance across transport systems, healthcare infrastructure, environmental management, and energy networks. In particular, interest in predictive models is growing, enabling cities to forecast demand, optimise budgets, and anticipate risks more effectively.

Internet of Things

IoT is reshaping urban space and saving lives. Cameras, environmental sensors, parking sensors, and transport trackers make it possible to see in real time what is happening with air quality, water, traffic, waste, and critical infrastructure.

IoT-based early warning systems can anticipate many types of natural disasters and help cities prepare in advance. Resilient City Digest. Edition 5

When combined with digital twins, IoT enables scenario modelling and the testing of solutions before implementation. Digital Twins in Smart Cities. Digest.

Big Data & Open Data

They have become a driving force behind the creation of unified analytical decision-making centres. Instead of relying on intuition, cities are shifting to models where every change in routes, tariffs, or regulations is based on data and forecasts.

Thanks to data, cities are preparing for a new era of resilience, where even buildings function as “living systems” capable of autonomously reporting faults, predicting loads, and reducing energy consumption.  Smart Building Automation: How AI and Big Data Are Changing Facility Management

Open data is becoming a foundation for innovation in cities Resilient City Digest. Edition 2

Smart Mobility

The trend gained strong momentum in 2025 and became an integral part of the ecosystem of climate policy, energy, and spatial planning.

European cities are actively transitioning to smart mobility models, where transport, data, and urban infrastructure function as a single system. Resilient City Digest. Edition 6 – Smart Mobility.

Digital Twins

Digital twins integrate data streams from IoT, AI, and big data into a single virtual model of the city, where solutions can be tested before being deployed in the real environment.

✔️In urban planning, digital twins enable the modelling of different development scenarios, changes in traffic flows, the placement of green areas, or new infrastructure, while assessing the impact on mobility, energy efficiency, and residents’ comfort. Digital Twins in Smart Cities. Digest

Research spotlight: cities setting the pace for resilience

2025 showed that resilient cities are about real solutions. Copenhagen, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Singapore, as well as a number of cities across the Asian region, have become real-life laboratories for testing smart technologies in real conditions.

Copenhagen demonstrates smart mobility as part of an integrated system where transport, energy, green planning, waste management, and climate policy are connected. This model makes it possible to reduce emissions, improve everyday convenience for people, and build a more resilient transport infrastructure. Resilient City Digest. Edition 6 – Smart Mobility

Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Singapore have become reference examples of using IoT and data, from smart lighting and smart parking to traffic, waste, and energy network management. Barcelona uses sensors to optimize lighting and street cleaning, Amsterdam uses them for sustainable transport, and Singapore uses collected data for real-time policy, from mobility to healthcare.  Resilient City Digest. Edition 5

Saudi Arabia is developing a Unified Data Platform that combines urban registries, transport data, environmental indicators, urban development data, resources, security, and social services into one integrated system. Data and AI-driven urban planning: Charting the new future of Saudi Arabia

Helsinki already uses 3D models with integrated sensor data to forecast climate change impacts and plan infrastructure adaptation. Digital Twins in Smart Cities. Digest 

Our Year with MISTO

2025 was a pivotal year for the MISTO project. The platform moved beyond the pilot stage and became a fully operational urban tool for large municipalities.

In March 2025, MISTO officially launched in Odesa. In the first month alone, more than 25,000 users joined the app. Odesa received a single access point to city services: residents can apply for administrative services, track public transport, pay for parking, receive city council news, submit petitions, and take part in surveys.

Integration with Visa and other payment services enabled fast and secure payments for parking, utilities, and other services directly within one app.

By the end of the year, we launched the Transport Movement feature in the app, providing real-time monitoring of routes, arrival times, delays, and available public transport alternatives.

In 2025, MISTO received international recognition, including:

• has officially been recognized among the Top 50 Resilience Solutions by QBE Insurance #AcceliCITY;
• has been selected for the QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge 2025.

Our team also actively participated in international events such as Smart City Expo Miami, Nordic Fund Day, and others. This further confirms that Ukrainian cities and Ukrainian technologies can shape global discussions on resilience and smart cities.

We are not closing the final issue of 2025. On the contrary, we are setting the direction for the next stage of development. In 2026, we will continue exploring cities with a focus on practical solutions that work in real conditions. We invite you to join this journey: read upcoming editions of Resilient City Digest, share them with colleagues, and send us your case studies.

Stay with MISTO, and see you in 2026!