Barcelona once again discusses the future of cities, Kranj back on stage
Kranj 11 November 2025 – Mayor Matjaž Rakovec was once again among the invited speakers at the largest and most influential event for smart cities and communities, the Smart City Expo World Congress 2025, which was attended by more than 27,000 people from 143 countries over three days. He presented the experiences and goals of the European UrbanMind project, which Kranj is implementing in cooperation with the city of Pula and expert partners.
The Mayor of the Municipality of Kranj (MOK), Matjaž Rakovec, participated in one of the many round tables entitled "Decoding What Cities Really Need: A Data Revolution". Together with three other speakers – from TomTom (Germany), aconium GmbHT (Berlin) and iot squared (Saudi Arabia) – discussed how cities can use data, advanced analytics and predictive models to better plan, anticipate change and build more resilient and sustainable communities.
The mayor presented the experiences and challenges of the 18-month UrbanMind pilot project, which Kranj is implementing in partnership with Pula and the companies Riko and 3fs as part of the European DS4SSCC (Data Space for Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities) programme within the Digital Europe Programme (DEP). Its purpose is to develop a data space for smart and sustainable cities that enables the secure collection, sharing and use of data for better management of urban challenges.
“This was already the fourth invitation to the Municipality of Kranj to this truly world-class event, which certainly means a lot to us. It confirms that we are doing a good job in Kranj and developing examples of good practices for establishing sustainable and smart urban development that are also useful for other cities. The aim of the UrbanMind project is to use data to increase the efficiency of urban systems, reduce CO₂ emissions, improve air quality and provide access to useful data to everyone living in the city.”, said Mayor Rakovec.
In Kranj, city buses will be equipped with external sensors that will record environmental data (air quality, weather data, etc.) while driving. Based on the data and analysis, the city administration will be able to better plan the necessary infrastructure and ensure the quality of life of the population. Sensors will also be installed at all entry points to the old town centre, which will enable the monitoring, planning and forecasting of traffic flows in the city centre, primarily using artificial intelligence to reduce congestion and pollution. The developed solutions will be tested first in Pula, and the mayor of Pula, Peđa Grbin, attended the congress in Barcelona with a delegation.
About the event
Since 2011, the Smart City Expo World Congress has been the largest and most influential global congress for smart cities and communities and urban innovative solutions. It takes place every year in Barcelona and brings together leaders from companies, city administrations and organisations to jointly shape a sustainable, efficient and people-friendly future for cities. This year’s edition, which took place from 4 to 6 November, brought together several related events – Tomorrow.Mobility, Tomorrow.Building and Tomorrow.Blue Economy – and became the central platform for the development of smart and sustainable cities. Over three days, the congress was attended by more than 27,000 visitors, including quite a few from Slovenia. Almost 1,200 exhibitors and nearly 600 speakers took part in just under 360 presentations and round tables. This was the fourth appearance of MOK representatives at this renowned international event – they first took to the stage in 2022, then in 2023 and [last year](https://www.kranj.si/na-svetovnem-kongresu-
