The 10th edition of the World Cities Summit takes place in Singapore from 14 to 16 June 2026, organised by the Centre for Liveable Cities and the Urban Redevelopment Authority. The biennial summit convenes government leaders, urban planners, industry executives, and researchers around the theme “Liveable and Sustainable Cities: ACT Now!” — a framework built around three imperatives: Accelerate, Collaborate, and Transform.
Confirmed speakers include Singapore Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong, alongside city leaders from Berlin, Bucharest, London, Madrid, and Bogotá. The full attendee list, updated as of 4 May, is available on the summit website. The 2024 edition drew over 3,500 delegates from nearly 100 cities, including 115 ministers, mayors, and senior city officials. Across nine previous editions, the summit has logged over 140,000 delegates from more than 250 cities.
The programme runs across six thematic tracks — Cities for People, Resilient and Regenerative Cities, Smart Cities, Financing for Cities, Future Cities, and a new WRLDCTY Connections Stage focused on liveability, lovability, and longevity in urban environments. Placemaking and cultural heritage feature as distinct dimensions in the new track, a recognition that urban identity is as much a governance question as an infrastructure one. International partners organising track sessions include the World Bank Group, C40 Cities, Bloomberg CityLab, the Urban Land Institute, and the United Nations Development Programme.
New format elements for 2026 include practitioner-led masterclasses and delegate site visits tied directly to session content, offering applied context alongside the conventional plenary and roundtable programme. An IPCC senior leaders roundtable will bring scientists, mayors, and urban climate experts into structured dialogue around the IPCC’s Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, one of several sessions intended to produce implementable outcomes rather than declarative consensus.
For travel and destination marketers, the summit represents a concentrated audience of urban decision-makers with direct influence over infrastructure investment, tourism positioning, and mobility planning in cities across every major region. Singapore’s role as host is itself a signal — the city-state has built a durable reputation as a neutral convenor for urban policy conversations, and WCS functions as a platform where city-to-city relationships are initiated and formalized. Sponsors and corporate participants gain structured access to that network through the summit’s dedicated business engagement programme.
Registration and the full programme are available at worldcitiessummit.com.sg.
Leave a Reply