CitiesToBe by Anteverti:

According to the United Nations, in 1920, only 19% of the population lived in cities. In 2007, a halfway point was reached: on the planet, there were the same amount of people living in urban areas and in rural environments. In 2050 –in a matter of 30 years-, it is expected that 75% of people will call a city their home. The numbers speak for themselves — and they are telling us that the future of society in the 21st Century is directly linked to the future of cities.

Being able to interpret the multifaceted and diverse character that defines contemporary urban realities is essential to comprehend and anticipate what awaits us in the future. Driven by that inspiration and commitment, at Anteverti, we decided to launch CitiesToBe in 2016 — a digital platform of urban knowledge for city lovers, experts, and urbanites to foster critical thinking about urban challenges and to explore visions and solutions for addressing them successfully. It is conceived as a common space for gathering the diverse perspectives and opinions of the network of influential voices that we have been cultivating since 2011, as catalysts of the global conversation on cities and innovation.

Since then, at CitiesToBe, we have interviewed more than 60 of the most relevant experts, political leaders, and leading voices on the planet when it comes to deciphering the challenging and inspiring nature of cities. Names like Janette Sadik-Khan, Carlos Moreno, Inés Sánchez de Madariaga, Sameh Wahba, Cecilia Tham, Jung-hoon Lee, or Mikael Colville-Andersen have allowed us to explore, from different perspectives, areas of paramount significance for the urban future of the planet, such as sustainability, digital disruption, mobility, governance, or inequalities, as well as the latest trends and best practices to successfully address them. Moreover, CitiesToBe serves as a digital repository to disseminate all the knowledge and expertise that our expert team possesses in areas such as urban innovation, internationalization and city branding, urban economies, or digital transformation of cities, among many others.

Taking a further step in our interest in offering ways to better understand urban challenges from a global perspective and stimulate reflection on them, in 2019, CitiesToBe launched its international urban photography competition, the CitiesToBe Photo Award. As a result of our commitment to artistic creation as an indispensable engine for stimulating critical thinking, the two editions of the competition—2020 and 2023—have allowed us to support photographic creators from all over the planet who have the city and its complexity as their main subject, and to reward and disseminate work that inspires new reflections on the challenges facing the urban world today through the power of images.

Discover more at citiestobe.com