This interview with MICAD and its sister project RECODE highlights how European metropolitan areas are driving the twin transition by advancing climate and digital agendas together. The projects reveal the essential assets needed for building fair and resilient urban futures.

Facing rising heat, coastal erosion, and water stress, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area is driving a bold climate agenda. Through coordinated action in energy, mobility, water, urban planning, and the circular economy, AMB is turning its commitments into concrete improvements across 36 municipalities—building a more resilient, sustainable, and fair metropolis for its 3.4 million residents.

MICAD is moving from research to impact by turning its assessment of five metropolitan areas into a dynamic capacity-building programme. Through hands-on training and vibrant Operational Hubs, metropolitan teams will learn together, experiment with real solutions, and co-create bold, inclusive roadmaps for digital and climate transitions.

At the 2025 Smart City Expo in Barcelona, MICAD presented its latest works on inclusive digital and climate transitions, sharing metropolitan case studies and introducing the emerging Toolkit that will guide metropolitan areas in developing participatory, equitable, and cooperative transition strategies.

African metropolitan areas, despite limited formal governance structures and constrained resources, are becoming laboratories of innovation—advancing climate and digital transitions through pragmatic collaboration, inclusive participation and socially driven innovation rather than technology alone. Their insights are now directly informing the development of the MICAD Toolkit.

The MICAD project will be presented at the Smart City Expo in Barcelona, from 4 to 6 November 2025, which is the world’s biggest and most influential event on urban innovation! 

In the context of urban and metropolitan development, assessing digital maturity is a key step in advancing strategic planning and supporting the twin green and digital transitions.
In the MICAD project digital maturity plays a central role as it enables metropolitan areas to understand their current level of preparedness for digital transformation and facilitates benchmarking progress across different municipalities.

During the Solutions Lab “The Future of Latin American Metropolises: inclusive, smart, and sustainable”, local government representatives from Medellín, La Paz, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Guadalajara and San Salvador came together to reflect on their shared challenges and explore practical approaches to inclusive metropolitan governance for digital and climate transition in Latin American cities.

As part of MICAD’s mission to support metropolitan areas in leading inclusive climate and digital transitions, the first phase of the project focuses on research, capacities’ assessment, and knowledge-sharing. The work has combined different methods: desk research, survey, and interviews with city representatives, local experts and practitioners from the MICAD metropolitan areas, and collaborative working groups.