Rethinking Urban Futures: How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming City Planning

SUAD URBIS participated at “The Future of Society in the Age of AI” Conference

At Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, the URBIS Master in Urban Planning bridges research and real world challenges to imagine cities that are more resilient, equitable, and humane. This dialogue recently reached the global stage at the Second International Conference on Applied Research in Humanities and Social Sciences, held in Sharjah under the theme “The Future of Society in the Age of AI.”

The event included an engaging open dialogue with Nobel Laureate in Literature Prof. Abdulrazak Gurnah, and discussions centered on how AI is reshaping research and innovation in the humanities and social sciences.

The session under the theme 8, “Enhancing Collaborative Community Based Research Using AI” was coordinated by Dr. Iman Ibrahim and Prof. Nadia Mehdi Alhasani on February 11, 2026, at University of Sharjah.

Using AI to Reclaim Our Urban Imagination

Under supervision of Dr. Simone Safe, head of programme at Sorbonne Abu Dhabi, our master’s students presented research that redefines how artificial intelligence can support human centred urban planning. Rather than treating cities as fixed systems, their work showcases AI’s role in building evidence based, inclusive, and adaptive environments.

The research team showcased the versatility of AI in collaborating with urban analysis and strategic decisions. Ana Paola Stumpf Rodrigues developed a Spatial AI Framework integrating GIS, predictive modelling, and generative AI to plan new schools in Abu Dhabi with biophilic approach in mind. Muna Alharbi, Rawaq Alsahooly, and Eissa Alhosani applied AI assisted computer vision to enhance sensory comfort in car dependent areas. Luis Miguel Merlano H. and Nour Ali introduced an AI enabled Digital Twin and Geodesign governance model promoting participatory urban planning.

Healthier Schools, Smarter Cities

The emirate of Abu Dhabi has experienced rapid population growth of 51% over past decade, which created spatial disparities in school distribution across the city. This has inspired our student Ana Paola Stumpf Rodrigues to propose a Spatial AI Framework that combines geographic data, predictive analysis, and generative models to guide the placement of new schools in Abu Dhabi. The study introduced a novel data-driven framework that integrates Geographic Information Systems, Predictive Artificial Intelligence and Generative Artificial Intelligence to generate optimal school site selection The framework ensures that educational infrastructure supports wellbeing, not just accessibility, combining environmental and biophilic factors.

Designing Sensory Friendly Mobility

Urban wellbeing is recognized as a multisensory experience, shaped not only by access to green infrastructure but also by everyday atmospheres people encounter as they move. Abu Dhabi’s wide roads, high traffic speeds, extreme heat, limited shading, and fragmented walkways create harsh and stressful mobility corridors. To address this challenge, our students Muna Alharbi, Rawaq Alsahooly, and Eissa Alhosani examined Abu Dhabi’s car centric landscapes through AI driven sensory diagnostics assessing heat, noise, and visual monotony. The objective is to investigate how AI can uncover car-dependent cities and how it affects people's lives by overlaying mobility, environment, and daily life. Findings show how adding shade, greenery, and walkable corridors can restore comfort and social connection in extreme urban climates, even if it would be initiated in microscale places.

AI and the Future of Participatory Governance

The balance between rigid planning and rapidly changing community needs is often at a loss, when developing cities across the world, and the UAE is no exception. To address this challenge, our students Luis Miguel Merlano H. and Nour Ali suggested a theoretical all-encompassing planning system that marries SCRUM frameworks, AI-driven Digital Twins, and GeoDesign to make planning more iterative and transparent. The main goal is to bring about a flexible, adaptive governance that is propelled by the dynamic structure of SCRUM, gets real-time, predictive insights from Digital Twins and is fortified by the spatial collaboration of GeoDesign. Instead of rigid blueprints, this adaptive approach invites citizens to codesign their environments through real time digital participation. 

Learning from Tomorrow’s Cities

These projects reveal how urban planning, when combined with AI, can strengthen community voices while promoting environmental and social balance. Such forward looking perspectives are integral to what we explore in our Urban Planning and Design courses at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, where technology meets human insight to shape better cities for the future.