Reimagined Cities: Can Cities Leverage Urban Design & Tech to Attract the Next Generation Traveler?
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Organised in partnership with Singapore Tourism Board, global experts gathered at Expo 2020 Dubai to discuss the future of travel and urban landscapes as part of SingapoReimagine Global Conversations series.
Speakers: Dr. Barkathunnisha, Co-Founder, World Women Tourism and Founder of Elevated Consultancy & Training Michael Magill, Managing Director at RSP Middle East & North Africa Xavier Anglada, Managing Director at Accenture - Innovation, Digital Transformation, Energy Transition Moderated by Sarah Khan, Editor-in-Chief at Condé Nast Traveller Middle East
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Cities must reimagine their approach to urban design and technology to attract post-pandemic travelers who prioritize authenticity, sustainability, flexibility, and human connection over consumption—requiring a balance between smart city infrastructure and creative, human-centered place-making that reflects local identity rather than global homogenization.
- Next-generation travelers seek authentic, relational experiences tied to local identity and sustainability rather than consumptive tourism
- Technology must be invisible infrastructure enabling convenience and personalization while preserving human interaction and distinctive place character
- Cities must avoid over-design and serial reproduction by leveraging creative place-making and co-creation with local stakeholders
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Data and digital twins of travelers enable personalization of experiences, and Changi Airport exemplifies this through continuous design iteration where every interaction—space, time, food, wayfinding—is personalized through data, making it consistently rank as world's best airport not by chance but through deliberate design thinking.
“we have so many points of contact that allow us to build a digital twin of ourselves and the more we can use this data to create the so what's what is relevant for this person basically what is relevant for that person this is an area where i think there's still a lot to be developed and when i see the case of singapore and we work very closely with shanghi airport to create all the experience of passengers in changi and changi every year stands as the best airport in the world or not by chance because the design the design yeah the design mindset the innovation mindset of the leadership there about i want to make sure that the spaces are and you don't see this technology but it's everywhere the time between one side to the other the experience the food that so everything is super well personalized through data right”
Technology in city and hospitality design should be invisible infrastructure that enables convenience, personalization, and safety without being visually dominant or destroying the authenticity of physical spaces, requiring careful subtlety in implementation to maintain human-centered experience.
“one of the things we said this is the smart the smartest city today in the world because there are so many layers but it's an invisible technology yeah we don't we didn't want the technology to be visible everywhere there's there's so many video uh surveillance to ensure to avoid the stampedes to avoid all this but all this needs to be invisible to make sure that we make it the most human and sustainable possible”
Smart city technology implementation in Singapore uses integrated information models—virtual representations of the entire city built inside computers—that allow monitoring of water flow, heat, people movement, and enable designers and city managers to make data-informed decisions and improve efficiency while passing integrated knowledge to building users and city operators.
“for us the technology is about information management so like a singapore is a leading city in in this implementation that the whole city is is built virtually inside the computer and all of our designs is actually built virtually so the information technology that's driving our designs now we can monitor the water flow to monitor the heat can monitor the people moving through the building so it allows us to have so much information at the at the designer's fingertips to basically improve the design and then when that design then gets built and realized all of that integrated knowledge and the information technology model is passed on to the building user and that model is plugged into the city model so then all the cut all of a sudden your city becomes this integrated information model”
Loneliness and mental/emotional health impacts of hyperconnectivity require tourism and city design to prioritize relational experiences and bonding opportunities, shifting design priority from pure technology optimization to human connection.
“and i think in a very hyper-connected world we also see a heightened sense of loneliness that has happened during the pandemic as well so uh how do we use smart technology to create a relational sort of work when people travel or relational tourism experiences when people travel becomes very important for us to think about”
The pandemic created a new class of hybrid traveler that blurs boundaries between holiday travel, business travel, and residency, with travelers now seeking temporary relocations rather than short-term vacations and bringing families with them even on business trips.
“this has created a new challenge new opportunity that blurs the lines between holiday travel business travel and actual residency and so this resulting hybrid traveler tends to be more thoughtful and deliberate in how they choose their destinations”
Next-generation travelers prioritize authenticity at three levels: authenticity with respect to nature and well-being, sustainability through green spaces and decarbonization agendas, and lived authentic experiences connected to local neighborhoods rather than serial reproductions or homogenized destinations.
“so the first one is authenticity so this is a generation that is very their travel is a construction of the identity so they are very conscious they are very curious and cautious traveler so authenticity is at two levels one is with respect to nature with respect to their sense of well-being and thirdly with sustainability”
Understanding traveler research should be done through continuous research cycles every 3-6 months using both digital behavioral data and physical interviews to track how people's experiences, preferences, and feelings are changing rather than relying on historical case studies.
“every three to six months we conduct research across the impacts of what we're leaving into the behaviors and to the the future the futures because of the businesses of the people of the technologies of the spaces and so on right so back to basics interrogate people and that's what we did in expo before we landed the experience we interviewed people from all over the world we had an estimate about where is going to be the people coming here and we asked what do you expect from expo”
Tourism and travel experiences should prioritize co-creation with residents and visitors to ensure experiences reflect community values and generate shared benefit rather than one-directional consumption by visitors.
“so you need to create a co-creation of that experience and how that happens is when the travelers come in there and they sit down they they are by the the roadsides and enjoying themselves and that creates that ambiance uh of that particular area”
Microsoft's acquisition of large entertainment companies and integration of travel into entertainment platforms signals entertainment-travel convergence where technology companies are consolidating experience design, suggesting future where travel and entertainment blur.
“we're seeing a lot of movements about entertainment and travel coming together microsoft acquiring a very large company on entertainment and and as well bringing travel into it”
Sustainability promises in hospitality have paradoxically become more harmful post-pandemic as greater chemical use for disinfection has increased despite pre-pandemic shift toward gentle, chemical-free cleaning—illustrating tension between health protocols and environmental values.
“with sustainability on us you know on the other note it's sort of like we were going towards this direction but now there's been a lot more masks everywhere and you know people people using harsher chemicals when they do their cleaning because they're so nervous”
Singapore's architectural approach of preserving local building materials and vernacular design principles creates distinctive city DNA and appeals to travelers, contrasting with 30 years of globalized architecture where identical glass buildings erased local identity.
“i think going back to the past is also something we can learn from and like if you look at an old city you know they use the raw materials from their local region to build their city they didn't import um materials from all across the world so i think also to look back at the past and see how all their buildings were were constructed and used the use of local materials and i think it's something that we should look at going forward to and then obviously that brings in a sense of dna for each city because you know there was a globalization of architecture about 30 years ago where you know there was glass buildings everywhere just because people wanted to be like a certain country so i think about bringing that dna back in design is very important”
Cross-sector and cross-discipline research integration is critical for making strategic decisions about tourism and urban design because isolated tourism research is insufficient—requiring intelligence from architecture, environmental design, management consulting, and other fields.
“there is enough research done cross sector cross-discipline right so when you look at tourism because i come from that industry i i wouldn't say that there's so much of research that is available then whatever we used to collect will become irrelevant or has become irrelevant now but i would say that you know there is enough research done cross sector cross-discipline right so when you look at architecture like for the topic today we are talking about you draw information from architecture for example on what are the needs of the new traveler with respect to architecture you take a little bit from environmental design you know and what they are looking at in terms of the design of the environment and sustainability and you draw from there and that is management research like deloitte talked about you know urban design and what are the top 10 things that we need to note in urban design mckinsey talks about you know the new gen uh workforce or people”
QR codes exemplify technology adoption reversal: pre-pandemic they were abandoned as failed technology, but pandemic contactless requirements revived them as essential infrastructure—illustrating how crisis forces adoption of previously rejected technologies.
“with technology the qr code is something i've been thinking about a lot it was something that was pretty much in 2019 nobody knew what to do with and kind of was not really there now it's been back from the dead where it's a vital part of the post-pandemic life”
Expo 2020 Dubai was designed from inception with 80% or more of construction remaining post-expo to ensure sustainability and legacy value, with the space reimagined as a hub for innovation companies and smart city infrastructure rather than a temporary event venue.
“we said by design we want more 80 or more percent of the construction remains and that's why it's very important to plan upfront what's going to happen after expo so that is the legacy of expo and how we make this uh the smartest city on earth with cloud 5g and so on so that it can be embraced as a hub for innovation companies and so on so it was by the design of it right”
Kampung Glam precinct in Singapore exemplifies successful integration of heritage conservation, local artisan engagement, co-creation with residents and visitors, and subtle digital transformation (e-commerce, push notifications, intelligent mobility) that ranks it among the best tourism experiences in Singapore regardless of pandemic disruptions.
“there's a particular precinct that's called the kampung glam precinct which is where the arab street is like the middle east is in their sort of thing so uh we've got conservation buildings we've got heritage in there and um so we conserve the houses in there and we create that awareness of the heritage and culture in there as well and we bring in local artisans the the enterprises the shops in their um showcase the the traditional art of food making for example um and as well as gastronomy that has been there for for decades there in singapore”
Sustainability and environmental consciousness is now the foundational priority for future business and travel, with every business needing to reflect sustainability from top to bottom, especially given climate change will be 10-100 times worse than the pandemic impact unless action is taken now.
“what we're seeing now to survive every business in the future and travel and tourism needs to reflect a lot on that it's a sustainable sustainability is going to be the name of the game because if we've gone through a massive pandemic impact recovered what we're heading through the climate change is going to make us 10 times or 100 times even worse unless we take action now sustainability needs to be from the top to the bottom a priority”
NEOM (Saudi Arabia) and Masdar (Abu Dhabi) represent ambitious new-city experiments in sustainability and smart infrastructure within the Middle East, offering learning opportunities about executing smart city vision at scale despite ongoing construction.
“i liked it as a benchmark now as a north star that the vision of neom in saudi arabia or even i would we could say mazdar in abu dhabi would be things to to think about right there's a lot of learning in the process of executing this right”
Pandemic has shown itself to be a role model event for the rest of the world, with Expo serving as demonstration of how to implement innovations and technological solutions that will roll out globally in coming years.
“this has now been like this is a role model to the rest of the world i think everybody's eyes are on expo and some of the innovations that are happening here and we're gonna see this roll out throughout the world um in the coming years”
Singapore has been recognized by MIT as the top country in the world for green index, reflecting its commitment to green canopy coverage and a vision to have 80% of buildings green, making it an exemplar for next-generation traveler preferences.
“if you look at singapore it was by mit recognized as the top country in the world for its green index which is talking about the green canopy that is uh above our city um we have a vision of 2020 to have 80 of our buildings green right so these destinations would tend to appeal”
The pandemic forced re-engineering of Expo 2020's touch-driven experience design into touchless biometric and facial recognition systems, requiring substantial technology pivots to implement contactless interactions across all visitor touchpoints.
“when kobit hit a lot of the design of the spaces were very touched yeah so everything the interaction was about touching this and experiences so a lot a lot of the effort was how to make touch less how to take biometrics to be able to recognize faces to be able to so it took a lot of effort of re-engineering what in the beginning yeah was more a touch driven experience right”
Wellness and health-conscious design is becoming central to hospitality, with growing interest in wellness hotels and resorts where guests experience immersive regenerative experiences including controlled diet, fitness regimes, medical diagnostics, and body/mind revitalization.
“the next generation of young and old people are more concerned about their physical and mental well-being as designers we are responding to this through new building typologies there is a growing interest in fitness hotels wellness resorts where the guest is attracted to having an immersive regenerative experience”
Architectural collaboration with entertainment, hospitality, and sustainability specialists is becoming standard practice to understand industry direction and reimagine projects based on evolving trends rather than relying on architectural expertise alone.
“currently we're collaborating with other um specialists in entertainment field and the hospitality field across the world actually and reimagining projects and then basically that all comes into trying to understand where the industry is going”
Pre-pandemic hospitality trend toward communal spaces and shared living has been disrupted by social distancing requirements, forcing redesign toward private and dispersed spaces, representing a fundamental trajectory reversal in hospitality architecture.
“in the last few years if you were on a different trajectory everybody was before 2019 and when it came to a lot of the topics we're talking about today with hospitality the hotel industry was definitely moving towards a trend of you know really communal spaces and shared living and things like that but then with technology as well we were kind of doing different things and then we've had all these pivots that have been happening so with technology the qr code...but then with hospitality obviously it's a lot of social distancing and that means we can't have the communal spaces”
Drone technology, robotics, and autonomous systems are being deployed at scale in smart cities like Expo 2020 Dubai for crowd management, delivery, and entertainment, requiring coordination with airspace management to prevent interference with airport operations.
“when you scroll this uh street you see the robots from talabad delivering you you you see the drones doing shows and there so somewhat but we have the airport here so you need to complete new airspace protected from the drones here because we have the airport and you cannot have interferences so a lot of things were had to be considered to be overlaid to create this”
Artificial intelligence and AI-informed design models allow architects to generate multiple design options and studies efficiently, enabling more thorough design exploration and optimization compared to traditional design processes, integrating high-level information capture with computational intelligence.
“using ai and to help in our design process that we can then have all this information and use iai models to give us different options and studies and then so we can explore the design in a more efficient process”
Cities have an opportunity to attract back remote workers and digital nomads who initially left for isolated destinations, as they seek human interaction and urban dynamism once again, requiring cities to demonstrate they can provide both safety and social experience.
“and then shavi i would actually love to hear more from you because obviously we are at expo and um you know technology was been a driving factor for exo from the beginning but obviously with everything that happened with the pandemic you've had to pivot you've had to make a lot of changes and it's also an interesting opportunity for cities because i think in the early the first phase of the pandemic in 2020 people were more leaving the cities for more remote areas but now because as you're saying we're seeking these human interactions and we're missing a lot of the dynamism of the cities that we love so now there is an opportunity for cities to attract those people back who are kind of out and seeking those socially distant isolated destinations”
Business travel will never fully return to pre-pandemic levels because companies have proven through two years of pandemic operations that productivity can be maintained with less face-to-face interaction, requiring fundamental reimagining of how business travel infrastructure supports this new reality.
“if it were only three months of pandemic that wouldn't have not settled within the pnl of the companies and it's been two years and it's continuing and businesses are continuing to prove so i think there is a re-imagination about what the future of travel will take for business right even for leisure right because they may come earlier back into or or back into normal but business a lot of the business travel will never eventually get where it was it needs to be reimagined”
The pandemic accelerated digital transformation and technology adoption in hospitality and tourism, with leaders who digitized and centered technology in their operations performing 2x better during the pandemic and 5x faster recovery and growth compared to peers.
“the leaders in the digital space pretty pandemic were 2x doing better than any other of the players around that so they were doing better revenues they were engaging better with the customers the pandemic their digital readiness allowed them to accelerate even further and as they come out and recover the digital readiness accelerated and they are 5x growing faster than the rest of the players”
Design thinking approaches involving 300+ tech companies conceptualizing ideas, bottom-up stakeholder hackathons, and immersion lab prototyping (as exemplified by Playtown in Recife, Brazil) can surface distinctive place character and interactive public experiences that commercial design alone cannot generate.
“recipe for brazil right was actually had this uh whole sitting in the making which is the playtown recipe you know and it was basically about creating a play city right and i love the whole idea of it because it was almost like as if they were doing design thinking in the way that they were creating a place city out of that so um they brought in 300 over tech companies to conceptualize how they want to bring this city into a play city and they did a hackathon of bottom up to get the the stakeholders at the ground level to to conceptualize different ideas and they had an immersion lab where they did a prototype of the ideas and what came up was a result of that so they have aquatic pathways they have fortune telling bus stops uh poetic sculptures you know and i think that interactive dimension would bring the distinct character of what that place is all about”
Travel experiences can be reimagined through virtual tours and virtual experiences allowing travelers to anticipate or participate in experiences digitally before or instead of physical travel.
“we need to re-imagine travel with virtual tours with virtual experiences and so on anticipating”
92% of travel and tourism executives surveyed understand the industry is changing rapidly and are testing innovations, but most are not yet scaling these pilots—indicating a call to action for faster movement and re-engineering of operations.
“we're doing a survey a global survey as extension across the end industry and we're seeing 92 percent of the executives of all the companies understand that the travel and tourism industry is changing rapidly and they're testing things innovating on things but they are still not scaling them so it's time to scale it's no longer time for pilots”
Client hesitation about committing to large-scale hotel and hospitality projects is forcing architects and developers to pivot toward smaller boutique properties seen as safer investments with shorter construction periods and faster ROI than mega-projects.
“lot of our clients and i it's it's a lot of exploration so they're revisioning re-exploring and and they're they're really um you know it's changing on a daily basis really um and then i think someone just mentioned him you know it's it's taking the next big step to turning these visions into reality because then that takes a lot of investment construction periods can be up to three four years so um it's very much the clients are still waiting to see what happens um but obviously they do these smaller boutique which are we we believe is a safer investment for the clients they're they're moving ahead with those rather than the larger scale projects”
Data and personalization are critical for competitive advantage in tourism because travelers will choose destinations and experiences based on relevance and personalized offerings, especially as the total pool of travelers shrinks and requires deeper market share capture.
“at times where we're going to be fighting for a smaller cake because there's not that many travelers yeah like in the past to get the larger share we're going to be more personalized we need to be more relevant”
Four key technologies will enable the reimagining of travel and tourism: distributed ledgers (blockchain), AI and data analytics for personalization, extended reality (XR/VR), and quantum computing to accelerate time-to-market.
“there is a magic tour uh that we're seeing for travel for tourism to go through where the experiences are going to be fundamentally better personalized interactions are going to be absolutely data-driven and micro sense ultra-convenient and we're going to see priorities completely reshaped and why we're seeing four key technologies that enable that one is distribution ledgers everything related to blockchain and so on is going to be at the core second ai data data everywhere to personalization we need data across third ex-rbr mr extended reality virtual reality there's a lot of things we can showcase without having to be there anticipating for a trouble for an experience and last but not least quantum to maximize the time to market on those”
Smart city planning and digital twin modeling enable integration of work-life boundaries so next-generation travelers can seamlessly transition between professional and personal activities within destinations.
“how do we use smart technology and tourism to ensure that this tool can be integrated for them they have a very high regard for a digital economy they've got a very high regard for a sharing economy”
Most Expo 2020 Dubai visitors (90%) had no prior understanding of what an expo was, requiring significant pre-visit education about expectations and experience design—indicating educational gap between event concept and public knowledge.
“we interviewed people from all over the world we had an estimate about where is going to be the people coming here and we asked what do you expect from expo the first thing we understood is people do not know what an expo is it was the response 90x percent were completely deviated they thought it was completely different so there was and then i saw what about education about before coming come to dubai we said okay then let me explain you what an expo is”
94% of research respondents claim they will engage in business-leisure travel during recovery phase, indicating that destinations must prepare infrastructure and services to simultaneously support work and leisure activities.
“if you look at the statistics in the research when you look at the new generation traveler we have 94 claiming that they will do be leisure travel in in the recovery phase you know so whether destinations are going to be prepared in terms of how do you entice the leisure travelers to come to your destination with that infrastructure mixed developments for example”
Barcelona exemplifies a smart city model that layers digital intelligence and innovation hubs on top of historical architecture, maintains local character while scaling innovation, and manages dense urban tourism sustainably through digital twin city modeling for waste, traffic, and water management.
“one of the things that drives me is the the spirit of keeping the old and reserving the old but building a layer of intelligence to uh bring the new as well on the space right and uh creating cups of innovation startups areas within the city so cities within the city where people really can feel them uh inspired by the not only the individuals but the community”
Sentosa Tengah district in Singapore will be car-light with all cars underground, filled with nature and local community engagement, and incorporate both smart technology and farm ways for local community engagement, exemplifying integration of smartness with inclusivity and human-centered design.
“this is a particular district which is a tengah district which is in the neighborhood but it's going to be one of the best in terms of smartness but at the same time it's got to go have farm ways for people to engage in that it would have also got gardens a very thick canopy around that is going to be car light in fact all cars will be underground and not above the ground right and it is going to be filled with nature but local community is going to be there and inclusiveness is going to be uh the primary concern in in this particular development”
Biophilic city design that emphasizes human-ecosystem interrelationship and respect for nature creates livability and appeal, going beyond simply having green spaces to integrate systems thinking about ecological relationships.
“the biophilic nature talks about the interrelationship of us and the ecosystem and we focus a lot on that sort of an ecosystem where we respect the nature that is around us and how much of emphasis we give to that in terms of our liveability in in singapore”
Middle Eastern economies are transitioning from oil-centric models toward diversification with tourism and travel as central pillars, exemplified by Vision 2030 strategies that position tourism as growth engine for post-oil economic sustainability.
“the middle east is a a number of economies that were oil centric and are still oil sensitive today and they're massively pivoting into diversification they all have the vision 2030s and we will see that all those bring trouble and tourism really at the center of this and expo is a great example of this”
Travel and tourism operations need to be fully re-engineered to apply technology solutions at scale across crew scheduling, fleet maintenance, and other operational areas, not just customer-facing experiences.
“this will make uh impact about how operations needs to be fully re-engineered so how we use and how we manage these technologies to do better crew schedules the maintenance of the fleet and so on there's so many things we can do through technology as well”
Carbon footprint passports—digital records of individuals' travel carbon impact—may become adoption tools influencing destination choice and travel frequency as climate consciousness becomes integrated into travel decision-making.
“when i look at the future i would like to i i envision a future where people will be much more conscious about their carbohy carbon footprint that will be um footprint carbon footprint uh passports for individuals people will take travel destinations based on that about how sustainable they're”
Design-driven innovation and client leadership vision are essential to reimagining tourism infrastructure, with key examples including the leadership of minister Her Excellency Reem (UAE Minister of Economy) whose commitment to proceeding with Expo despite pandemic disruption ensured it became a model innovation.
“it's amazing see it live right so definitely january 2020 for us february was tough we said wow is it going to happen yeah right but here i think we had the leadership of uh the minister her excellency rim was was fantastic right she said we're stopping we're closing down but we will come back and we're going to make the best deck ever and i think leadership in this type of things really uh are the only the way forward right”