Mehdi was an intern at one of my first IT development companies. I was like a sponge, eager to absorb every bit of knowledge, no matter its source. Mehdi, for his part, was one of the brightest. From his position as an intern, he introduced me to a fascinating idea: computational urbanism. A concept that, though intangible, stayed with me for a long time—so much so that I came to prefer calling myself an “informatiste” rather than just an IT specialist. Back then, I was selling websites, applications, and occasionally some hardware. But what Mehdi revealed to me was something else: the ability to structure information like a city, with its flows, intersections, traffic jams, and forgotten alleyways.
Computational urbanism is not just a technique; it is a philosophy. It shapes interactions, optimizes exchanges, and ensures that every piece of data has its space, its destination. Just like cities, a well-designed IT system is structured yet adaptable, fluid yet resilient. Just as avenues and public squares are the skeletal framework of urban life, databases and protocols are merely the scaffolding of a larger dynamic—the circulation and accessibility of information.
But urbanism in the traditional sense is not merely about roads and buildings. It is not just about planning regulations and zoning. It is a choreography of movement, a spatial script for exchanges, a stage where human, economic, and cultural flows intersect. A well-designed city, like a well-structured network, enables, connects, and stimulates. A static city is a dead city, just as a closed-off system is an obsolete one.
Yesterday, we arrived at UrbanShift with a Moroccan delegation, primarily from Marrakech. Tomorrow afternoon, the conference activities will begin, and on Wednesday, I will take the stage. Until then, I reflect on what I will say—on how best to articulate what I have sensed upon arriving here: a new way of approaching urbanism. A vision that goes beyond infrastructure to reach what truly animates it—Initiative. The Urbanism of Initiative emerges where a city is not just inhabited but allows itself to be inhabited by the energy of possibility. It is no longer just a matter of space but of dynamics, potential, and synergy. A city is not a mere accumulation of infrastructure but a breathing entity, a rhythm of opportunities that cross paths and transform. It should not be a static backdrop but a space of possibilities, a stage where every actor naturally finds their place. Access to opportunity should not be a privilege but a fundamental principle. Like an open API, it should enable individuals to connect with resources, collaborations, and projects that enrich them.
“A well-designed city is one that makes the unexpected possible.” — Jane Jacobs
A city is built in the in-between spaces, in spontaneous exchanges, in the porosity that allows individual initiative to nourish the collective. It should not impose a predetermined path but create bridges between ideas and realities, between intentions and execution. An urbanism that is not rigid but fluid, adaptive—welcoming movement rather than hindering it. But this dynamic cannot exist without enlightened leadership, capable of orchestrating these flows without constraining them, structuring without stagnation. It is not top-down authority that shapes this ecosystem but collective intelligence, the ability to cultivate the conditions for spontaneous emergence.
This is the governance question I previously explored in “Marrakech, the Ballet of Possibilities,” where the city itself became a murmuration—an exquisite balance between order and improvisation, between structure and freedom. In this vision, the city is not a rigid framework but a space where initiatives engage in dialogue, intersect, and sometimes merge.
What if we have always thought about cities the wrong way? As a mere backdrop onto which human activities are grafted. What if, instead, a city were first and foremost a shifting ecosystem of initiatives, a convergence of intentions and projects, a network of energies interwoven and constantly redefining themselves? A city that does not impose, but invites. A city that does not merely construct itself but dreams, questions, and continuously evolves—day after day.
