How AI Is Reimagining Smart Cities: An Exclusive Conversation with Matthias Hollwich
- Jonathan H. Westover, PhD
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
According to the World Bank, more than 4 billion people, over 50 per cent of the global population, live in cities today, with that number expected to grow as urban populations expand further. Cities are responsible for a large share of economic output and face rising pressure to improve infrastructure, mobility and sustainability in ways that work for residents and businesses alike.
According to a recent market analysis, the global smart cities market was valued at USD 877.6 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to USD 3.75 billion trillion by 2030, with technological innovation, data analytics and AI adoption driving much of that expansion. AI tools are being applied to real-time urban analysis, predictive planning and generative design to help cities and developers make better decisions faster.
Against this backdrop, Matthias Hollwich, founding principal of HWKN Architecture and a leading Smart Cities speaker, is exploring how artificial intelligence can shape not just efficiency, but creativity and quality of life in the built environment. His work sits at the intersection of architecture, technology and human-centred urban design.
In this exclusive interview with the London Keynote Speakers Agency, Hollwich explains how AI is transforming the architectural creative process, where it can most effectively streamline real-estate development, and why designers and city leaders must actively guide its use so technological progress serves people as well as productivity.
Q1. From your perspective, how is AI transforming the architectural creative process and influencing the way designers work today?
Matthias Hollwich: “I believe that AI is one of the most radical changes, uh, that is happening, uh, in the world for decades.
“And I sometimes refer to it that we are now at the same time when modernism really emerged, uh, within, uh, the world with Bauhaus, for example, in Germany, uh, because it touches everything, right?
“It touches the way how we, uh, search, the way how we research, and also how we design. And, uh, it's a very interesting kind of process and a very interesting future we're getting into.”
Q2. Where do you see the greatest potential for AI to streamline and simplify real estate development?
Matthias Hollwich: “And AI has so many different potentials. It's really the question how do we, uh, apply it, right? So one of the simplifications could be that we have now access to incredible research tools. We can look differently at markets. We can do look differently at positioning.
“We can also look differently at design. And what I'm very excited about is that we can combine research with design so that actually the design becomes a little bit independent from just opinions, and it's more hack based.”
Q3. What lessons can other sectors draw from the way architecture is embracing AI-driven design thinking?
Matthias Hollwich: “Novel about AI-driven design is asking the right questions. And we as designers have the tendency to ask different questions than maybe if you do something more rational.
“Like if you're a banker, it's A and B and C is a number. In architecture A and B sometimes is D, but ME could be really interesting and inspiring.
“So what I would take away from us designers in the use of AI, uh, to use a little bit more the experiential nature that we have but also calibrate the outcome differently because in the end a lot of things are human-centred and we want to understand humans and use AI to get our products and our environments closer to it.”
Q4. When you speak at events, what core message do you hope audiences carry forward about AI’s role in shaping our future environments?
Matthias Hollwich: “What I hope the audience takes away is that we have a choice to make. That one choice is AI to be used for efficiency and the rational, and the other one is to actually increase the quality of life and the quality of our environments.
“And that is something where we are now part of the process. It's not just happening to us. We are actually are the directors and the conductors in the process. But that also means that we have to get very involved in it.
“We have to engage with the tech companies. We have to maybe come up with our own AI applications to make sure that it goes into the right direction. So for me, this is a call for action: embrace it, explore with it, and direct it into the right direction.”
This exclusive interview with Matthias Hollwich was conducted by Tabish Ali of The Motivational Speakers Agency.
