Speaking on a panel alongside Nga, Singapore Management University president Lily Kong adds: “The right question is not ‘What can this technology do?’ But who is being served and who is being left behind? Very often, we remember the first question, we may remember the second question and we may actually forget, sometimes, the third question: ‘Who is being left behind?’”
Smart cities and tech-enabled urban design may contain many promises for the future, but “humanity must be in the core agenda”, says Nga Kor Ming, Malaysia’s Minister of Housing and Local Government.
“AI is to serve the people, not people to serve AI,” says Nga on the opening plenary of the World Cities Summit (WCS) 2026 on June 15. “As mayors, as ministers, as policymakers, there’s one pertinent question we have to ask ourselves: Are we building a happy city? We are here not only to build a livable city, but a lovable city… There’s no point [if] we can have the most advanced technologies with skyscrapers, while we have the highest rate of depression [and] mental tension, et cetera.”
