Smart Cities

SMART Cities in Central America and Mexico

The major challenges emerging from 85% of the world's population living in cities by 2050 can be best solved by Smart Cities as those fostering an entrepreneurial and investment culture, urban mobility, financial and urban accessibility as well as environmental resilience and transparency in the government. In order to foster the exchange and implementation of best practices in these fields, in 2017 the Friedrich Naumann Foundation created the Smart Cities Network Mexico-Central America 

Recently the Smart Cities Network met in Mérida (Mexico) in the frame of the Smart City Expo Latam Congress 2022. Not only were the attendees of the meeting able to participate at the international exposition, where the Foundation presented the second edition of its Manual of Best Practices in Smart Cities (the English version will soon be available), but had they the possibility to learn about the projects the city of Mérida and the Federal State of Yucatán are implementing in the field of Smart Cities.

Representatives from Guatemala City, San José in Costa Rica, Puerto Cortés in Honduras, the Federal State of Jalisco, the cities of Torreón and Tecate in Mexico shared their successful projects in land use management, mobility, sustainable urban planning, etc. Our network is growing (currently it has 15 members) and new affiliates such as the cities of Chihuahua, San Pedro Garza García, Monterrey, Irapuato and Tijuana as well as La Antigua and Villa Nueva in Guatemala and Santo Domingo in Costa Rica were part of the meeting in Mérida.