In September 2025, the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation and The Metaverse Institute released the Use Cases of People-Centred "Citiverse" Report, showcasing digital innovations from 12 cities worldwide. The report emphasises a crucial principle: technology must serve real human needs by improving transparency, enhancing service accessibility, and narrowing digital divides to ensure digital transformation genuinely benefits residents.
Buenos Aires' Ciudad 3D Initiative
Buenos Aires, Argentina's vibrant capital of over 3 million residents, launched the Ciudad 3D initiative in 2021 to transform urban development in the city. This groundbreaking digital platform provides three-dimensional representations of urban development across various neighbourhoods, offering comprehensive information about building plans, construction procedures, land use, and tax calculations whilst simplifying the application of the Urban Code—the regulations governing urban planning and development.
The initiative has achieved significant progress, notably reducing approval times for construction projects and increasing website traffic from 6,000 to over 13,000 users. By placing information on urban planning, land use, and permitting processes into a 3D digital environment, Ciudad 3D has made these procedures more transparent and easier for both residents and professionals to navigate. The city employs an open-source model, making the platform's source code available for others to build upon, and aims to create a "metaverse" city where predictive and knowledge-generating urbanism becomes a practical reality.
7th Guangzhou Award: Call for Submissions
The 7th Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation is now open for submissions. Cities with mature practices in digital governance, public service delivery, green development, or civic participation are invited to apply and share their experience with the international community. The final submission deadline is 30 April 2026, with cities submitting before 31 March 2026 receiving early expert feedback to refine their applications.
Download the full report here.
You can find case studies from the Guangzhou Award that have been previously published on the use platform here.