Cities on the agenda at the World Governments Summit in Dubai

February 5, 2026·30 min·2 clips

Dubai Future Foundation CEO explains why the city runs urban projects like a venture capital fund.

Dubai is the setting. Andrew Tuck opens from the World Government Summit, a gathering of heads of state, international organizations, and private-sector figures built around future governments. The city angle stays close by. The programme listens for what urban policy sounds like at the summit, with Dubai's fast build-out sitting in the background as both example and provocation. One comparison does most of the work. A guest likens public experimentation to a venture-capital portfolio: many bets fail, some hold steady, and a few become the ones that matter. The point is not recklessness. It is a way of testing ideas without letting spectacle outrun health and safety. Drones are the practical case. Testing, the guest argues, should happen in controlled places where regulation can move quickly without putting people under avoidable risk. Tuck then pushes on the messier part of city life. Can a city keep rigour, structure, and ambition while still leaving space for chance and urban serendipity? The answer comes back through institutions. The Dubai Future Foundation is described as keeping part of its budget free for ad hoc commitments, so it can respond when something worth backing appears. Most of the work is still planned. The guest says 80 to 90 percent comes from horizon scanning and daily foresight, which is meant to make projects smarter and less improvised. That tension gives the episode its feel. Dubai comes across less as a finished template than as a place testing how government can move with entrepreneurial speed while still carrying public responsibility. Mahanad Tayyam presents the summit as a meeting point for clients, future partners, and government officials. Then the credits and closing note bring it back to The Urbanist's familiar civic register.

As heard by us

A thoughtful Dubai dispatch on cities, risk, and the uneasy art of planning for a future that keeps moving.

The Urbanist reports from the World Governments Summit in Dubai with an eye on how cities are planned when change refuses to wait politely. Andrew Tuck frames Dubai as a useful test case for rapid urban transformation, then lets the sharpest idea come through in a conversation…

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A Dubai-based Urbanist episode on future governments, rapid urban change, and a venture-capital mindset for public planning.

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