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| Ashraf Abdel Mohsen |
Cairo, Egypt 11 July 2026 – Professor Ashraf Abdel Mohsen, Chairman and Founder of CUBE Consulting and Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning, stated that the world is at a pivotal moment as artificial intelligence rapidly transforms every sector. However, he stressed that the greatest challenge is not technological advancement itself, but preserving the human dimension of cities.
He explained that artificial intelligence offers unprecedented capabilities in data analysis, forecasting, and decision support, making it a powerful tool for architecture, urban planning, and city management. Despite these capabilities, AI cannot understand human emotions or appreciate the values of belonging, memory, identity, and the spirit of place.
“Cities should not be evaluated solely by the number of skyscrapers they contain, the width of their roads, or the scale of their investments,” Abdel Mohsen said. “Their true success lies in their ability to provide a high quality of life while creating environments where people feel safe, connected, and have a genuine sense of belonging.”
He emphasized that people must remain at the center of every planning and development process, noting that decades of urban development have demonstrated that physical expansion alone does not necessarily create successful cities. Sustainable urban development, he explained, is achieved by balancing economic growth with the social, cultural, and human needs of communities.
Abdel Mohsen pointed to ancient Egyptian civilization as one of history’s greatest examples of human-centered urban development. He explained that its remarkable legacy was not built merely through advanced construction techniques, but through a profound understanding of the relationship between people, nature, and the surrounding environment—an approach that enabled its cities and monuments to endure for thousands of years.
He added that while artificial intelligence will undoubtedly become an essential partner in shaping future cities, it can never replace the uniquely human ability to understand why a place brings comfort, evokes memories, or creates a sense of belonging. These values, he said, will always remain beyond the capabilities of machines.
According to Abdel Mohsen, the real challenge of the coming era is not only advancing artificial intelligence, but also deepening our understanding of humanity itself. Technology can design smarter infrastructure and optimize urban systems, but creating cities that truly enrich human life will always depend on human vision, empathy, and wisdom.
He concluded by emphasizing that the future of cities must be founded on integrating technology with human values.
“Technology can help us build smarter cities,” he said, “but building more human-centered cities will always remain the responsibility of humankind. The more powerful technology becomes, the more we need wisdom, because the true value of cities lies not only in what we build within them, but in what they build within the human being.”