Cities are as much about their buildings as they are about the humans that make it lively. When we talk about cities, we don’t just consider the monumental buildings praiseworthy architecture, and well laid out amenities, but also the warmth, the vibe and the culture that eventually become synonymous to it.
Prof. Jose Antonio Ondiviela, is a distinguished expert in smart city strategies and human-centered urban development. As the Director of the Human-Centered Intelligent Cities Research Institute at Universidad Francisco Vitoria, Madrid, and a Strategy Senior Advisor for European SmartCities, Prof. Ondiviela has been at the forefront of designing cities that attract and retain talented citizens.
With a rich career spanning over three decades, including roles at Microsoft as the Western Europe Public Sector Government Industry Advisor for Cities and Regions, Prof. Ondiviela has been a driving force in promoting innovative solutions for urban environments. His work focuses on leveraging technology to create sustainable, liveable, and attractive cities for the future.
He is also a frequent speaker at international events, sharing his insights on smart cities and urban transformation. His current research delves into creating attractive cities for talented citizens, aiming to balance city magnetism and profitability.
Early in His Career
Prof. Ondiviela began his career as a telecommunications engineer (software) at Unisys (1989). For 6 years he experienced the transformation of old mainframes towards open systems, mainly Unix. Almost from the beginning, he dedicated his activity to serving public sector entities, city councils and regions as sales representative. Unisys was a great school for many recent graduates. In 1995 he joined Microsoft.
“On my first day I attended the pre-channel launch of Windows95. Used to building projects in databases, I was very surprised to see that this company sold software boxes on pallets of 250 units,” he recollects. Prof. Ondiviela was responsible for all the servers and they began to promote Windows NT Server. His first year was fantastic. He received the subsidiary’s President Award for the Novell partner migration campaign to Windows NT. It was a very exciting time, between the Rolling Stones’ “Start me up” Windows95 launching song and the award given by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, in person. But his vocation has always been the public sector, so he soon oriented his career towards the marketing and sales management of the Local & Regional business in the subsidiary and later, throughout Western Europe.
What followed was numerous commercial successes, both in Spain and in the rest of Europe. Many large exceptional projects and cities technology proposals and campaigns like “Digital TownHall”, “Citizen Service Platform” of “CityNext” were successfully promoted. And all this was created under a constant wave of transformation. From office automation, to client-server, to the cloud, to the new data centers, from visual to .net and then to Github, from document management to integration systems, to unified data management ending on artificial intelligence. From basic IoT, to the cloud, ending in the digital twin with its new support landing on earth by Edge computing.
All of this in a dizzying revolution after revolution where not even employees were able to absorb everything that was being launched and Microsoft ended up compartmentalizing the company into groups of experts in technical areas, with generic relationship managers to serve as a single point of contact. But all of this with a common denominator, responsibility. “If there is one thing I am proud of in my experience at Microsoft, it is the company sense of responsibility, with employees, with diversity, with the environment, with professional ethics,” says Prof. Ondiviela.
It was often more difficult to find the right business formula approved by the internal legal department than by the client, but it is obvious that obsessively working with compliance always pays off in the medium and long term. But this process of specialization in the company had the disadvantage of turning employees into cogs in a rather uncreative machine. When people ask him how he managed to work at Microsoft for almost 30 years, the answer is to always stretch his objectives, with creativity, but aligned with the company’s ones.
Rerouting his Career
After 20 years, Prof. Ondiviela decided that he had to reinvent himself. He was already a super expert in what he did in the company, and he thought that he could serve cities in other ways. So, he decided to go back to the University to do a doctoral thesis, on cities, which is his passion and his mission on this planet.
“I have always believed that cities make a fierce competition to attract and retain talent. It is the basis of the 4 industrial revolutions. A new technology attracts talent to a city that is tolerant with those who go there. These three T’s (technology, talent and tolerance) make up the recipe for success and prosperity in our major cities. And the opposite is decadence and impoverishment,” says Prof. Ondiviela.
With this idea, he went to the University Francisco de Vitoria (UFV) – Madrid (Spain). Recollecting the interesting conversation, he had that day, Prof. Ondiviela shares,
“I was asked what discipline will my thesis be based on? I suppose a mix of humanism, technology, sociology, ecology. And… to write a thesis in the humanities, what basic studies do you bring to the table? Ok, I’m an engineer. They almost burst out laughing… I will always be grateful to the University Francisco de Vitoria (UFV) – Madrid (Spain) for that day. Instead of sending me back home with my crazy idea, they explained to me that I could do a Master’s in Humanities and, after finishing, continue with my thesis. I was determined. It was very hard for an engineer, employed by a folly Microsoft transitioning to the cloud, and in my 50s, to take a Master’s in Humanities, with its associated Philosophy, Ethics, Art, Aesthetics, Metaphysics… How could people learn those things, without a basic minimal Excel spreadsheet or at least a differential equation? After two years, the Master’s final project was Chapter 1 of the thesis.”
Explaining the reason behind choosing UFV, Prof. Ondiviela shares that it was the private university he chose for his two children to study Medicine. He chose it because he understood that it was not just a basic educational community working on transmitting knowledge and preparing professionals. He soon discovered that any discipline they taught revolved around a human, for putting the human front and at the center and understanding the meaning of that scientific knowledge: serving Man. And they do that also from a perspective based on Western ethics, Christian by definition.
Prof. Ondiviela liked this new world of the humanities and it made him understand that technology is just a means to achieve great human ends, and it also helped him in his conversations with clients. He could discuss questions like why do you think you will invest in this type of technology, what is the value for the citizen, what is essential in this project and more. That made him see things in a more holistic way. He discovered that neither humanists are inert people incapable of adding up what they have just bought, wandering around the world without even knowing what their GPS coordinates are, nor are technologists cold and cruel minds incapable of showing the slightest human feeling, much less love.
The Concept of Human-Centred Cities
In this new line that the thesis opened in his career, the twofold need arose to help citizens choose the city that can best serve them to develop their full potential, and to help governments adapt the city and make it more attractive for talented citizens. The World Observatory of Attractive Cities for Talent emerged. It began by studying 140 and then expanded to the 175 most advanced cities in the world. It has already released 5 annual editions (the last one was presented at the SmartCityExpo World Congress in Barcelona, on Nov 24). The model studies what makes a city attractive to retain and attract talent in the global context. It is based on the approach of the human decision to move to live in a city composed of two areas: the emotional (City Magnetism) and the rational (City Profitability).
To analyse them, around 120 indicators from international studies and bodies such as UN, OECD, Euromonitor, etc. and analysts such as The Economist, INRIX, Numbeo, etc. are used. The most complicated part is City Magnetism, as it attempts to model the emotional part. To approach it, Prof. Ondiviela and his team observe the city in its historical evolution (Past: identity, history, branding, awareness, gastronomy, artistic developments… Present: competitiveness, creativity, ethical values, welcoming expatriates… Future: innovation, human capital, investment in new technologies – SmartCity).
The rational part (City Profitability) is more objective as it measures what Prof. Ondiviela calls Citizenship Contract. This is an implicit contract that we all have with our cities through which the city provides us with a series of benefits or services grouped into 10 measurable areas (Governance, Security, Health and social services, Environment, Urban mobility, Lifelong training, Urban Planning, Culture/tourism, Employability and Connectivity). In return, citizens pay a price to live in that city, an opportunity cost. They measure the net purchasing power that they would have if, with the same professional qualifications, they lived in that city, with its salaries, direct and indirect taxes and finally the comparative cost of living. Finally, the combination of Magnetism and Profitability tells us how attractive a city is for talent.
Advising the City of Zaragoza
In parallel to the academic aspect, Prof. Ondiviela has always aspired to be able to help a city from inside. The mayoress of the city of Zaragoza (Spain), his hometown, gave him the opportunity to collaborate with the internal team as a strategic advisor. He has now completed the quadruple helix of actors who develop cities from the perspective of technology (Intelligent Cities) (citizen, technology provider, and finally academia (in his Research Observatory) and from inside as an advisor.
After leaving Microsoft in 2024, Prof. Ondiviela decided to entirely dedicate himself to cities, from a global research position and from his direct contribution within a city as attractive as Zaragoza. Despite having more than 2000 years of history, Zaragoza is enjoying its best moment. It is an attractive, bright, welcoming, compact, flat city. It enjoys the best indicators worldwide in sustainability, a 15′ city, almost no traffic, crime, homelessness. Its strategic position in the nerve center of Spanish industry, its enormous capacity in logistics and above all, in renewable energy production, has made it the focus of multi-billion euro investments by major technology companies such as AWS, Microsoft, BlackStone, etc. In addition, it is an affordable city in housing and cost of living. It only lacks greater international awareness, but the government team is also working very hard on that. It is already, without a doubt, the technological hub with the best future in Southern Europe. Prof. Ondiviela considers it an honour and a privilege to serve this amazing urban development model: Zaragoza (Spain).
The Institute
The WW Observatory for Attractive Cities has established itself as the main activity of something broader: the Citizen-Centric Intelligent Cities Research Institute. The Citizen-Centric Intelligent Cities Research Institute of the University Francisco de Vitoria was created for the research, discussion, and study of the role of cities at the service of people, as spaces that promote the development of talent, while respecting their dignity and rights, aligned with the objectives of sustainable development and plans for social, economic and environmental sustainability. The Institute promotes the responsible use of technology in cities, always placing people at the center of any initiative, as the with whom, for what and why.
The Institute’s objectives are the following:
- a) The collection, analysis, reflection and dissemination of the latest knowledge and research on cities and their ability to retain and attract talent, from the emotional (Magnetism) and rational (Performance) perspectives, at the national and international level, providing quantitative and qualitative study factors from parameters specific to the university’s founding mission.
- b) Help cities in their digital transformation plans with this responsible, inclusive and ethical approach, achieving excellence in the co-creation of public services, participation, social integration, and the ethical use of technology.
The Institutes’ Work Areas
In order to carry out its tasks rigorously and thus achieve the proposed objectives as effectively as possible; the Institute distributes its work into three specific areas:
- Research and innovation area: The aim is to generate knowledge about cities as areas of attraction and development of talent and people, considering technological, urban and humanistic aspects. To become a stable R&D&I centre that adds value both to the University to which it belongs and to society as a whole. To promote the WW Observatory for Attractive Cities as a research space and the dissemination of its reports and results at national and international conferences. To propose the development of activities and the creation of research spaces and to collaborate on projects and programmes with other entities.
- Training area: specialised training through university courses.
- Awareness and dissemination area: Institutional Relations and Communication: the dissemination and transmission of this knowledge to society as a whole.
In addition, Prof. Ondiviela managed to organize as licensee three TEDx under the www.tedxufv.com brand (Mar23, May24 and next by Jun25).
These combined activities allow him to work for a better city, a place where humans can develop our potential, our social side and promote well-being and quality of life.
Dealing with the Uncertainties
From the research at the Observatory, Prof. Ondiviela and his team have been verifying the impact of the recent economic situation with its various crises, the human consequences of the pandemic, migratory flows, the importance of sustained investment in new technologies in the cities attractiveness in the last 5 years.
In this context of uncertainty (after a recession but with signs of another one possibly coming -maybe due to the AI bubble-, wars in critical areas of the Earth, climate change as a main threat but losing hype as its mitigation seems unattainable at reasonable costs, the desire to enjoy life, to experience it -rebirth of tourism-, talent is mainly looking for Lovable Cities, assuming good existing performance to make them Liveable and demanding good Affordability. These three areas are key, but this year, Lovability reigns (always combined with Affordability), as performance is quite good among most modern cities and money is not the main reason as it has traditionally been. Why Lovability? Because this is human-centred, and every time we focus on placing the citizen front and center of what we do in the city, happiness is improved, and this is the main perception of quality of life.
Young professionals and talented workforce preferences strongly correlate with Lovable Cities concept (Local Social Life, restaurants, Culture, Nightlife, Wellbeing, rewilding urban nature and inclusivity/diversity). Therefore, Fortune500 companies seeking to recruit that talent are trying to co-locate in those Lovable Cities. Liveability is quite good in most of studied cities (most from first world because, by default, a city that implies a risk for your life is not attractive, period). Ok, Prosperity helps, and Affordability is super important, but new generations are not so much driven by profitability but quality of live. So, cities trend to make them more human, fostering inclusion, people connection and attachment, stimulating creativity, ruling by freedom and respect, encouraging empowerment, making human-centred cities with happier people. And happier and empowered people make more resilient cities eager to drive economic growth.
Eye on the Future
Looking ahead to 2030, Future Cities will show as Citizen-Centric, Talent-Attractive, Data-Driven, AI-Ruled, DigitalTwin-Decisioned, 6G-Moved, Self-Sufficient, with technology as main driver to cope with most of natural and human-provoked challenges, making them more sustainable and resilient. What are those main challenges? We can group them in these 18 (not prioritized):
- Environmentally sustainable. Carbon Neutral. Climate Resilient. Energy self-sufficient.
- Circular City. Zero Waste. Water Positive. 5R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Redesign, Renaturalize)
- New Urbanism. ChronoUrbanism (15’ City), Adaptive City. Plug&Play urbanism. Curb management.
- Urban Mobility. PostCar City. Zero Vision. Electric, Shared, Autonomous.
- Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Multimodal, Personalized. Persuasive City.
- Urban Air Mobility. Vertiports. Drones, Aerotaxies, eVTOLS.
- Hybrid Working. Spawl distributed offices. Work / life balance. Digital life experience.
- New Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC). Smartbuildings, retrofitting, 3D printing. New materials.
- Lovable Phygital Experience Cities. eTourism rebirth. AI for AR/VR.
- Social City. Healthy Cities, Age-friendly cities. Sensitive Cities.
- Generative AI City. Chatbots / assistants. Agentic Virtual Servants. Automatic Call centers. Robotic social networks.
- Co-created, Participative Cities. eDemocracy. Purity, non-fake news. eIdentity. Digital rights.
- CyberSecurity. IoT Security. Blockchain.
- Surveillance. Predictive policing, Crowd evidence sourcing, AI-aided crime combat.
- Semi-automatic City. Simulation. Digital Twins. Physical resiliency.
- Cyborg City. Robotics for hardest city tasks. Hyperrealist Agents. Robotics Ethics.
- Resilient City. Wild cards (solar storms, volcano, earthquakes, etc.) preparedness, Human-threads. Sponge City.
- MetaCity/Cityverse. Gamified Virtual City. Social Digital twin.
“These challenges mean we have room for improvement and intense work in the next years!” concludes Prof. Ondiviela.
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