As climate extremes intensify and urban populations grow, cities face a pivotal challenge: building infrastructure that is resilient to shocks, sustainable to operate, and realistic for agencies to maintain over time. AI has emerged as a transformative force in this effort, letting city leaders predict risks, optimize resources, and make smarter decisions that protect communities and the environment.
At Microsoft, we’re proud to partner with governments and innovators globally to advance AI-powered infrastructure. The latest Smart Cities World Trend Report, developed in collaboration with Microsoft, highlights how cities are moving from reactive planning to proactive resilience, using AI to anticipate, adapt, and act.
Moving from prediction to preparedness in Jakarta’s flood management
In Jakarta, Indonesia, flooding has long posed a threat to millions of residents. The Jakarta Smart City program, in partnership with SAS,1 deployed an AI-powered analytics platform that forecasts flood risks up to six hours in advance. By integrating data from rainfall sensors, river gauges, and weather services, the system lets authorities close floodgates, activate pumps, and issue alerts through the JAKI app before disaster strikes.
This shift from reactive to preventive action exemplifies how AI strengthens resilience. As Hannah Prior, Climate Resilience Lead for Microsoft’s Worldwide Public Sector, explains:
“We’re now entering an era where we genuinely don’t know what’s going to happen next… In the past, city planners would have said, ‘Let’s plan for a one-in-100-year flood.’ But those kinds of events have become far more common and therefore more difficult to plan for.”
Enhancing operations with AI: Evergy’s utility transformation
In the United States, Evergy, a public utility serving 1.7 million customers across Kansas and Missouri, has embraced AI and automation to transform its operations. Using Microsoft Power Platform, Evergy developed over 275 automation solutions that save more than 120,000 hours annually. From drone image processing for power line inspections to intelligent data extraction for inventory management, AI is helping Evergy improve efficiency, reduce errors, and enhance resilience across its energy infrastructure.
These innovations not only streamline internal processes but also support Evergy’s transition to cleaner energy generation, with workforce adaptability and operational continuity in a rapidly evolving energy landscape.
Strengthening water resilience for future challenges
In southern France, the Société du Canal de Provence (SCP) is tackling water stress through its REImu program, an intelligent water network initiative powered by Microsoft Azure technologies. By integrating IoT sensors, smart meters, and big data platforms, SCP can monitor consumption, detect leaks, and forecast demand across a 6,000-kilometer distribution network. The system also combines meteorological and agricultural data to provide adaptive irrigation advice and enhance drought preparedness.
The next phase will use AI to refine consumption forecasts and detect inefficiencies automatically, turning water networks into climate-resilient, data-driven systems.
Adopting a system-of-systems approach to plan for uncertainty
Beyond individual use cases, cities are beginning to adopt a system-of-systems approach, integrating data across water, energy, transport, and environmental domains to model complex interactions and plan dynamically. Platforms like Sentient Hubs in Australia exemplify this shift, allowing for near real-time scenario planning and collaborative decision-making.
“It’s really about moving from a static, five-year flood plan sitting in a PDF on a shelf to a dynamic, living plan that exists as a digital platform… People can access it at any time to understand, in near real time, what’s happening across their systems.”
—Hannah Prior, Climate Resilience Lead for Microsoft’s Worldwide Public Sector
This approach transforms resilience planning into an active, adaptive process, one that evolves with every new dataset and empowers cities to respond to uncertainty with confidence.
Advancing sustainability and efficiency through AI
AI’s value extends beyond resilience; it also helps cities meet sustainability goals. In Munich, Germany, the municipal utility Stadtwerke München uses Microsoft Azure IoT and Azure AI to optimize electric bus operations, forecast energy demand, and reduce waste. Ninety percent of Munich’s electricity already comes from renewable sources, and AI is helping the city move closer to full carbon neutrality.
In Singapore, the Smart P.U.B. initiative uses thousands of sensors and AI analytics to detect leaks and optimize water distribution, achieving 5% water savings and near-zero pipe bursts.2 These examples show how AI can reduce emissions, conserve resources, and improve service delivery.
Building responsible, inclusive infrastructure for all
As cities scale AI-powered infrastructure, governance and fairness must remain central. Seattle’s 2025–2026 AI Plan sets a benchmark for responsible deployment, grounded in principles of innovation, accountability, fairness, and transparency.3 The plan mandates human oversight, bans harmful applications, and introduces a Proof of Value Framework to assess AI projects for responsible impact.
Used responsibly, AI can democratize resilience, making forecasting affordable and accessible, reducing bias in decision-making, and ensuring that infrastructure serves all communities equitably.
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The journey toward resilient, sustainable infrastructure is underway, and AI is at the heart of it. From Jakarta to Kansas City, from Provence to Munich, cities are showing what’s possible when technology meets purpose.
To learn more about how Microsoft and our partners are helping cities build future-ready infrastructure, join us at the 2025 Smart City Expo World Congress. Discover the latest innovations, connect with global leaders, and explore how AI can help your city thrive amid uncertainty.
1 https://www.sas.com/sas/partners.html
3 Seattle launches responsible AI implementation plan – Smart Cities World, September 25, 2025
