Cameron Price – NatureTech and AI for Inclusive Smart Cities

Cameron Price – Convenor, EcoLaunch

In this keynote, Cameron Price examines how NatureTech and artificial intelligence (AI) can work together to build smarter, more equitable, and more resilient cities.

With rapid urbanisation driving environmental degradation and rising social inequity, European cities are increasingly adopting Nature-Based Solutions (NbS), from parks and wetlands to green roofs and urban forests, to address climate change while improving biodiversity, recreation, and mental well-being. Yet these benefits are often unevenly distributed, and ecological needs remain secondary to human convenience.

Cameron explores how AI technologies, machine learning, predictive analytics, computer vision, and IoT-linked digital infrastructures, can optimise the planning, monitoring, and adaptive management of NbS. He also highlights the ethical challenges AI introduces, including surveillance risks, algorithmic bias, and high energy consumption.