Yawa A People-Centred Smart City Begins with Science, Technology and Innovation Infrastructure

In Cali, Colombia, a city marked by social inequalities and cultural richness, the creation of YAWA represents a groundbreaking shift in how cities invest in the future. This talk will tell the story behind the conception, design and implementation of YAWA, a Science, Technology, Innovation, and Arts center, built not for scientists, but for everyday citizens. It is the result of more than four years of work with diverse stakeholders, turning a former middle class club into an inclusive public facility that fosters collective imagination, knowledge, and innovation. YAWA was born from a deep understanding: smart cities cannot exist without smart citizens, and smart citizens are cultivated in spaces that promote critical, creative, and civic capacities. The project emerged in a city where investment in R&D represents less than 0.5% of the GDP, far behind national targets and global standards. Cali lacks cultural and scientific spaces accessible to all. With only 2.7 m² of public space per inhabitant, and 26,955 citizens per cultural facility, the need for transformation was urgent. Guided by the Colombian national policy on public appropriation of science and supported by UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, YAWA integrates a planetarium, digital arts labs, robotics maker spaces, immersive exhibitions on climate change and urban futures, and performative arts venues. Its design follows three principles: being performative, autopoietic, and interstitial, ensuring continuous dialogue with society, adaptive use, and flexibility. The presentation will explore how a smart city must begin by nurturing the collective intelligence of its people, especially youth, through non-formal, situated, and inclusive learning experiences. We will highlight how YAWA anchors the ADN (Creative Development Area) of San Fernando, a neighborhood where a 25,000 m² abandoned lot was transformed into a vibrant urban renewal project. This initiative reconnected the city to its creative and scientific potential and serves as a model that could inspire other Latin American cities to humanize their digital transitions. Through this session, we invite city leaders, planners, educators, and cultural actors to rethink the role of public science and innovation infrastructure as essential to building people centred smart cities, cities where imagination and knowledge are not a luxury, but a public right.