𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞

The Department of Town and Country Planning, together with CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd, successfully hosted the Final Showcase of the Smart City Ideathon 2025 on 8 November at the Port City Sales Gallery, marking the culmination of a dedicated seven-month journey. What began as a collaboration between the University and Port City Colombo later grew into a wider partnership, with the Institute of Town Planners Sri Lanka (ITPSL) joining for the final event. The showcase was held in parallel with the 76th World Town Planning Day celebrations under the global theme “𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐧 – 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬.”

The Ideathon commenced in May 2025 with an introductory session at Port City Colombo and guided students through stages of problem identification, mentoring, and concept development. By October, ideas were refined into six themes and represented by six finalist teams: Digital Materials and Circular Infrastructure (Team E-Volution), Waste Management (Team Planovista), Environmental Health and Ecosystem Dynamics (Team Next Plan), Sustainable Energy and Power Resilience (Team DreamNova), Port City Sandbox (Team Pulse), and Port City AI (Team Metrominds). The event featured a guest talk by Mr. Heminda Jayaweera, Executive Director of Trace City, who emphasized that a smart city is shaped not only by devices or digital systems but by people becoming smarter through innovation, creativity, and thoughtful planning.

A panel discussion followed under the title “Planning Smart Cities Towards a Prosperous Nation – Insights from the Smart City Ideathon.” The panel included Prof. Jagath Munasinghe (University of Moratuwa), Plnr. Lalith Wijerathne (UDA), Plnr. Anuja Mendis (CMC), Plnr. Jeyatharani Senthooran (CHEC Port City Colombo), and Plnr. N.A.S.N. Nissanka (President, ITPSL).
The event concluded on a highly successful note, celebrating strong student performance, meaningful collaboration, and a shared commitment to shaping Sri Lanka’s next generation of smart city thinkers and innovators.