Smart cities fall short: why ecoadaptive urban intelligence is essential for climate resilience

Smart city approaches prioritise prediction, optimisation, and control, but remain limited in addressing the deep uncertainty and coupled dynamics of climate change. This perspective introduces the Ecoadaptive Intelligence Theory, reframing urban systems as socio-ecological-computational assemblages that learn through interactions between spatial form, environmental feedback, and adaptive response. It shifts urban intelligence from optimisation to co-learning, enabling more just and adaptive urban futures under accelerating climate pressures.