On July 4, 2025, the International Summer School on Smart Cities commenced. Co-hosted by BUCEA, ISPRS, and BRAUIC, the event gathered over 100 experts, scholars, and students from 14 universities and research institutions across 11 countries, including China, Russia, Nepal, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, UK, India, Finland, Mexico, Iran, and Nigeria, for a 10-day program of academic sessions and immersive fieldwork.

Attendees at the opening ceremony included SHEN Xiaoting, Director of Open Economy Development Division, Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform; CHEN Zhaohui, Vice President of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (BUCEA); and heads of relevant departments of BUCEA.

CHEN Zhaohui highlighted BUCEA’s disciplinary strengths in architectural heritage conservation and smart urban infrastructure, positioning the summer school as a new hallmark of international education. She urged students to embrace their role as future city builders by: actively engaging in interdisciplinary exchanges; deeply experiencing cultural integration; and sincerely forging global partnerships.

SHEN Xiaoting affirmed the summer school’s significance, noting that smart city development serves as a vital bond for technological interoperability, standard alignment, and people-to-people connectivity among nations. She emphasized in particular the program’s role in advancing technical cooperation, cultural exchanges, and people-to-people connectivity among Belt and Road participating countries, anticipating more “Smart + Heritage” achievements.

JIANG Jie, Secretary-General of ISPRS and Professor at BUCEA’s School of Geomatics and Urban Spatial Informatics, reviewed ISPRS-BUCEA collaboration and noted that the five newly designed featured practical activities in this year’s summer school will provide students with valuable learning opportunities.

Boytsova Daria, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPbGASU), stressed the importance of keeping a balance between heritage preservation and modern development. She shared SPbGASU’s expertise in digital heritage conservation and expressed her expectation of deepening collaboration between SPbGASU and BUCEA.

Vasala Saicharan, Assistant Professor at Sharda University and Board of Director and Website Administrator of ISPRS Student Consortium, introduced the activities of the student consortium and encouraged youth participation in international academic initiatives.

LI Zhanghui, BUCEA doctoral candidate in the class of 2024, delivered a speech on behalf of all the participating students, sharing his views on and expectations of smart city building.

At the end of the ceremony, DING Shuai, Director of BUCEA’s Department of External Affairs, presented the academic flag symbolizing the spirit of exploration.

Participants joined the themed sign-in activity “Connect Wisdom · Imprint Future”, leaving colorful handprints and messages expressing their understanding of smart cities and expectations of the upcoming two weeks of study. The activity embodied the shared commitments of the global youth to fulfil the vision of “smart cities”.

LU Xiaochun, Deputy Director of the National Time Service Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences and doctoral advisor, delivered a keynote entitled “Construction and Development of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System”. The lecture introduced the development history, service capabilities, supporting subsystems, and application and promotion of the BeiDou system, as well as global cooperation concerning and future outlook of the system, showcasing BeiDou’s strategic leap from a regional system to a global, integrated Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) system.

After the lecture, all participants took part in the BeiDou Navigation · Smart Tracking — Satellite Positioning Empowering Campus “Fun Run” event. BUCEA Vice President CHEN Zhaohui fired the starting gun to kick off the run. Co-organized by BUCEA and the CNSS & LBS Association of China, the event was based on BeiDou positioning technology, combining campus orienteering “fun run” with BeiDou-related knowledge quizzes, featuring 15 hidden task points to create an innovative activity.

Running until July 12, this year’s summer school will engage students in interdisciplinary seminars, innovation workshops, and field studies to explore the frontiers and development pathways of smart cities. The organization of the International Summer School on Smart Cities reflects BUCEA’s strategy to leverage disciplinary strengths, pool global expertise, deepen international cooperation, and amplify institutional influence—while showcasing both BUCEA’s educational strengths and Beijing’s urban vitality.