Before departing the Buenos Aires ferry terminal, I notice out of the corner of my eye a TV screen is running a promo loop offering up Colonia as one of South America’s newest smart cities—a place where sustainable design, high-tech infrastructure, and preserved history promise to converge.

Colonia del Sacramento, one of Uruguay’s oldest towns, was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese as a strategic military and trading post. Its location along the Río de la Plata made it a valuable foothold in the region, igniting a long tug-of-war between Spain and Portugal. Over the next century, Colonia changed hands multiple times as both empires vied for control, with the Spanish ultimately taking over in 1777.

The city’s architecture reflects this turbulent past, blending Portuguese colonial style with Spanish influences—cobbled streets, colorful facades, and low stone buildings stand as reminders of its dual heritage. After Uruguay gained independence in the 19th century, Colonia became a quieter port town, but it retained its charm and historical significance. In 1995, UNESCO designated Colonia’s historic center a World Heritage site, recognizing its unique fusion of colonial styles and its role as a testament to the colonial struggles of the region. Today, Colonia del Sacramento attracts visitors from around the world, celebrated not only for its beauty but also as a symbol of cultural resilience.

Known as the +Colonia project, or “Mas Colonia,” (https://www.mascolonia.com) Uruguay’s smart city vision aims to turn Colonia del Sacramento into a new hub for the knowledge economy. It’s a blend of innovation and preservation: plans for 500 hectares that embrace the “15-minute city” concept, ensuring that people can walk or bike to anything they need while leaving over 50% as green space. They’re bringing in high-speed internet, IoT sensors, and even blockchain to streamline everything from resource management to local decision-making. It’s a kind of urban dreamscape—an entire city reimagined for sustainable, high-tech living while honoring the past.

This isn’t just development; it’s transformation. All the buzz words quickly remind me of my work at NEOM—another ambitious project where history and innovation wrestle for harmony. NEOM’s landscape is a quantum scale beyond the +Colonia project, but both projects offer blueprints that bring greenfield ideas and cutting-edge technology to their respective regions. Like Colonia’s transformation into a sustainable, high-tech hub, NEOM aims to redefine what a city can be. Both projects, in their own ways, are daring to imagine a future that respects and even reinterprets the land they stand on.

As I think about NEOM’s “cognitive infrastructure ecosystem,” designed to embed digital intelligence into the city’s fabric, I see parallels with Colonia’s planned investment in IoT and blockchain for decentralized decision-making. Both cities have lot of work to do to turn those blockchain buzzwords into the tangible reality of seamless smart contracts, land titles and registry that reduce bureaucracy while increasing transparency and efficiency. Yet both are working to answer the same question: How can technology also better serve humanity not just through such efficiencies, but also by enhancing our connection to the places we live, rather than alienating us from them? Colonia’s green spaces and coastal preservation echo NEOM’s own vision of biodiversity and sustainable design, aiming to work with, rather than against, nature.

There’s something grounding about this journey across the Río de la Plata—a feeling that balances the scale and vision of projects like NEOM. White herons—probably Great Egrets—stand in the shallows, wading with quiet grace, while black cormorants perch nearby, drying their wings after their incessant dives. As I watch these native sentinels and witnesses to Colonia’s urban past, present, and future, I’m reminded that NEOM, too, aspires to bring such life back to the desert. These sea birds, silent yet ever-present, embody a wisdom that technology alone can’t replicate. They remind me that in both Colonia and NEOM, we’re building not just for ourselves but for generations to come. It’s an effort to create cities that breathe, that live, and that respect the timeless rhythms of the land—a vision that, like this crossing, feels both humbling and exhilarating.

Every wave, every gust of wind here on the Río de la Plata whispers the same mantra I carry with me from NEOM: the future of cities is about more than building; it’s about belonging.

When the ferry reaches Colonia, you’re greeted by the rusticity of the San Gabriel Peninsula, with its cobbled streets, old colonial architecture, and a UNESCO-recognized historic center. This is a city where past and future are trying to coexist, where the weight of centuries meets a vision for tomorrow. I step off the ferry, knowing the historic center here has drawn people for ages, yet now it holds a new promise—a place perhaps one day as appealing to startups and tech innovators as it is currently to tourists.

As I wander through the streets, I’m struck by how seamlessly the landscape embraces both nature and architecture. The trees dip their roots into the water, and the occasional waves kiss the sand, reminding us that even the most forward-thinking city has to breathe with the land it’s built on.

This crossing on such a somber grey day is more than a passage for me. It’s a moment to reflect on my recent book deal, on the endless movement between ideas, borders, and ambitions. As I journey from Argentina into Uruguay, from one world to another, I feel the weight and freedom of this nomadic experience—one that promises stories yet to be written, and dreams yet to take shape across both shores. Every wave, every gust of wind, reminds me that even as we hurtle into the future, some things remain constant—this need to move, to evolve, and to find meaning on the other side of each and every journey.