Urban Magic with GenAI: Turning Public Assets Into ProfitGenerators

AI-Driven SolutionsGrowth & Expansion Strategy
Written By Mohamad Al Husseini & Greta Gerazimaite

AI-Driven Solutions Growth & Expansion Strategy

 

Can AI help cities turn underused public assets such as parks and parking lots into multimillion-dollar opportunities?

CLIENT

A forward-thinking Saudi municipality on a mission: how do we make our city smarter, safer, more social and sustainable — and make money from underutilized assets while we’re at it?

 

THE PROBLEM

The city had a portfolio of underutilized assets and a vision for vibrant urban life — but no clear path to connect the two. Traditional methods like benchmarking, expert panels, and workshops had hit their creative ceiling. The budget was tight. Private-sector interest was tepid. And the pressure was on to deliver high-impact results that looked good both on the ground and on the balance sheet.

The city didn’t need another binder of “global best practices.” They needed bold ideas — fast — and a plan to make them real.

OUR APPROACH

We built a GenAI-powered tool infused with creative methodologies like morphological analysis and forced connections (think Mad Libs for urban planning, but make it strategic).

This wasn’t just idea generation — it was idea engineering. The tool generated 142 distinct revenue and value-creation ideas. We pressure-tested them and narrowed them down to the 21 most promising. These were eventually bundled into four crowd-pleasing, investment-attracting concepts:

  • Parks as community oases

  • Next-gen last-mile logistics with a sustainable twist

  • Pop-up activations during mega-events

  • Gamified tourism that makes exploring the city feel like play

We backed these with detailed business models, implementation plans, and operational blueprints. And we didn’t stop there — we ran full financial models and risk assessments to prove these weren’t just good on paper.

 
 

THE RESULTS

A strategy that unlocks $20M+ in annual revenue and cost savings.

But it wasn’t just about the money. These ideas are reshaping how residents interact with their city — boosting sustainability, strengthening community ties, and fostering local pride.

Mohamad Al Husseini & Greta Gerazimaite

Mohamad Al Husseini is the Founder and Managing Director of Quasar, a next-gen boutique consultancy that solves complex business problems by combining strategy frameworks with cutting-edge technology. He also works closely with startups across the US, Europe, and the Middle East to help them raise capital and scale effectively. With over a decade in the management consulting industry at Strategy&, Mohamad has led innovation-focused projects and thought leadership initiatives across diverse sectors in the Middle East. He holds a Master of Engineering from Télécom ParisTech and an MBA with distinction from INSEAD.

Greta Gerazimaite is the Co-Founder of Quasar and a seasoned strategist and operator. She began her career in the pharma and real estate sectors before moving into consulting at Bain & Company, where she worked with both the Corporate and Private Equity Groups. Greta later carved her own path, partnering with VCs, startups, and tech companies across the US, Europe, and the Middle East. She also served as Vice President at OSLabs, a New York-based tech accelerator for open-source software. Greta holds an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and studied Technology Entrepreneurship at Stanford.

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