King Charles launches world-first quantum computing project to tackle global urban planning crisis

King Charles is extending his long-held vision for sustainable communities well beyond British shores, using his charitable foundation to bring cutting-edge technology to developing nations grappling with rapid and often unmanageable urban expansion.

The monarch first established his credentials as a champion of thoughtful town planning through Poundbury, the model settlement he created in Dorset.

Now, through the King's Foundation, he is launching an ambitious new initiative called the Harmonious Urban Growth project, which will deploy quantum computing to assist Commonwealth countries with infrastructure planning.

The programme represents a world first — the inaugural application of quantum technology to sustainable urban development anywhere on the globe.

Belize and Zambia to benefit first

Belize and Zambia have been selected as the initial beneficiaries of the groundbreaking scheme.

The King's Foundation will work alongside FormationQ, an American quantum computing specialist, over the next three years to deliver expertise across six cities within Commonwealth nations. UK-based urban planning consultants Space Syntax will also contribute to the project.

A pressing global challenge

The initiative addresses an urgent global problem. Approximately 1.3 billion individuals — representing nearly one sixth of all humanity — currently live in unplanned settlements, including shanty towns, villages, and favelas.

Projections suggest this figure will grow by a further billion people within the next three decades.

King Charles recognised that guiding the growth of such communities through deliberate and considered planning, rather than allowing them to develop haphazardly, would deliver significant benefits for public health, environmental resilience, and long-term sustainability.

Why quantum computing changes everything

Quantum computers offer distinct advantages over conventional machines by performing vast numbers of calculations simultaneously rather than sequentially, dramatically accelerating the planning process and enabling far more accurate predictions about the needs of future generations.

This computational power allows urban planners to optimise the distribution of water supplies, electricity generation capacity, transport connections, and other critical infrastructure far more effectively than previously possible.

Nada Hosking, founder and chief executive of FormationQ, explained: "Rapid urbanisation is one of the most complex systems challenges of the 21st century.

"Cities must balance environmental resilience, infrastructure capacity, economic opportunity and human wellbeing simultaneously.

"Advances in computational modelling, including quantum optimisation techniques, offer new ways to explore these complex interactions and support better planning decisions."

Proven results in Sierra Leone

The Foundation has already demonstrated the effectiveness of its approach in Bo, Sierra Leone, where it assisted local planning authorities by identifying areas vulnerable to flooding that should remain free from development.

That earlier project also pinpointed walkable zones and designated infrastructure corridors to guide the city's future expansion.

Many of the towns and cities most urgently in need of planning lack access to professional planning resources — a gap that the Foundation and FormationQ have stepped in to address.

Throughout the planning process, local community leaders will be involved in consultations, with streets, squares, and public spaces marked out on the ground before any final decisions are taken.

The King's Foundation, established in 1990, has spent 35 years developing plans for hundreds of thousands of homes in walkable communities whilst also restoring historic properties such as Dumfries House in Ayrshire.