Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism (Brookings Institution Press, 2018). He is also the editor or co-editor of several books on urban and metropolitan issues, and a frequent media commentator.
Luise Noring is Research Director and Assistant Professor at Copenhagen Business School, where she also attained her PhD in supply chain partnerships. In 2016, she founded City Facilitators, which operates out of Copenhagen with clients across Europe and the US. City Facilitators offers niche consultancy specializing in urban governance and finance. Luise’s work is captured in the City Solutions providing vehicles for deepening and accelerating urban problem-solving. The City Solutions offers a source of applied research on the most promising models of urban governance and finance that are emerging to tackle hard economic, social, and environmental challenges and fuel investments and value creation in cities. The City Solutions reveal new institutional models and finance mechanisms covering areas such as urban redevelopment of deindustrialized areas, infrastructure financing, affordable and social housing, devolved municipal power, pooling of municipal borrowing requirements, inclusive growth, climate investments, and pension funds, to name but a few. It aims to speed up the process by which solutions invented in one city are captured and codified and then adapted and adopted to other cities.
Leah Lazer and Nick Godfrey
The Decoupled City – Cities are a critical vehicle for delivering the emissions reductions needed to limit global warming. National governments can drive economic prosperity and address climate emergency by supporting sustainable, equitable cities.
Leah Lazer is passionate about just, sustainable cities. She serves as Research Analyst at the World Resources Institute, where she has authored numerous publications on urban planning, sustainable transportation, climate justice, and the circular economy. With the Coalition for Urban Transitions, she worked as researcher and project manager for a major global initiative supporting national governments to secure economic prosperity and tackle the climate crisis by transforming cities, based on a partnership of more than 35 of the world’s leading institutions and companies. Previously, Leah was part of Siemens’ Urban Development team in London, and a food justice NGO in Philadelphia. She holds an MSc in Regional and Urban Planning Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in Food System Studies from Tufts University, Massachusetts.
Nick Godfrey is a Senior Adviser for the Grantham Research Institute at LSE. He was formerly the co-founder and director of the Coalition for Urban Transitions, a special initiative of the New Climate Economy, and a major global initiative supporting national governments to secure economic prosperity and tackle the climate crisis by transforming cities based on a partnership of more than 35 of the world’s leading institutions and companies.
The initiative is co-hosted by the World Resources Institute and C40 Climate Leadership Group. Before this, Nick was a member of the Executive Team and Head of Policy and Urban Development for the New Climate Economy, a major international initiative to examine how countries can achieve economic growth while dealing with climate risks led by a Global Commission of 26 former heads of state, finance ministers, CEOs, and thought leaders.
Justin Keeble and Molly Blatchly-Lewis
The Responsible City – A responsible city is guided by a compelling mission and purpose harnessing business to bring environmental and societal value.
Justin Keeble is Managing Director of Accenture’s European Sustainability practice. He has spent 22 years working with companies to harness environmental and social pressures as drivers for business transformation, growth, and innovation. He has worked across consumer industries, financial services, high tech, energy and utilities sectors, and the public sector including municipal and city administrations. He recently built an eco-house in south Oxfordshire where he lives with his wife and three daughters and has a penchant for amateur pugilism.
Molly Blatchly-Lewis is a Strategist within Accenture’s Global Cities, Transport and Infrastructure Practice. She has worked with a wide range of government and private sector clients in the UK and internationally, specializing in sustainability, urban mobility, and emerging technologies such as 5G and digital twins. Her focus is on the role of systems thinking in tackling urban challenges, developing innovative, practical policies and solutions for sustainable impact. Her experience includes working with the World Economic Forum to develop integrated solutions to decarbonize cities; shaping a clean mobility strategy with Transport for West Midlands; driving innovation across construction firms and infrastructure agencies to accelerate decarbonization and enhance communities; helping to grow an innovation ecosystem in East Asia and co-creating a leadership development framework for a global climate change NGO.
Pete Daw
The Energized City – The energized city thinks of energy as something that can be used more efficiently, optimized in the way we supply it, consume it, and plan for it.
Pete Daw is director of Global Urban Futures, advising public and private organizations on climate change and sustainability. He recently supported the London Waste and Recycling Board in developing the case for their five-year business plan focused on driving down consumption-based emissions and making the London circular economy. He is now on assignment with the Greater London Authority, heading the climate change mitigation and adaptation teams.
At Siemens he was director of Urban Development and Environment at the Global Centre for Cities, where he worked with cities globally to help them understand the role technology can play in tackling their challenges. He worked extensively on Siemens’ smart city approach in China, India, Italy, and Saudi Arabia. He also headed the Siemens partnership with C40 Cities, where he produced thoughtful leadership pieces on topics ranging from connected and autonomous vehicles to climate financing. He developed Johannesburg’s first-ever greenhouse gas inventory as part of Siemens’ work with C40 Cities.
Previously Pete worked in London government for 12 years. He was Policy & Programmes Manager for Climate Change Mitigation & Energy for the Greater London Authority between 2008 and 2013, where he led the development of the city’s Climate Change Mitigation & Energy Strategy and its Air Quality Strategy. Prior to that he was Waste Policy manager at the London Development Agency, where he designed the concept and secured £24 million of funding for a waste infrastructure fund.
Julia Thayne DeMordaunt
The Agile City (Part I) – The chapter first takes a look back and then defines a path forward for how cities, people, and technology come together to deliver transportation systems that offer what people need when they need it.
An expert at the leading edge of systemic change for transportation and infrastructure policy, Julia Thayne DeMordaunt helps governments, private companies, and NGOs translate ambitious visions into actionable plans that benefit the communities they impact. Julia is Principal of Urban Transformation at the Rocky Mountain Institute.
