Aug 10, 2016
This post is part of our Age of Urban Tech discussion series, following the fifth edition of the New Cities Summit in Montréal in June 2016. The capacity to produce massive volumes of data to astonishing levels of specificity enables tech experts and entrepreneurs to understand what works and what cities need. Yet, access to…
Aug 09, 2016
Hardly a week goes by without shocking news of a disaster in a city with implications for its future development and, often, for other cities as well. Think of the recent Grenfell Tower fire in London, raising questions about high-rise living elsewhere in London, but also in the Gulf, in Asia and in North America.…
Aug 08, 2016
My training in political science and experience in development taught me to avoid making predictions. But there is one prediction I feel secure making: in the very near future, cities will become equally or more important than the classically defined ‘state.’ By mid-century, cities will rise to the level of primary economic, labor, political, educational…
Aug 05, 2016
This post is part of our Age of Urban Tech discussion series, following the fifth edition of the New Cities Summit in Montréal in June 2016. The Small Business Cities panel looked at the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that are driving innovation and increasing urban economic outcomes. The Mayor of Liége, Willy Demeyer,…
Jun 23, 2016
Everywhere, entrepreneurs and innovators are tapping into the immense power of technology to solve concrete and pressing challenges in cities and day two of the 2016 New Cities Summit provided the central hub of this transformative energy. Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) Authority Chairman Lee Young-geun opened the day by delving deeper into urban innovation…
Jun 22, 2016
Cities matter, get used to it A new and powerful wave of urban innovation is taking cities to a new age called Urban Tech. “Cities matter, get used to it” affirmed Denis Coderre, Mayor of Montréal as the fifth edition of the New Cities Summit was launched in the vibrant Quartier des Spectacles, the creative…
Jun 17, 2016
We hosted an explosive conversation on the Age of Urban Tech on Thursday, June 16. Over the course of one hour, we invited a diverse group of thinkers, technology leaders and entrepreneurs from across the world to share there insights on the next urban wave of change set to impact cities. The Age of Urban…
Jun 15, 2016
One of the most pressing issues around the world is the immense shortage of much-needed infrastructure. Unprecedented urbanization is driving demand for infrastructure in cities globally – whether it is transport, water and sewer, digital or social. As the world’s urban population swells, infrastructure is critical to creating economic development, attracting talent, making cities more…
Jun 10, 2016
In nearly every major city in the United States, urban renewal-era planning connected downtowns to newly developing suburbs with multi-lane highways, in the process destroying acres of city fabric. In rare instances, the highways tunneled under the city; more frequently they were elevated or placed in depressed channels to segregate the fast-moving traffic from “impediments”…
Jun 04, 2016
Earlier this month I traveled to Lavasa, a new master-planned city built in the hilly region 300 kilometers southeast of Mumbai, India. I was there to chair the New Cities Foundation’s third roundtable for new city project leaders as part of Cityquest, our network of the world’s biggest and boldest new cities builders, an initiative…
Jun 03, 2016
Rendeavour CEO Stephen Jennings discusses the vast opportunities in Africa and his organization’s role in building new urban landscapes across the continent in a Q&A with NewCities Chairman John Rossant. John Rossant: You have worked across several geographies – in Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana. Our network, our community would…
May 31, 2016
“We need to ask ourselves: what is the cost of deferred investment and maintenance in infrastructure?” Jeffrey DeWitt, CFO of Washington, DC asked 150 thought leaders gathered in New York with the shared goal of exploring and identifying new ways of financing urban infrastructure. The answer to his question is clear. The cost of ignoring…
