Columbus: A New Urban Champion

NewCities organized a Learning Expedition in Columbus, Ohio on October, 23-24, 2018. This Learning Expedition, hosted in partnership with ENGIE, was the first installment of “New Urban Champions,” an initiative that invites medium-sized cities to share exemplary approaches to economic, social and environmental development on a global learning platform.

Our agenda in Columbus showcased successful public-private partnerships, featured innovative smart city advancements, and detailed how a university campus connects to and enhances its surrounding urban ecosystem.

Why Columbus? Since winning the first-ever U.S. Department of Transportation’s “Smart City Challenge” in 2016, Columbus has emerged as a model Smart City. City officials attribute their successes to strong collaboration across sectors—the newly opened Smart Columbus Experience Center and the Comprehensive Energy Management Project between ENGIE and The Ohio State University stand as testaments to Columbus’ commitment to energy research and technology commercialization.

Over the Learning Expedition program, NewCities engaged participants in a series of thematic working groups and site visits around the city, while also providing opportunities for conversation, networking, and partnership building.

Lead partner

Supporting partners

Featured Image by David Mark from Pixabay.