The Climate City

In Chapter 17, The Fragile City , John de Boer points out there is growing recognition that the cumulative impact of converging environmental, social, political, and economic risks is straining the ability of many cities to deliver essential services to residents in times of shocks and stresses. The COVID-19 pandemic brought cities around the world to a halt, causing massive disruption and suffering for hundreds of millions of people. The pandemic exposed the fault lines in our cities that make them fragile. This includes growing inequalities in income, gender, race, and opportunity, as well as structural factors linked to exposure to violence, poverty, extreme pollution, and natural disasters. This chapter assesses the sources of fragility rooted in our cities and explores approaches that could help cities develop more resilient urban systems, enabling them to function, and even thrive, in times of crisis.

In Chapter 18, The Data City , Seth Schultz and Eric Ast propose a bold and pragmatic vision for the role that cities can play in ensuring a just, equitable, and safe future for humanity. There’s good reason to be optimistic about the long-term ascent of data-centric techniques within the political sphere and the potential for collaboration between public and private sectors around the globe. However, due to the immediate nature of the climate crisis, a clear-eyed view of our current trajectory dictates that intrepid action towards accelerating action is necessary. By leveraging their power over procurement processes and budgets to dictate the conditions for how data are collected and accessed, and tapping into rich local technological and research ecosystems, cities can embrace a new and more effective role within the data ecosystem. This approach, the Procurement + Platform Pivot, pulls cities around the world out of a cycle of dependence and data poverty and into the driver’s seat in a role that they play best: convener.

In Chapter 19, The Measured City , Patricia McCarney positions cities in a highly connected world and advances the need for globally standardized data to empower sound city leadership on the global stage. Until recently, this interconnected world was traditionally reserved for national governments, connecting through trade, security, and global monetary policy, all supported by sound, standardized measurements – Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Product (GNP), and other national income and monetary measures. Cities have been rising in stature as critical sites in this highly connected world. Cities are critical sites where investment, invention, prosperity, climate mitigation, security, health, and social wellbeing can either succeed or fail. However, globally standardized, comparable measurement, so valued at national level to drive data-informed global relations, has lagged at city level. The chapter advances the need for globally standardized measurement in cities and examines what global standards exist for city data to drive and enable the “Measured City”. The chapter provides a look into the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the recent emergence of the ISO 37120 Series that has created a global standard for city data that enables comparative apples-to-apples data for the first time. The chapter answers the core question “Why is ‘The Measured City’ so important for cities today, and how are cities embracing global standards to propel their success?”

In Chapter 20, The Smart City , Noorie Rajvanshi tells a story, through data, of how technologies can drive climate action in cities. In this chapter we dive into learnings from over 40 cities worldwide, highlighting results of technology modeling with the Siemens City Performance Tool. Cities, irrespective of where they are located or their climate or socioeconomic standing, share a common understanding that these three actions will produce deep carbon reductions and lead the way to zero-carbon cities – decarbonization of the electric grid, reducing energy usage in buildings and transport, and electrification of everything. Many of the technologies that will enable the implementation of these actions already exist and have been proven to work on a large scale, but there is always room for innovation!

In Chapter 21, The Just City (Part I) , Hayley Moller explores the interlocking challenges of public health, climate change, and economic inequality through the air quality of our cities. The chapter reviews the key drivers and impacts of air pollution in cities around the world and investigates how poor air quality often visits the greatest harm upon poor communities and communities of colour. It argues that addressing air quality can have massive climate and equity co-benefits, and it explores how to maximize these benefits using examples of cities in the Global North and Global South that have successfully tackled this invisible adversary. It concludes with an in-depth look at an innovative solution in the city of Seoul and extrapolates lessons relevant to all cities.

In the same chapter, The Just City (Part II) , Jane Burston and Matt Whitney show us how London’s fight for clean air is based on data. How do we solve an issue like air pollution? It is an almost universal issue: billions of people are breathing dirty air and millions are dying prematurely each year as a result. The solutions to air pollution are within grasp. A shift to clean energy and sustainable transport can improve air quality and bring real improvements to people’s health, almost overnight. But adoption of these solutions must accelerate. Improving air quality will not only improve health, but also drive down the carbon emissions that can help to avoid the climate crisis. Air pollution is often invisible – it is highly damaging to health long before it forms smogs thick enough to be visible to the naked eye. But data can make it visible, and in doing so illuminate the sources and solutions needed, as well as the consequences of inaction. This chapter reveals how measuring air quality is on the verge of a revolution. Technological innovation is promising a shift in how cities measure air quality, enabling a new understanding of the issue and helping policymakers to design effective solutions.

In The Just City (Part III) , Jenny Bates asks the question “Will air pollution on a death certificate for the first time mean nine-year-old Ella’s tragic death leads to cleaner air and better health for others?” London has a serious air pollution problem, as I became aware of as I worked for Friends of the Earth covering London. For too long, despite the great work of some, there wasn’t enough public awareness or action. But with Sahara dust, Dieselgate, legal actions, campaigning, and more, it has risen up the agenda, alongside climate change. The solutions are clear, including the need for cleaner and also fewer vehicles, not adding to the problem such as with road-building or airport expansion, and updating our standards to align with WHO guidelines – they just need implementing. In a post COVID world this is all the more important and will also benefit the economy. Ella’s death could help lead to a better London.

In Chapter 22, The Invested City , Colin le Duc puts cities at the forefront of the transition to a more sustainable form of capitalism. Capital allocation is increasingly a function of risk and return, as well as explicit impact considerations. Cities act as hubs for the financial system itself, but also for how new technologies and innovations are tested and implemented. Cities play a crucial role in mainstreaming sustainable investing and enabling environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors to be fully integrated into capital allocation decisions. Additionally, in areas of critical societal needs such as building, transport, food, and energy, cities are incubators of new, innovative, sustainable models that can be tested and perfected to become mainstream solutions. Generation Investment Management’s Chairman Al Gore often says: “The ‘Sustainability Revolution’ is upon us, it has the magnitude of the Industrial Revolution and the speed of the Digital Revolution.”