So You Think You Can Plan?

By Nicole Davessar

Amidst April showers, Cityfi is planning for more than just May flowers! Our sights are set on the horizon as we examine the future of digital infrastructure and regional mobility with clients, drive toward climate action with partners and colleagues, and find new meaning in connectivity during unanticipated health scares.

Last week in San Francisco, we facilitated planning engagements for two clients whose missions foster safe transportation in cities: the Open Mobility Foundation and Waymo’s City Policy team. Both deliver innovative solutions to communities by leveraging the power of cross-sector collaboration, and we were thrilled to support them in driving toward shared public-private outcomes.

Along with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Cityfi showcased a framework for establishing metrics that evaluate curb management as it relates to electric vehicle expansion, equity, health, and so much more. Finally, we topped off the week in Columbus with another client, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, at its annual State of the Region event. Cityfi Partner Karina Ricks joined a panel of visionary transportation leaders to discuss regional preparation and alignment for an increasingly multimodal future.

If any of these ventures pique your curiosity, read more below, or send us a note! We are always eager to learn about what lies ahead for bold and innovative teams at agencies, companies, and organizations and explore how we can help you plan, strategize, and act for what comes next.

Cityfi Facilitates the OMF Digital Infrastructure Convening

By Camron Bridgford

On March 29, as part of a strategic planning initiative, Cityfiers Story Bellows, Camron Bridgford, and Nicole Davessar led a facilitation of a group of key stakeholders in San Francisco for the Open Mobility Foundation (OMF) and its Digital Infrastructure Convening Series, which is a year-long planning effort to prepare for the organization’s immediate and longer-term future. The effort was conducted with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation. This final in-person convening for the Series follows a virtual convening, also designed and facilitated by Cityfi, of a broader group of stakeholders earlier in March. Both convenings guided stakeholders to ground visionary strategies from the Series’ first convening in October 2022 into tangible action steps for the organization, and align those actions with resources and timelines. As the final stakeholder engagement event of the Series, Cityfi will now be producing a strategic roadmap, action agenda and programmatic/operational toolkit for the OMF in order to guide their staff and Board of Directors as to how to deepen their work in Mobility Data Specification (MDS) and Curb Data Specification (CDS); prioritize and design new programs and projects; and operationalize these offerings through refined business and membership models.

Waymo City Policy Planning

By Sarah Saltz

Cityfi team members Story Bellows and Sarah Saltz visited our Waymo colleagues on the City Policy team in San Francisco last week to facilitate planning. The City Policy team’s mission is to connect company objectives with cities’ needs and priorities to unlock mutually beneficial solutions. Cityfi uniquely sits at the crossroads of the public and private sectors (see above for details about our work with the OMF’s strategic planning).This allows us to build a shared understanding and advise both the public and private sectors with a realistic, innovative, and collaborative approach. As we tackle increasingly complex challenges in 2023 and beyond, we look forward to continuing to help teams like Waymo City Policy manage change and bridge the gap across sectors as we build towards a sustainable and equitable future.

Powering Forward Central Ohio

By Nicole Davessar

Last week, the Cityfi team of Karina Ricks and Nicole Davessar had the pleasure of joining our client, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), for its premier, annual State of the Region event in Columbus. The 2023 theme, Powering Our Region Forward, drew nearly 1,000 regional leaders to mark Central Ohio’s achievements, plans, and future investments, especially amidst the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The keynote address was delivered by Charles Small, the USDOT’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs. With community, business, and political change agents in the audience, he emphasized the interdependence of transportation, climate, housing, and economic decisions that will have lasting impacts for mid-Ohioans.

A forward-looking panel discussion explored the planning and considerations needed to seize opportunities for multimodal transportation, with insights from our very own Karina and fellow transportation experts: HNTB’s Thea Ewing, Amtrak’s Derrick James, Hart Solutions LLC’s Christopher Hart, and DriveOhio’s Preeti Choudhary. The discussion underscored the importance of grounding strategies in human-centric use cases and acting thoughtfully but swiftly to capitalize on the region’s unique positioning, valuable assets, and cross-sector ecosystem. There is palpable and well-founded excitement, in and beyond Central Ohio, about its future and growth, and Cityfi is pleased to share an amazing opportunity to help drive this transformation. MORPC seeks a Chief Mobility & Infrastructure Officer & Sr. Director of Programming to be the visionary lead for regional mobility and infrastructure systems strategy. If you possess strategic thinking, partnership building, and effective communication in the realms of transportation, planning, policy, and/or economic development, check out this impactful senior leadership role, and reach out to Cityfi for additional context.

Cityfi and NREL Present “The Next Normal for Curbs: Metrics, Data, Research, and Intervention Strategies”

By Sarah Saltz

Last week, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s hosted a workshop focused on the role of curb management tools in improving efficiency and reducing traffic congestion related to their research effort on dynamic urban curb allocation. The Cityfi team, along with our colleagues at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), presented our work on metrics design for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) funded “Curb Management and Integrated Strategies for Market Adoption of Electric Vehicles" project, led by the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator.

We presented a framework to guide the creation of metrics and tools for managing multiple curb demands in ways that address multiple sustainability goals. We discussed methods of collaboratively aligning on performance metrics that evaluate the effectiveness of various curb management strategies in areas such as energy productivity, curb utilization, electric vehicle adoption, environment, health and safety, economic growth, and equity. We were excited by the workshop participants’ engagement about curb management interventions and metrics. The workshop was recorded, so if you missed the session and are interested in learning about metrics and tools in VTO’s Dynamic Curb Allocation and Curb Management studies, please reach out to us.

March: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

By Story Bellows

A few weeks ago, my daughter had an asthma attack that got her (and me) transported from one hospital to another via helicopter. Given that we spend most of our time in upstate New York, it was an interesting peek into the systems that enable rural healthcare to deliver the outcomes we want, with connectivity as a key driver. I’ve always thought of my work on digital equity in service of others, but in this case, my family was a clear beneficiary of telemedicine enabled by strong connectivity - something not all rural communities are blessed with. I spent a few minutes reflecting on the experience and posted it to our blog.

Cityfi Heads to Urbanism Next

By Erin Clark

Many members of Team Cityfi are attending the Urbanism Next Conference in Portland, Oregon this month. Come and join Story Bellows, Karina Ricks, Camron Bridgford, and Erin Clark to learn more about the impacts of emerging technologies on cities. We'll be participating in these panel discussions and workshops:

• Accelerating Climate Action in US Cities (workshop)

• Breaking Through the Hype: What the Future Holds for Autonomous Vehicles in Cities

• Zones, Zones, and More Zones: Getting to Universal Basic Mobility and Climate Action through Zero-Emission Zones

• Using Open Data Governance to Responsibly Scale Emerging Transportation Technologies

• The App-less MaaS: Building the System of Transportation Alternatives

• Structural Support for Strong Pilots

Registration for the 2023 Urbanism Next Conference is still open. We hope to see you April 26-28 in Portland!

What We’re Reading

Public Affairs and Regulatory Design

• Biden-Harris Administration Announces $50 Million to Incentivize Smart Manufacturing at Small- and Medium-Sized Facilities

• In his new cybersecurity strategy, Biden identifies cloud security as a major threat

• Can Cities Be the Source of Scalable Innovations?

• FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces New Private and Public Sector Investments for Affordable Electric Vehicles

Resiliency and Climate Adaptation Strategies

• How Melbourne is realising its ambitious climate action plan

• New York’s New Mayor Has Assembled a Seasoned Climate Team. Now, the Real Work Begins

• To Better Measure Climate Resilience Efforts, Federal Leaders Chart Collaborative Course

Digital Transformation and Connectivity

• How Tech Enables Equity and Inclusion in Capital Projects

• AI is Already Significantly Changing Daily Life

• Data sharing can help the public sector deliver improved outcomes for citizens

CleanTech and Zero-Emission Transition

• New Rules Will Make Many Electric Cars Ineligible for Tax Credits

• The Trans-American Race to Build Chargers for Electric Trucks

• Battery News Today — Water In Texas, Hydrogen In Kentucky

Mobility Systems and Reimagined Streets

• What Can Cities Do About the Most Dangerous Drivers?

• Paris votes overwhelmingly to ban shared e-scooters

• 1.3 million people die on roads every year. It's a global 'pandemic,' U.N. official says.

Civic Innovation and Change Management

• New York City Launches One-Stop Benefits Web Portal

• In Communities Where Civic Health Is Poor, Lives Are Shorter

• France’s Plan For Universal Cycle Training Is A Win For Equity. Here’s How It Works.