Co-Creating Change: Partnerships Driving Civic and Climate Innovation
Guest Editor: Chrissy Anecito
Now, more than ever, cities and local governments are on the front lines of addressing the climate crisis, facing a growing imperative to lead the charge on reducing emissions, adapting infrastructure, and building more resilient and equitable communities. Climate change has created an urgency which demands bold municipal leadership, but cities can’t do this alone - instead, the path forward relies on the ability of the public sector to forge meaningful and strong cross-sector partnerships. By working alongside nonprofits, advocacy groups, community organizations, and the private sector, cities can unlock not just additional capacity, but the potential for true civic innovation. Through collaborations like the LACI VTO project, Reconnecting South Park (both projects explored in this newsletter), and the Seattle CCRF, Cityfi has worked to bridge the gap between sectors by translating public goals into actionable strategies, and ensuring that innovation efforts align with both policy and community values. These collaborations enable cities to pilot new technologies, reimagine public space, and co-design policies that are grounded in community needs and climate priorities. When diverse partners come together with a shared purpose, they create the conditions for bold, adaptive solutions that can scale - turning local action into lasting climate impact.
Local Innovation, Global Impact
By Ryan Parzick
As the climate crisis accelerates, the most meaningful action isn’t just happening in global summits or national legislatures - it’s happening on city blocks, bike lanes, and in budget spreadsheets. Across the U.S. and beyond, cities are rolling up their sleeves with bold, creative strategies that connect local priorities with global climate goals.
Take San Francisco, where a two-mile stretch of the Great Highway has become something entirely new: a vibrant urban park. This isn’t just a beautification effort, it’s a full-on pivot from car-centric design to people-first public space. Thanks to the passage of Proposition K in 2024, the Upper Great Highway is now permanently closed to private vehicles and reborn as a 50-acre coastal park. It’s great for walking, biking, and soaking up nature - but it also restores coastal dunes, improves access, and boosts climate resilience by addressing sea level rise and cooling down the urban heat island effect. Not bad for a former freeway.
Meanwhile in New York City, climate budgeting is making public dollars do double duty. The City is weaving emissions goals directly into the budgeting process of every agency (you can thank Senior Associate Chrissy Anecito for her explainer on how it works). Modeled after leaders like Oslo and London, NYC’s approach ensures that every capital project and funding request is evaluated for its impact on emissions and climate adaptation. It’s a game-changing move that aligns financial decision-making with long-term sustainability, turning the budget book into a climate tool.
Cleveland, too, is thinking big … and local. The City has set a goal that by 2045, all residents will live within a 10-minute walk of a high-quality park or green space. Inspired by the “15-minute city” concept, Cleveland’s plan includes transforming vacant lots, expanding the urban tree canopy, and improving walkability - especially in underserved neighborhoods. The result? Cooler neighborhoods, better public health, and more community ownership over public space.
Transportation is a tool, as well. Across the country, cities are piloting e-bike lending libraries to make low-carbon travel accessible to more people. In places like Madison, Wisconsin, and Charlottesville, Virginia, residents can borrow electric bikes for free, with no strings attached. These programs reduce emissions, promote equity, and provide a fun, practical alternative to car ownership. (Plus, let’s be honest, e-bikes are just fun!)
None of this is happening in isolation. These efforts reflect a new way of doing local governance: breaking down silos, working across departments and sectors, and putting community front and center.
Of course, we’ve only scratched the surface of what cities are doing. From Climate Action Plans to Zero Emission Zones to Transit-Oriented Development, the toolbox is full; but there’s only so much room here to show it off. And while this piece is U.S.-focused, we’d be remiss not to give a nod to Vienna, Austria. The city is integrating affordable housing with climate action in all the right ways. By committing to climate neutrality by 2040, Vienna is using its robust social housing system to retrofit buildings, require rooftop solar, and push energy-efficient design. Their “sponge city” approach helps manage flooding and heat, and design competitions reward the best green ideas. It’s a great reminder that housing and climate goals don’t have to compete, they can (and should) work together.
At Cityfi, we see these kinds of projects as more than just climate action. They’re sparks of civic innovation, economic revitalization, and stronger communities. When cities learn from each other, they can move faster, think bigger, and build smarter for a future that’s more livable, sustainable, and just plain better.
We’re proud to support communities that are turning bold ideas into practical, scalable solutions. Let’s keep the momentum going!
Collaborating on Climate Solutions: How Public-Private Partnerships are Powering Zero Emission Innovation at the Curb
In cities nationwide, the rise of e-commerce and last-mile delivery has transformed the curb from a passive stretch of pavement into one of the most contested and valuable pieces of urban infrastructure. With growing congestion, increased emissions, and competing demands for limited space, cities are under pressure to rethink how curbs function. But innovation doesn't happen in isolation. The most promising solutions are emerging through cross-sector collaboration - when public agencies, private companies, nonprofits, federally-funded research laboratories, and academic institutions come together to co-create smarter, data-driven, and climate-conscious approaches to managing the public right-of-way.
One standout example of this civic innovation is the recent U.S. Department of Energy funded project, led by the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), and supported by Cityfi. This initiative brought together city leaders, researchers, and mobility technology providers to design and pilot Smart Loading Zones (SLZs) and Zero-Emission Loading Zones (ZELZs) in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Pittsburgh. SLZs use sensors and cameras to monitor curb activity in real time, tracking vehicle type, parking duration, and traffic flow. ZELZs go a step further by reserving curb space exclusively for zero-emission vehicles such as electric vans, hydrogen trucks, and e-cargo bikes, incentivizing cleaner modes of transport and discouraging internal combustion engine use for deliveries.
At the center of these pilots was curbside data technology developed by Automotus, which uses automated license plate recognition (ALPR) to capture usage patterns, enforce regulations, and predict future demand. Academic and research institutions played a crucial role in designing, modeling, and evaluating the interventions, ensuring each city’s pilot was rooted in evidence and aligned with local policy goals.
Cityfi collaborated across sectors to guide both implementation and research design, while also developing tools to help other cities launch their own SLZ or ZELZ pilots. Our work included creating a data framework to support consistent data collection and analysis for future research partners (see Ryan Parzick’s previous newsletter article for more on the project’s data needs), as well as providing practical guidelines to help cities select zones and design interventions. Cityfi’s contributions ensure that progress toward zero-emission freight will be available for cities nationwide.
Now, the early returns are shaping long-term policy. Pittsburgh has turned its pilot into a self-sustaining SLZ program; Los Angeles is applying key lessons to its citywide “Code the Curb” initiative and planning mobility strategies for the 2028 Olympics; and Santa Monica is using pilot insights to guide future automated enforcement programs. These outcomes underscore the power of civic innovation made possible by cross-sector collaboration. For cities tackling the intertwined challenges of congestion, climate, and equity, SLZs and ZELZs offer not just a tactical solution, but a strategic path forward. Cityfi remains committed to helping public and private sector leaders turn these lessons into lasting, people-centered infrastructure that meets the moment and builds toward a cleaner, more efficient future.
For more details on this project, check out the story map we created for the project here!
Congestion Pricing Is Climate Policy—If We Can Deliver It
In the United States, transportation is the number one source of climate pollution – more than electricity, agriculture, or industry. And cutting those emissions is hard. Our cities are built around cars: eight-lane arterials divide neighborhoods, commutes stretch for hours, and even in dense metro areas, alternatives to driving are often unreliable or nonexistent.
Electrifying vehicles has become the dominant strategy. It’s a logical move, changing infrastructure is hard, and changing behavior is harder. But EVs alone won’t get us there. Even with widespread electric vehicle adoption, global transportation emissions are still projected to exceed net zero targets by 2050. The math doesn’t work unless we also drive less and reduce our cities’ dependence on cars altogether.
To borrow from Al Gore: the inconvenient truth is that we cannot solve climate change without fundamentally transforming how people move through cities.
The good news? That transformation is already underway. But it will take more than policy ideas. It requires political will, and civic infrastructure, to match our climate ambition. If we’re serious about climate, we have to get serious about transportation. And that means supporting the people and places doing the work on the ground.
Why Congestion Pricing Needs Political Infrastructure
The solutions are clear: fund public transit, price road use, reclaim street space for people. But clarity doesn’t equal ease. These tools, especially congestion pricing, are politically hard. They challenge deeply held assumptions about fairness and control.
With New York City’s congestion pricing launch, the U.S. crossed a long-standing political threshold. It didn’t just prove the policy can work, it showed that public officials can act boldly when they have the right support behind them.
To build on that momentum, Cityfi is incubating a new civic initiative: a partnership-driven effort to help cities overcome the political barriers to action, starting with congestion pricing.
It doesn’t offer another report. It offers embedded partnership.
That means co-designing strategies tailored to each city’s political realities. It means building capacity, from coalition-building to community engagement. And it means equipping leaders with the narrative framing and political support they need to weather the inevitable pushback.
City leaders don’t need more policy ideas. They need civic allies, partners who understand both climate urgency and the mechanics of local power, and who can help bold ideas stick.
What’s Possible and How to Join Us
The results won’t just show up in emissions charts. They’ll be felt in daily life: cleaner air, less traffic, better transit, and fairer streets. Most of all, cities with the power and support to lead on climate.
This isn’t just about policy. It’s about unlocking leadership, and building the civic muscle to make change stick.
If you’re a funder, nonprofit, or city leader ready to act, we want to talk. Let’s stop waiting. Let’s build the civic infrastructure our future demands.
Partnerships Powering Community Prosperity and Innovation in South Park
Image Source: Nelson\Nygaard
By Monique Ho
In Seattle’s South Park neighborhood, transformative change is taking root through an extraordinary partnership built on years of trust and collaboration. The Reconnect South Park initiative is not just a transportation infrastructure or environmental justice project - it’s the result of a deep, sustained relationship between the Reconnect South Park Coalition (Coalition), local residents, and City agencies including the Office of Planning & Community Development (OPCD) and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT).
South Park residents have long organized to repair the harms caused by decades of environmental injustice, underinvestment, and isolation caused by State Route 99, which physically divides the community and exposes it to harmful pollutants and traffic safety hazards. In response, the Coalition, composed of residents, grassroots leaders, and local organizations, called on the City to co-develop a new future for their community.
What followed was a collaborative process that grew over time. Seattle city staff showed up consistently, not just to present plans, but to listen, learn, and build trust. Together, with the Coalition, they co-hosted community workshops, walk audits, and visioning sessions that prioritized residents’ lived experiences and values. Rather than impose a solution, the city committed to supporting a community-led vision for a safer, healthier, more sustainable, and more connected South Park.
That commitment has led to the development of potential future scenarios that integrate transportation safety, green space, public health, housing stability, support for local businesses, and environmental justice, rooted in what the community says it needs most. This trust-based collaboration laid the foundation for a planning process rooted in equity.
Cityfi played a key role in supporting that foundation, leading the project’s economic opportunity and affordability assessment. By pairing community-driven future scenarios with policy and housing analysis, Cityfi is helping to ensure the project not only imagines a safer, greener corridor, but also protects long-time residents from the risks of displacement and aligns public investments with community priorities.
As the project moves towards developing a comprehensive Community Vision, Reconnect South Park stands as a model for how long-term, trust-based partnerships can drive bold, equitable climate action where community leadership is not the exception, but the foundation.
The Cityfi Cluster #3
By Ryan Parzick
Ever play the New York Times Connections game? Here is our own Cityfi version for you to play! If you haven’t played before, that’s OK. The rules are simple - but hopefully, solving the game is not! The challenge: group the 16 words into 4 groups of 4. Each group has a unifying theme. You get one shot, so make it count. If you think you have the correct solution, please email us with your 4 groups (you must provide the unifying theme) and the 4 words contained in each theme. An example of a unifying theme could be “Types of Animals” containing the words: “dog,” “cat,” “rabbit,” “deer.” We’ll keep score throughout the year to crown the 2025 Cityfi Cluster Champion. Let’s GO!
We’ll keep score throughout the year to crown the 2025 Cityfi Cluster Champion. The answer will be posted in our next newsletter. If you want your score to count, please submit your answer before July 11th.
Last month’s solutions are:
Words Associated with Data: API, Query, Dashboard, CSV
Words Associated with Summer in the City: SPF, AC, Construction, Shade
Words Associated with Micromobility: Rider, Helmet, Pedal, Dock
Words Associated with Transit: Platform, ETA, Transfer, Schedule
Where in the World is Cityfi?
Check out where Cityfi will be in the upcoming weeks. We may be speaking at conferences, leading workshops, hosting events, and/or actively engaging in collaborative learning within the community. We would love to see you.
Chicago City Builders Book Club - Chicago, IL – August 14
If you live in Chicago, check out the Cityfi sponsored Chicago City Builders Book Club. Principal Marla Westervelt co-hosts this monthly book club where they bring together professional city builders to discuss Chicago-centric books that explore local urban and political issues. Come join them for an evening of food, drinks, and discussions with other local wonks. The next meeting’s book is The Loop: The “L” Tracks That Shaped and Saved Chicago by Patrick T. Reardon. Reach out to Marla if you are interested in learning more or attending!
ITS World Congress - Atlanta, GA - August 24 - 28
Karina will be in Atlanta as a part of a couple of panels. Stay tuned for more information.
What We’re Reading
Curated by Ryan Parzick
Check out Marla Westervelt’s latest blog post titled Unlocking the LUV Revolution: Why Clear Definitions Are the Key to Mode Shift.
Articles handpicked by the Cityfi team we have found interesting:
Urban Behavior: Cities: How crowded life is changing us
Transit: Where Public Transit Systems Are Bouncing Back Around the World
Mobility: The household auto fleet is a money pit
CleanTech: It looks like a golf cart, maxes out at 25 mph and could be your next city car
Job Openings
We’re hiring! If you are interested in joining our team, here’s your chance. We will be collecting applications through the end of the month, so there is a little time left to apply. Please feel free to share with those who you think would be great Cityfiers.
All Things Cityfi
Your guide to our services, portfolio of client engagements, team, and…well, all things Cityfi.