Balancing Acts: Aligning Growth, Sustainability, and Inclusion
1,982 words in this newsletter - about 8 minutes and 20 seconds to read.
Guest Editor: Chrissy Anecito
In an increasingly polarized landscape, leaders are often told they must choose between opposing forces: financial growth or sustainable policy; civic innovation or equity; safety or accessibility.
At Cityfi, we reject the idea that these are binary choices. We believe the most durable solutions are those that solve for both. We saw this potential recently in the discourse around New York City’s congestion pricing, which is projected to simultaneously improve commuter times, reduce emissions, and generate revenue for transit improvements. It is proof that thoughtful policy can deliver economic wins and climate goals in the same breath.
As we approach the holidays, we are thinking about the people who make this difficult work possible. To our clients, partners, friends, and newsletter subscribers: Thank you. Thank you for refusing to accept "either/or" scenarios. We are grateful to work alongside leaders who are brave enough to tackle complex contradictions.
In this month’s newsletter, we reflect on what we’re grateful for, and highlight three partnerships that are delivering on these dual goals:
C40 Cities: Daylighting financial mechanisms in the Global South to prove that clean air measures can be both ecologically vital and financially viable.
Salt Lake City Public Libraries: Creating programming that serves the community’s most vulnerable members while simultaneously expanding innovative services for the public at large.
SUMC (Shared-Use Mobility Center): Developing a regulatory framework for Local Use Vehicles (LUVs) that balances rigorous safety standards with broad accessibility.
What We’re Thankful For
By Team Cityfi
Chrissy Anecito: Heading into 2026, I am grateful for my new baby girl and the fantastic community of family and friends she has to support her as she learns what it is to be a human. And I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with Cityfi colleagues on projects that will make the world better for her.
Story Bellows: Being entrusted to develop and deliver impactful work is a massive privilege - one that I don’t take lightly. I am incredibly grateful to work with such a thoughtful, curious, passionate, and spicy group of humans who inspire me daily. I’m thankful for good public schools and good libraries and good journalism and good public transit and good sidewalks. I’m grateful for my community and my work outside of work. And, most importantly, I am beyond thankful for my friends and my amazing, supportive family.
(serious gratitude that my daughter has learned to bike and is learning to read!)
Camron Bridgford: 2025 has been a year of being grateful for small but grounding things. A sunny walk on a fall day; finishing a home office that finally feels like my space; good conversations with close friends and colleagues; seeing my neighborhood squirrel every day eagerly gathering acorns outside my window for the winter (this last one is both true that it's happening, and true that it is one of my favorite things). It's all a reminder that the more gratitude we can find in the everyday, the more we find ourselves able to show up authentically, boldly, and unapologetically - for our clients, our communities, and for the outcomes we want to see for our cities.
Erin Clark: I’m grateful to do work that feels meaningful, alongside clients who are smart, passionate, and truly a joy to collaborate with. More this year than ever, I’m grateful for my family – welcoming a healthy baby boy, watching our daughter blossom as a big sister, and feeling the immense support and love from our extended family as we settle in as a family of four!
Evan Costagliola: I have worked with and met some amazing people in 2025. I am so thankful for this community of partners both in Europe and abroad in North America. I’m also thankful for my family’s love for car-free life here in Utrecht. They’ve experienced what it can be like to untether from the car, and the richness it brings.
Chelsea Lawson: Welcoming a second baby boy who is healthy and happy. Getting together with colleagues in person. Exploring a new city (Brookline, MA)!
Ryan Parzick: I am thankful that I have a wonderful family who are healthy and thriving in life! I have the fortune of being able to work with colleagues who are not only amazing people, but also intelligent, caring, and passionate about making positive changes in the world. Lastly, it is often easy to overlook, but this year I made a strong effort to be grateful for the small moments of joy throughout the day which keep everything in balance.
Karla Peralta: I’m thankful for my family, who keeps me grounded in what truly matters. I’m grateful to live in a city where I can walk and rely on public transportation to stay connected. I’m thankful for friends, old and new, who continue to teach me what real friendship means. And I’m deeply thankful for the ongoing learning, growth, and inspiration I get from my colleagues, as well as from the clients who trust us, challenge us, and make our work meaningful.
Karina Ricks: This year I am particularly grateful for kindness, creative action and small acts of bravery. This has been an unsettling year. The lives of former colleagues have been upended. Programs that offered hope and opportunity to many are no more. Families have been wrested apart and communities tested. It is easy to be blind in darkness, but I am infinitely grateful for ordinary people and neighbors who have shown real spirit, coming together, finding our collective voice and providing sparks of light that make this season feel brighter despite the shorter days.
Carolina de Urquijo: This year, I’m thankful for the warmth, joy, and support of my family, friends, and coworkers. I’m also grateful for the inspiring projects and partners we’ve had the chance to work with. And above all, I cherish the moments spent traveling with my family, creating memories that will stay with me always.
Marla Westervelt: This year I am grateful for movement in all its forms. Going through a hard season has made me appreciate the people who have supported me with steadiness and care. I am reminded that progress, whether personal or structural, is something we build together. I see that same spirit in the mobility and policy leaders we work with every day. They are working to make daily trips safer, simpler, and more human, and they take on complex systems because they believe communities can move toward something better. Being part of that work feels especially meaningful right now, and I am thankful for the people who keep choosing progress.
Financing Clean Air Zone Measures in Global South Cities
The path to cleaner air is often blocked by a harsh financial reality. While cities across the Global South are ready to implement low-emission zones and freight management solutions, the gap between climate policy and financial feasibility remains wide.
Cityfi is partnering with C40 to close this gap, and resolve the tension between fiscal constraints and urgent climate goals by designing funding pathways that are as practical as they are ambitious.
Through a mix of case study analysis, readiness assessments, and collaborative strategy work, we will support participating cities in identifying viable financing pathways, and building the institutional grounding needed to advance their projects.
Ultimately, the goal is simple: accelerate the implementation of clean air solutions that improve public health, advance climate goals, and demonstrate that a cleaner city is also a more financially resilient one.
Cityfi brings global experience in sustainable mobility, strategic planning, and climate-aligned transport programs, alongside regionally grounded experience from our affiliates Oscar Edmundo Díaz and David Leipziger.
If you’d like to learn more about this project, reach out to me or Evan Costagliola.
Designing Public Spaces That Serve Everyone
As Cityfi kicks off new work in the library world - including a strategic planning process in Salt Lake City - we’re seeing a familiar challenge play out across the country: how do truly public spaces serve residents with the greatest needs without losing their ability to serve everyone?
Libraries sit at the center of this question. They are one of the last places where anyone can walk in, no purchase required. Because of this, they are balancing a widening range of expectations: supporting patrons experiencing homelessness, welcoming new arrivals who speak dozens of languages, offering safe spaces for teens, and still delivering the broad access and enrichment that the larger community depends on. They are also navigating something we are all feeling right now: how to create environments where people with very different political beliefs can coexist, learn, and engage in respectful dialogue.
It is a dynamic we recognize from our work in transportation as well. Not because most transit is free, but because both systems aspire to be fundamental community infrastructure that connects people to opportunity, belonging, and possibility. The real question is not who these institutions serve. It is how to design public environments that lift all boats, especially when openness is the point.
At Cityfi, we are energized by this moment. Public libraries, transit agencies, and civic institutions everywhere are rewriting what it means to be welcoming, safe, and responsive in a changing world. We are grateful to be in that work alongside them and are excited to share more as it unfolds.
Balancing Priorities in Tension: How LUVs Help Cities Close the Gaps
By Marla Westervelt and Karina Ricks
City leaders routinely face challenges whose solutions compete rather than align. They need safer streets, more affordable transportation, and lower emissions. They want to expand access to jobs, schools, childcare, and essential services. Each goal is urgent, yet they often depend on the same limited resources and political bandwidth.
Transportation often sits at the center of these tensions. A thriving city requires that people can reach the places they need to go when they need to get there. Public transit is essential to this. It carries people at scale and anchors an equitable network. But in many cities and for many residents, transit can’t meet every need.
LUVs Can Be Part of the Solution
Personal vehicles fill real gaps, but full-size cars are often more than people need for short, local trips. They are expensive to maintain. They increase safety risks on neighborhood streets. They are also a major source of emissions. Local Use Vehicles, or LUVs, offer a practical alternative.
Most daily trips are only a few miles, and LUVs better match the vehicle to the trip. Their lower speeds and lighter weight reduce crash severity and ease congestion. They also cost far less to buy and maintain, giving families flexibility.
Further, LUVs use less energy than full-size vehicles, and electric models reduce emissions even further. Their small footprint opens space for sidewalks, bike routes, and transit improvements.
Overcoming Tensions
LUVs help leaders put forward a real solution to augment transit networks without breaking the budget. While these vehicles can be a huge boon for communities, work still needs to be done to help drive and enable adoption.
Currently, LUVs are subject to a patchwork of rules that change state by state and city by city. This makes it challenging for manufacturers to deliver on safety requirements, and for operators and personal users to understand the rules of the road. That uncertainty slows adoption.
To overcome those barriers, we teamed up with the Shared Use Mobility Center to launch a national working group aimed to align regulatory frameworks. Our working group is developing model code, operating guidance, and practical tools that jurisdictions can adopt with confidence. The goal is a consistent framework that supports responsible, scalable use of LUVs. This work helps leaders move beyond short-term pilots and act with clarity. While LUVs will not solve every mobility challenge, they can help cities make progress on safety, affordability, and sustainability at the same time.
The Cityfi Cluster #8
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. The answer will be posted in our next newsletter. If you want your score to count, please submit your answer before December 19th.
Last month’s solutions are:
Things associated with Halloween: Costume, Parade, Pumpkin, Trick
Words associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI): Algorithm, Bias, Training, Model
Monsters: Vampire, Werewolf, Zombie, Mummy
How to Build Trust: Integrity, Transparency, Reliability, Honesty
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.
POLIS25 Annual Conference - Utrecht, NL - November 26th - 27th
Join Senior Principal Evan Costagliola in his home-base of Utrecht at POLIS25, a leading European sustainable urban mobility event. The POLIS Conference is an opportunity for cities and regions to showcase their transport achievements to a large audience of mobility experts, practitioners, and decision-makers from both the public and private sectors. Contact Evan to let him know you will be there!
Chicago City Builders Book Club (Happy Hour) - Chicago, IL - December 3rd
If you live in Chicago, check out the Cityfi sponsored Chicago City Builders Book Club! For December, they are holding a Happy Hour event to go with their book of the month - The House on Mango Street. Principal Marla Westervelt normally co-hosts this book club, bringing together professional city builders to discuss Chicago-centric books that explore local urban and political issues. Check out their LinkedIn page for updates.
What We’re Reading
Articles handpicked by the Cityfi team we have found interesting:
Mobility: In a DC neighborhood divided by highways, a pilot program provided connection (Cityfi is proud to have been a part of this project!)
Transportation Planning: The deadliest roads in America
Transit: Iowa City Made Its Buses Free. Traffic Cleared, and So Did the Air.
Reimagined Streets: Which are the most bicycle-friendly cities?
All Things Cityfi
Your guide to our services, portfolio of client engagements, team, and…well, all things Cityfi.