Pete Daw is director of Global Urban Futures, advising public and private organizations on climate change and sustainability. He recently supported the London Waste and Recycling Board in developing the case for their five-year business plan focused on driving down consumption-based emissions and making the London circular economy. He is now on assignment with the Greater London Authority, heading the climate change mitigation and adaptation teams.
At Siemens he was director of Urban Development and Environment at the Global Centre for Cities, where he worked with cities globally to help them understand the role technology can play in tackling their challenges. He worked extensively on Siemens’ smart city approach in China, India, Italy, and Saudi Arabia. He also headed the Siemens partnership with C40 Cities, where he produced thoughtful leadership pieces on topics ranging from connected and autonomous vehicles to climate financing. He developed Johannesburg’s first-ever greenhouse gas inventory as part of Siemens’ work with C40 Cities.
Previously Pete worked in London government for 12 years. He was Policy & Programmes Manager for Climate Change Mitigation & Energy for the Greater London Authority between 2008 and 2013, where he led the development of the city’s Climate Change Mitigation & Energy Strategy and its Air Quality Strategy. Prior to that he was Waste Policy manager at the London Development Agency, where he designed the concept and secured £24 million of funding for a waste infrastructure fund.
Julia Thayne DeMordaunt
The Agile City (Part I) – The chapter first takes a look back and then defines a path forward for how cities, people, and technology come together to deliver transportation systems that offer what people need when they need it.
An expert at the leading edge of systemic change for transportation and infrastructure policy, Julia Thayne DeMordaunt helps governments, private companies, and NGOs translate ambitious visions into actionable plans that benefit the communities they impact. Julia is Principal of Urban Transformation at the Rocky Mountain Institute. Prior to this Julia developed mobility innovation programmes for the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, she worked as director of Urban Development at Siemens, consulting on initiatives for 35 cities across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. She is also founder and board member of the public–private innovation hub Urban Movement Labs, and an educator at USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. Her work has been featured in publications including Fast Company, The Washington Post, CityLab, Vox, Bloomberg, Governing Magazine Quartz, Tech Crunch, and Curbed.
Jonathan Laski
The Agile City (Part II) – What is a city without the ability of citizens to move around safely, inexpensively, accessibly, and without fear of sickness from pollution?
Jonathan Laski is a sustainability professional and lawyer based in Toronto, Canada. His professional career began in the corporate/commercial practice group of a large independent law firm in Toronto, following which Jonathan transitioned to a career in sustainability. He has directed innovative city-level research and impact programmes through roles with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, World Green Building Council, and Waterfront Toronto. Highlights include managing the first of C40’s peer-to-peer city networks on private sector building energy efficiency in 2012–2013 and launching WorldGBC’s Advancing Net-Zero global initiative.
Following postings and education abroad, including time in London, Sydney, and Lund (Sweden), Jonathan is now firmly based in Toronto with his partner and two young daughters. At the time of writing, Jonathan is director of Sustainable Finance Solutions with Sustainalytics, one of the world’s leading providers of ESG research and ratings. In this role he leads the delivery of “second-party opinions” for corporate and bank clients in the EMEA and Americas regions, looking to issue green, social, and sustainable debt to finance ESG projects which are aligned with the Paris Agreement and science-based targets initiative.
Olivia Nielsen
The Habitable City (Part I) – The chapter explores how cities can address one of their biggest challenges: housing a growing urban population in an affordable, sustainable, and climate-resilient way.
Olivia Nielsen is an Associate Principal at Miyamoto International, a global structural engineering and disaster-risk reduction firm, where she focuses on making housing affordable, sustainable, and resilient for all. From post-disaster Haiti to Papua New Guinea, she has developed and worked on critical housing programmes in over 35 countries for the World Bank, USAID, and Habitat for Humanity, among others. She has over a decade of experience in housing policy, finance, housing public–private partnerships, post-disaster reconstruction, and green construction. Prior to joining Miyamoto, Olivia was a principal at the Affordable Housing Institute, where she developed housing policy and finance solutions in Haiti, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the South Pacific for the World Bank and USAID. Olivia also managed CEMEX’s housing and infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, where she focused on leading the cement company’s reconstruction efforts after the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Olivia is originally from Paris, France, has a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from McGill University, a Master’s in Sustainable Management from the United Nations Mandated University, and an Executive Master’s in Management from the London School of Economics. Through her work, she seeks to ensure that all families around the world have access to affordable, sustainable, and resilient homes.
Nicky Gavron and Alex Denvir
The Habitable City (Part II) – We must design and build our future housing in a way that promotes density over sprawl and locks away carbon with greener, cleaner, and more circular methods.
The former Deputy Mayor of London, Nicky Gavron AM, has served on the assembly’s Housing, Environment, and Planning committees since 2008. She is a member of the London Sustainable Development Commission. An elected politician since 1986, Nicky has been at the forefront of developing integrated land-use, housing, transport, and environmental policy at every level of government. Throughout the 1990s she led the Labour group on the London Planning Advisory Committee (LPAC), becoming the chair in 1994. In this role she commissioned research and formulated strategies to create a more sustainable London, including on congestion charging and affordable housing. In the late 1990s she held positions on national committees and commissions. In 2000, she became London’s first statutory Deputy Mayor, working closely with Mayor Livingstone to set up the Greater London Authority’s working processes and policy frameworks. She led on the first London Plan, which set out the vision and long-term policies to make London an exemplary sustainable world city.
Leading London’s response to climate change, Nicky introduced policies and programmes to reduce CO2 emissions across energy, water, waste, transport, and sustainable design and construction. Her initiatives include establishing the London Climate Change Agency and C40 Cities. She firmly believes that cities working collaboratively are pivotal in the battle against climate change. Nicky is internationally recognized for her work on urban planning and the environment and has and continues to advise cities and city networks. Her advisory roles have included Chief Project Advisor to the London School of Economics (LSE) Stern Cities Programme on the economics of green cities, a member of the Rotterdam International Advisory Board, and honorary adviser to the Joint US China Collaboration on Clean Energy (JUCCCE). Nicky has many passions including furthering the nature/climate nexus and its relationship to accelerating carbon-free construction – the subject of her chapter.
Alex