CIV:LAB

Reflecting on an impactful 2024 Urban Tech Summit ????? This year’s Summit highlighted the urgency of our climate reality: Francisco Sanchez, Associate Administrator for the SBA Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience, noted in his dual keynote with Kristin Leahy Fontenot, that in 2024, billion-dollar climate disasters occurred every thirteen days on average. Even the most conservative projections suggest that within five years, this frequency could increase to every five to seven days. We must act now. Through powerful sessions, critical discussions, workshops, and lightning pitches, our Summit connected local needs with cutting-edge solutions. Day 1 focused on identifying hazards and risks, while Day 2 looked at AI-driven solutions to mitigate them. Day 2’s Environmental Justice Networking Breakfast united voices from government, nonprofits, Community-Based Organizations, and the private sector to address gaps in scaling climate solutions for EJ communities. As a bridge builder between creators and communities who need solutions most, CIV:LAB is committed to building ecosystems where these varying perspectives can collaborate. Key insights emphasized the importance of access, community-centered solutions, and moving at the speed of trust to ensure a just transition. ??A heartfelt thank you to our co-organizers at Cornell Tech and Emergence Creative for helping make this year’s Summit a success. Have ideas for next year’s Summit? Share them below! #UTS2024 #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateAdaptation #IntelligenceforClimateAdaptation #CommunitySolutions

2024 Urban Tech Summit — Belated (and Lengthy) Reflections: Last week, I once again had the pleasure of participating in the third iteration of the Urban Tech Summit that CIV:LAB Cornell Tech and Emergence Creative create and curate — a MASSIVE congratulations to the team ?? After a packed 2 days of panels, talks and workshops centered around the role of technology and AI in climate adaptation, here are some things I’m thinking about: ?? Technology is only as good as the people who are using it:? As I reflected in my Day 2 opening remarks with Jerry Hultin, the successful deployment of climate adaptation technologies hinges on working with and for its intended end users and communities. Are we creating the necessary pathways to enable the equitable education on, and utilization of climate tech and data? ?? Intersectional spaces are essential to coordinated climate action:?This was said many times in many ways — breaking down sectoral silos is CRITICAL to scaling climate solutions. Centering vulnerable and marginalised people and communities in this process is a must. How do we actually do this? We saw the power of simply encouraging conversation between unusual suspects within the climate landscape at CIV:LAB's Environmental Justice Networking Breakfast on Wednesday. Individuals representing the a breadth of climate perspective and action in NYC?— CBOs, government, startup, private sector, VC, nonprofit, academia — convened for a semi-structured conversation on how to scale climate adaptation in EJ communities in NYC. Several would never usually find themselves in a room with each other! The reigning sentiment: collaboration between people seated at those very tables was key. ?? AI is here, and we have the opportunity to rethink the way we govern its usage: Whose perspective and experiences inform the base architecture of AI? What is its climate impact even as its usage in climate solutions skyrockets? Are we ensuring that no one is left behind as it enters into daily life? CIV:LAB got to explore these themes as part of a workshop with Unified Ground and Haviland Software to beta test components of a toolkit we are developing to support climate and EJ CBOs to utilize AI to streamline and advance their work. If you’re thinking about these things like we are, a DM slide is highly encouraged. We’d love to collaborate with you in 2025 and beyond. Now, to get to work! #climateadaptation #environmentaljustice #ej #nyc

That’s a wrap on the 2024 Urban Tech Summit!?? It was so wonderful to be a part of the CIV:LAB-Cornell Tech-Emergence Creative team to bring this event to life. Connecting leaders across industry, government, nonprofit, CBOs, and private sector to discuss climate hazards and risks and climate adaptation. ??Yesterday, I had the privilege of speaking with Jen Hensley on stage about grid resilience and the clean energy transition. ??The AI Empower workshop also allowed us at CIV:LAB and our collaborators at Unified Ground and Haviland Software to beta test the components of the toolkit we are developing to support climate and EJ CBOs to utilize AI to streamline and advance their work. ??CIV:LAB’s Environmental Justice Networking Breakfast provided space for meaningful conversation about the barriers and opportunities to implement climate adaptation tech in EJ communities. The climate crisis is here and the effects are inevitable; however, we have solutions we need to address them and to adapt. It’s important to bring together stakeholders across sectors and geographies to understand not only how to implement these solutions but more importantly to enable the deployment of community-centered climate solutions. I’m leaving the summit excited to explore collaborations with many of the incredible leaders I got to meet and to continue this important work! #climateadaptation #environmentaljustice

I'm gearing up and excited to emcee Day 1 of the 2024 Urban Tech Summit at Cornell Tech next week. Now our 4th year on Roosevelt Island, we are focusing on groundbreaking climate adaptation technologies for urban resilience. Day 1 dives into innovative applications of AI in climate adaptation, exploring how generative AI and digital twins are transforming flood prediction, urban climate modeling, and resilient infrastructure design. We’ll discuss real-world applications of these technologies, such as using AI to simulate extreme weather impacts and optimize urban planning for a changing climate. On Day 2, we’ll kick off with a CIV:LAB-hosted breakfast, bringing together leading climate funders, foundations, philanthropies, Community-Based Organizations, and other key stakeholders for powerful discussions on funding and advancing community-based climate adaptation. If you’re interested in collaborating in this breakfast, please reach out to me for sponsorship opportunities to be part of this impactful gathering. After the breakfast, we’ll turn our focus to how AI is reshaping critical urban systems, with panels covering advancements in building systems, energy grids, transit networks, and logistics systems. Experts will discuss AI-driven solutions for optimizing energy efficiency, enhancing building resilience, and making urban spaces more adaptive to climate challenges. This summit offers a unique opportunity for professionals across sectors to connect and collaborate on the future of sustainable, climate-resilient cities—don't miss out on this transformative conversation. Both regular and premier 2-day conferences passes are available at https://bit.ly/3TTUAI #UTS2024 #AI #SmartCities #UrbanInnovation #ResilientCities #FutureOfUrbanTech #climateadaptation

The countdown begins—the 2024 Urban Tech Summit is less than two weeks away! Don’t miss your chance to join us for insights into how AI technologies are transforming cities and building more resilient urban environments. Both regular and premier 2-day conferences passes are available at https://bit.ly/3TTUAIP Secure your spot today to hear from leaders at the forefront of urban innovation. #UTS2024 #AI #SmartCities #UrbanInnovation #ResilientCities #FutureOfUrbanTech

Last week, I moderated a panel discussion on urban innovation in NY and cities across the US at the German American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. conference on "Transatlantic Insights into Smart Cities & Sustainable Mobility." A big takeaway for me was the need for partnerships, collaboration, and meaningful community engagement to deploy technology in cities effectively. Shoutout to Jeannette Williams, Olivia M., and Matteo Del Sorbo for participating in the conversation and to Victoria Kaeser and the GACC team for organizing a successful event!

?? Last week, Helena Monteiro represented CIV:LAB at a Grow London Roundtable, where climate industry experts focused on gathering recommendations for green finance growth strategies. It was inspiring to see diverse ideas from different sectors, but we were proud to highlight CIV:LAB’s unique approach—emphasizing local action, grassroots organizations, and #climate education. ?? Our perspective added valuable insights to the conversation. We believe that place-based and community-driven solutions are vital to deriving meaningful climate progress. #ClimateFinance #LocalAction #ClimateEducation #CommunityImpact #GreenFinance #ClimateAction #GrassrootsInnovation #ClimateResilience #SustainableFuture

?? We’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to attend a Private Sector Consultation hosted by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this month. The event brought together experts from the #privatesector, #policymakers, #academics, and #communityleaders to discuss the intersection of technology transformations and urban development. We're proud to be part of this important dialogue shaping the future of cities! ?? #UrbanInnovation #UrbanDevelopment #TechTransformation #SmartCities #PolicyAndTech #FutureOfCities

?? ?? 2 Weeks Later, belated #ClimateWeekNYC reflections ?? ?? Climate Week NYC is usually a time of dualities for me: between optimism and cynicism, between the highest and lowest energy (networking and introverts do not mix well!), and between forward movement and status quo. This year, two themes that were top of mind for me and featured prominently in almost all conversations I participated in were Trust and Power. I had the opportunity to explore these from the perspective of developing and implementing CIV:LAB’s Climate Fund as a part of a session on “Fostering a collaborative ecosystem for Climate and Sustainability leaders” hosted by Deloitte. Collaboration is critical to furthering the scale and impact of climate action, and two questions I think are important to ask oneself no matter what position you occupy in an ecosystem are: - What is the nature of the power that I hold, and how might I distribute it to other parts of my ecosystem? - What is the degree of trust I have in my collaborators, and how does that impact the work being carried out? It was great to see so many amazing organizations thinking about the role of cross-sectoral collaboration in this way through the week (shout out Luminary Labs, Giving Green, HSBC). We saw a true spectrum of people and organizations come together in our own Climate Community Cocktails happy hour co-hosted with Cornell Tech, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP), Uptake Alliance at Civic Hall. (Yes I did, in fact, wear the same coat to everything, but it was an effective conversation starter!) Now that we’re two weeks out, how is everyone taking the insights and conversations forward into your work? Shout out to all friends, old and new, and collaborators: simon sylvester-chaudhuri Alex Bell Allison Lucas Jee-Ho Kang Adel Ramdani David Gilford Michael Samuelian Sander Dolder Mina Hoti Seema Shah Arif Ullah Damaris Reyes Kaila Wilson Jonathan Lane Henry Obispo Jad Daley Troy Armour Matt Scott Susan Goldsmith Lisa Newman-Wise Sara Holoubek Jess Song Anushree Sreedhar Jamil Ellis Karl Haviland

Excited to share a first look at the Urban Tech Summit program. Join us as we explore innovative tech solutions for resilient cities! #UTS2024 #UrbanTechSummit #ClimateAdaptation