SmartCitiesWorld Weekly Update - 17 March 2023

Just over a month away from the beginning of SmartCitiesWorld's Cities Climate Action Summit (18-20 April), we're looking at a handful of new stories from the last week that put the spotlight on the urban environment and sustainability, including some excellent examples of policy progress, climate financing, and technology deployment – the three key themes of April's Summit.

Beginning on policy, this week brought the latest update on New York City's policy to create safe, vibrant public spaces, with construction beginning on a new phase of the city's Broadway Vision plan. This phase of the plan will deliver two new plazas, shared streets, and a two-way bike lane on Broadway from West 25th Street to West 32nd Street. The subsequent phase will deliver permanent capital improvements along Broadway from West 21st Street to West 33rd Street. Altogether, these efforts form part of a $375m commitment to create new public spaces as part of the city's New New York plan.

Investment like this into greener spaces is critical to cities' efforts to achieve their environmental goals. Another example of new investment into a cleaner environment came from The Ikea Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) this week, as they committed to contributing $67m over the next four years to the Clean Air Fund – the world’s largest philanthropically funded organisation dedicated to tackling air pollution. The contribution forms part of the $250m in funds the Clean Air Fund aims to raise for air quality programming during the next four years. It says it will work to secure significant progress on reducing air pollution in at least eight countries and 55 cities.

Investment in technology will play a significant role in fighting back against environmental change, as some are already discovering. This week, Buffalo Sewer Authority (BSA) announced it has so far saved $145m by deploying a smart sewer digital system that has managed to reduce polluted water flowing into its rivers during storm events. The technology automatically redirects excess rainwater to underused parts of the city's sewer system to prevent overflows, which BSA says has allowed it to use its existing network to solve a longstanding problem without spending on new infrastructure.

If you're left wanting more from these snippets, the Cities Climate Action Summit – which has just announced its latest cohort of speakers – will cover the overarching themes in detail through a series of online and in-person panels, keynotes and presentations next month, so why not take a look at our agenda and find out how you can get involved.

Luke Antoniou, Senior editor, SmartCitiesWorld

Here is a summary of our most popular news stories and articles of the week!

1. Smart sewer tech saves Buffalo $145m and reduces pollution
2. Shared micromobility parking programme rolls out in Berlin
3. UK county council expands electric vehicle charging network
4. Growing US city populations lead to longer journey times
5. Micromobility operators issue recommendations for usage in cities
6. US organisations quickest to adopt the metaverse
7. Azores models smart energy blueprint for other islands
8. Smart poles and corridors to redefine urban infrastructure
9. Robotic ‘WasteShark’ launched in London
10. Speaker line-up announced for Cities Climate Action Summit
11. $67m funding boost for global Clean Air Fund
12. New York’s reimagined people-first Broadway plan progresses
13. Rugged solar pavement solution introduced in Middle East
14. Smart energy knowledge building project launched for Africa
15. Milton Keynes trials home electric charging product
16. Bloomberg and Cop28 join forces to bolster cities’ climate action
17. Utah Transit Authority launches digital fare payment system
18. Budapest Airport optimises operations with machine learning
19. Citizens help Amsterdam plot their electric future
20. The case for 15-minute cities