Consulting & Teaching

Strategy Applied in the world of cities

The California Endowment: Building healthy communities

Assist California’s largest foundation to develop the new practices needed to implement its new 10-year “place-based” strategy in fourteen low-income California communities. The plan makes 10-year commitments to these communities “to improve health systems and the physical, social, economic and service structures that support healthy living and healthy behaviors.” www.calendow.org

WWF-UK: Conceiving the ecological “Citysystem”

Author a paper on the transformations needed, at various scales, to make global urban society truly sustainable, and identify new program opportunities for WWF in the urban sustainability field. http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/changing_the_way_we_live/

BP and Johannesburg: Cleaner, safer fuels for low-income townships

Managed a three-month innovation process with a new bp South Africa ECM (emerging consumer markets) team that resulted in the launch of a new business in month six offering a cleaner, affordable paraffin (kerosene) fuel in a returnable safety bottle distributed through an innovative township warehousing and spaza shop retailing model (with Avik Roy, Craig Cohon, C.K. Prahalad). http://www.bioenergylists.org/bparivi

Centre for Social Innovation, Toronto: Scaling a community of urban change agents

Specification and review of CSI’s established office solution business model and financial model to develop a strategy to scale the model (with Michael Miloff). Resulted in significant expansion and innovations in the model. http://www.socialinnovation.ca

East London, UK: A new “Water City” urbanism

Advisory and entrepreneurial support to Leaside Regeneration, a successful East London urban regeneration organization. Contribute to development project design, branding, and finance recruitment (with Craig Cohon, James Waite, Claire Sellers). http://www.leasideregeneration.com/detail.php?ItemID=338

Metro Vancouver: Updating strategy for the Livable Region

Advisory support to CEO and Planning Department of Greater Vancouver Regional District, developing local partnership and economic development strategy frameworks for renewed implementation of long-established regional ‘livability’ development objectives, expanding these objectives to embrace ‘sustainability’ concepts and challenges in the context of a new ‘Sustainable Region Initiative’. Included authoring of a local economic development report on sustainability-oriented industries in the region. http://www.metrovancouver.org/about/sri/Pages/default.aspx

Asia-Pacific Urban Institute/City and County of Honolulu: An innovation process for Asian urban leaders

Designed and coordinated an experiential leadership development program involving more than 100 Asia-Pacific governors, mayors, and city executives (with Karl Hausker). Developed and tested the pedagogical approach, curriculum, program cycle and delivery mechanisms, local business promotion, and governance arrangements for the resulting “Mayors’ Commitments Program.” http://webapps01.un.org/dsd/partnerships/public/partnerships/101.html

Barcelona: City and Expo as conveners of global change

Retained as strategic advisor to the Barcelona City Council in the tripartite production of the 2004 World Forum of Cultures. Objective was to provide program concepts that would make the Forum more impactful and action-oriented than a traditional exposition. Developed a detailed proposal of initiatives and civil society negotiation processes for a “post-modern expo” to be staged through the Forum preparations and events.

Kitakyushu: Sustainability as niche economic strategy

Advised the longstanding mayor of Kitakyushu and the city Environment Department on the development of Kitakyushu’s strategy to make “sustainability” a linchpin of its East Asian and international economic development efforts. http://www.city.kitakyushu.jp/pcp_portal/PortalServlet;jsessionid=44A609C84509F9E5F4E6DFC4D6468EF4?DISPLAY_ID=DIRECT&NEXT_DISPLAY_ID=U000004&CONTENTS_ID=14935

ICLEI “Resilient Communities” Initiative: making disaster risk management part of the sustainability agenda

Designed and established international partnerships for a worldwide ‘Resilient Communities’ program, integrating risk management tools and ‘resilience’ as a design principle into urban infrastructure and services of participating cities. Resulting partnership launched at the 2002 UN World Summit on Sustainable Development. http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=805

Sustainable Santiago Project: Using sustainability solutions to create coherence in metropolitan planning and growth

Designed, secured resources, and guided a year-long program that introduced applied sustainability solutions (e.g., clean buses, environmental management systems, low-income housing design) to the metro region, thereby also creating a forum for inter-municipal exchange on sustainable urban development (with Sandra Makinson).

Cities for Climate Protection (CCP): First line of response to the climate challenge

Co-founded the first data- and results-driven international program to mobilize and support cities to inventory and build scenarios on their urban greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions and to establish official ghg mitigation plans, eventually engaging more than 800 cities and counties in 50+ countries (with Phil Jessup, Ralph Torrie, and Nancy Skinner). Conceived, secured US EPA and major foundation resources, and guided a two-year action research project with 12 municipalities to develop the CCP “ghg reduction planning” methodology. http://www.iclei.org

The UN Recognizes the Urban Revolution: Representing the City in international policymaking

Served as the lead technical representative for international associations of cities and local governments over the course of a decade of international diplomacy and policy development on sustainability issues, managing relations with UN departments, commissions, and summit secretariats; preparing policy and white papers; and advocating policy in international negotiation processes. Representational achievements include positions urban and local government issues in UN summit and other multilateral reports including Agenda 21 (1992), the UN General Assembly Special Session on Sustainable Development (1997), the Habitat Agenda (1996), the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (1993-2000), the FCCC Conference of the Parties (1996-2000).