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Full New Cities Summit 2012 Session Summaries
The New Cities Summit 2012 took place in Paris. It mixed high-level conversations featuring some of the most recognized global urban thought leaders and decision makers -- mayors, CEOs and business leaders, academics, architects, technologists, media leaders and entrepreneurs -- with innovative demos and interactive thematic workshops.
Session Summaries THINKING AHEAD, BUILDING TOGETHER Organized by the NEW CITIES FOUNDATION Paris 14-15-16 May Table of contents Defining Urbanites: how we became a city species and why it matters......................................... 6 Governing the Metropolis: new forms of governance for 21st century cities................................... 8 The Annotated City: digital storytelling in the urban age............................................................. 10 Citywalla: a look at urban India............................................................................................ 12 Portrait of an Urban World : facts, figures and the future............................................................ 14 Global Cities Investment Monitor........................................................................................... 16 Urban Innovation: Festival of Ideas for the New City................................................................. 17 Interactive session: Navigating the Meta-City........................................................................... 18 Securing Investments for the Urban Century: how do we pay for the urban boom?.......................... 20 Ciudades Latinas: urban Latin America................................................................................... 22 Hard and Software Cities.................................................................................................... 24 Urban Innovation: Waze..................................................................................................... 26 Urban Innovation: EkoBus.................................................................................................... 27 The Just City...................................................................................................................... 28 Greener Districts................................................................................................................. 30 City Dwellers on the Move: the future of urban transportation and mobility.................................... 32 AppMyCity! Presentations.................................................................................................... 34 A Glimpse into Future Cities..................................................................................................36 A Closer Look at Urban China: towards the urban billion........................................................... 38 Modern Urban Utopias: a conversation with the builders of new cities.......................................... 42 Capitalising Creativity......................................................................................................... 44 Gala Dinner Keynote Speech................................................................................................46 Partnering for Better Cities.................................................................................................... 48 Urban Innovation: Ciudad Saludable..................................................................................... 50 Urban Innovation: Isla Urbana.............................................................................................. 51 HydroCity: urban water....................................................................................................... 52 Greater Paris: reinventing the City of Light............................................................................... 54 City Shops: the future of urban retail in the digital age............................................................... 56 Call to Action: Thinking Ahead, Building Together.................................................................... 58 THINKING AHEAD, BUILDING TOGETHER For the first time in our history, we are a world of cities - and this is just the beginning. By 2050, the global urban population will reach 7 billion people, double the number living in cities today. We are only just starting to grasp the significance of this phenomenon. What is certain is that the scale and pace of global urbanization is unprecedented and its impact will be felt in all spheres of human life. This urban world comes with complex new environmental, economic and social challenges. It also represents a unique opportunity to build more sustainable, vibrant, innovative, and equitable communities, particularly in rapidlyurbanizing regions of the world. The inaugural New Cities Summit, organized by the NEW CITIES FOUNDATION, took place in Paris from 14-16 May 2012. The Summit aims to place the city at the heart of the global discussion. This event is new in both content and form. It mixes high-level conversations featuring some of the most recognized global urban thought leaders and decision makers -- mayors, CEOs and business leaders, academics, architects, technologists, media leaders and entrepreneurs -- with innovative demos and interactive thematic workshops. Workshop topics at this inaugural edition included: mobility, the creative and connected city, the just city, water, greener buildings, infrastructure finance, and regional sessions. China, India and Latin America as well as the Greater Paris region are particular focus areas. The Summit also highlighted the modern urban utopias and experimental cities that are a rich urban laboratory for future cities. The theme of the 2012 Summit was Thinking Ahead, Building Together, reflecting the Foundation's belief that understanding and contributing to our common urban future will require audacity, analysis and, above all, partnership. The Foundation, working closely with a rich and diverse ecosystem of members and partners, hopes that all participants at the Summit and those watching the sessions and reading the content online, are inspired and equipped to make positive change. Our best chance to build a better world is to build better cities together. Click here to watch the highlights of the New Cities Summit 2012: http:// bit.ly/ Ki7Agn Speakers Wim Elfrink Executive Vice President, Cisco Ajit Gulabchand Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Construction Group Gregor Robertson Mayor of Vancouver Defining Urbanites: how we became a city species and why it matters Opening Plenary Session, Monday 14 May, 09:50 - 11:00 Geoffrey West Distinguished Professor and Past President, Santa Fe Institute Moderator Overview � Edwin Heathcote Architecture and Design critic, Financial Times We have to deal with the swift urbanization of new cities, and retro-fit old cities � Cities are, and always have been, about the clustering of people � Digital solutions and technological innovations are undoubtedly speeding up our human interactions in cities and should be embraced in ways that contribute to inclusive growth Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session Setting the tone for the next three days of the Summit, the panelists engaged the crowd in their conversation about the future of our urban worlds from a variety of international perspectives. 6 Geoffrey West introduced the stakes of urbanization with a discussion about the science of cities. Determining the science of cities is about applying much of what we know about the natural world to the organism of the city. The surprising science behind the superlinear behavior of cities or, "the bigger, the more per capita," revealed the need to innovate faster and faster to accommodate the sustainable growth of the world's cities. Mayor Robertson discussed various aspects of Vancouver's citizens and their networks. Urban dwellers increasingly demand more from cities than mere services - they demand "moments of inspiration." The Mayor highlighted how Vancouver foresees their sustainable development framework as a win-win-win scenario for community, environment, and the city's economy, and later alluded to the role of technology in steering us down a more sustainable path. Ajit Gulabchand contributed a critical perspective from the developing world, urging that the problems encountered by cities in India, for example, be included in the dialogue about how to build our cities. The relatively recent development of Mumbai and other Indian cities over the last two hundred years leaves Indian developers few models for governing and managing cities. Public-private partnerships were cited as the "the only way we can actually evolve." Quoting Marx, Gulabchand explained that Lavasa functions as one attempt "to relieve Indian dwellers of their awkwardness and boredom." Wim Elfrink reflected on the unprecedented rate of change in relation to urbanization and technology. Technological innovations and integrated virtual solutions, he asserts, is becoming a new norm that should be embraced. Examples of the Korean aerotropolis paradigm and Rio's integrated operation center reiterated the fact that the future of work and clustering in cities will be, and is irrefutably becoming, digital. This change will take place quickly, as virtualization is fast and cities must constantly reinvent themselves. Because of this, cities must embrace ICT as an asset and see it as a sustainable differentiator. 7 Speakers Stephen Goldsmith Professor, Harvard Kennedy School; Former Mayor of Indianapolis Patrick Le Gal�s Professor, SciencesPo Paris Anil Menon President, Globalisation and Smart+Connected Communities, Cisco Systems Governing the Metropolis: new forms of governance for 21st century cities Monday 14 May, 11:45 - 01:00 Anthony Williams Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School; Former Mayor of Washington, DC Moderator Overview � To overcome the traditional ways of governing, encouraging participation of all the different stakeholders involved in the urban world � To moderate the idea of transferring best practices and replicable ideas � To bring to attention the role of mayors and elected authorities to create and regulate the public realm where decision-making processes take place. Patrick Le Gal�s introduced the discussion on traditional ideas that need to be moderated, concerning how the large metropolis can be governed. First, people are mobile and cities are 8 Mathieu Lefevre Executive Director, New Cities Foundation Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session changing rapidly, yet some urban structures are stable and evolve very slowly throughout time. Governing is complex and having strong institutions can help. However, the capacity to govern is about implementing the decisions made by institutions through the decision-making process. Who is implementing, for whom, and under which conditions are three crucial questions analysts need to take into account for understanding how the city is re-inventing itself. Le Gal�s brought attention to the dangers of replicable best practices and the need of developing collective action at the local level for better policy implementation and more transparency. Generalizing practices might be very debatable because territories have their own specificities. Tony Williams highlighted the role of elected officials in developing and regulating interactions in the public realm, in creating trust, long-term perspectives and real-time solutions. `As a mayor, you have to come up with real solutions in deconstructing the reality and trying to disrupt classical ways of governing.' Moreover, Williams insisted on the idea that creating a virtuous circle necessitates better management information, allowing the variety of stakeholders to have a better understanding of how a city is governed. The nature of governance is changing. Anil Menon believes that urban stakeholders are currently revitalizing the city without always changing the layers. Political conflicts linked to a wide variety of actors and approaches bring to the fore the role of mayors and elected officials as referees in the public realm. He concluded on the 9 idea that it might be interesting and enriching for our cities to re-invent PPP processes because it does not always create the context for the right innovation. He also stressed the fact that it's becoming a main challenge for cities to keep their own identity. His last point brought to light the role of technology that can empower people and give the capacities to disrupt old ways of making cities. Stephen Goldsmith pointed out the necessity to introduce incremental and more brutal changes in order to overcome traditional ways of governing and to avoid corruption and indiscretion. To do so, the ability to listen and communicate with the civil society is essential to anticipate issues and to find innovative solutions. Moreover, he emphasized the need to incorporate a wide variety of stakeholders in the understanding of governance. Speakers Charlie Hale Public Policy and Government Affairs Lead, Maps and Research, Google Jean-Louis Missika Deputy Mayor of Paris for Innovation Alessandra Orofino Co-Founder, Meu Rio The Annotated City: digital storytelling in the urban age Monday 14 May, 11:45 - 01:00 Moderator Overview The annotated city allows us to communicate in different ways. Now that we have technology in our hands, we create stories about a city through the simple touch of a mobile device. However, this raises questions about what kind of information is going to be in our cities and who will make money off of this information. All panelists were in agreement that no one can predict the new annotations, so Charlie Hale proposed that open data can prove to be an answer. Open data improves civic governance, provides usefulness to consumers, and drives economic growth. The power of openness is very important, and Google recognizes that there is rich knowledge in the crowd of citizens. Therefore, opening yourself as a company, or a government, to this kind of openness 10 Steve Baker Author of The Numerati Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session will result in a multitude of innovations that cannot be predicted. The crowd is now making our annotations, and there is an economic reason to use this information, as well as civic hope. Jean-Louis Missika explained that if cities have been annotated for centuries, for example, through street signs or graffiti, the main difference is that today there is a mash-up of information rather than a divide between information produced by the people and by government. Because of this, open data and technology obliges city governments to interact with citizens, who are making tags online. However, a difficulty arises when you co-innovate a city, as everyone in the city adopts the position of "decision-maker", rather than a select few. Cities are now obliged to keep the old, but make room for the new. However, making room for the new is not always welcome. For Missika, leading the open data policy of Paris is not easy because some leaders do not want to give away data freely, especially financial data. Because of this, Paris has started giving away geographical information first. Alessandra Orofino represented a critical perspective of the people, or "the new power." Through Meu Rio, Orofino advocates for the voices of the people in Rio de Janeiro that are not being heard by encouraging their participation in the city. Part of the citizens' fight in having their voice heard is fought in the realm of information. In this aspect, crowd-sourcing has changed the balance of power. Now, big companies and city governments are relying on people for their input. 11 Their free labor, in a way, helps companies like Google, and city governments, like the City of Paris, build powerful platforms. Meu Rio strives to make people aware of the power they have, to help people tell their own stories, and encourages citizens to curate their own information rather than letting a few choose the data we use. The type of data also matters. While some data is given freely, other critical pieces of information are not being released to people with the same ease. Because of this, people should demand the information that matters to them. The discussion raised points to be thought of concerning the future of the annotated city. What are the implications of this phenomenon on privacy issues? What infrastructure is needed to provide people with the tools for the annotated city, such as free WiFi? Is access to information equal, or are social inequalities further deepening? Overall, the role of data, and how governments, big companies and citizens decide to handle its delicacy and transparency will affect the future of how urban dwellers live in their city. Speakers Bharati Chaturvedi Founder and Director, Chintan Manjeet Kripalani Executive Director, Gateway House Annat Jain Managing Partner, Acropolis Capital Group Citywalla: a look at urban India Monday 14 May, 11:45 - 01:00 V Ravichandar Co-Founder, City Connect Foundations in Bangalore, Chennai, and Pune Overview Urban governance is a key challenge facing India's cities today. In dealing with the current and future challenges of urbanization, deeper collaboration and partnership between the public sector, the private sector and all levels of civil society is acutely needed. Efforts must establish a framework of cooperation and a platform for sharing expertise and information across sectors. In order to respond more effectively to local needs, municipal governments should have greater autonomy and responsibility in shaping urban development policies, allowing for locally developed initiatives. The founding principles and models of successful projects, such as Chintan, must be identified and translated into other locally adapted programs, scaling the impact of new and innovative solutions to urban challenges. Moderator Pamela Puchalski Senior Consultant, Bennett Midland; Advisor, Global Cities Initiative, The Brookings Institution Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 12 Manjeet Kriplani focused on the importance of innovation, and especially "lowtech" innovation that is affordable, adaptable and appropriate, as a key driver of sustainable urban development. Talent and innovation are aggregated in India's cities, especially in socially diverse areas, where new products and processes contribute to a more efficient and livable urban environment. Based on his experience in developing partnerships between local industry and government institutions, V. Ravichandar highlighted the fact that local industry stakeholders have not been much engaged in productive "governance" conversations and the only way for key urban problems to be solved is through an effective platform for expertise sharing and exchange. Chennai City Connect has created a model which facilitates these types of interactions between the private sector and local government institutions. Coming from the perspective of private land developers, Annat Jain brought to light the ways in which development is hampered by a public sector which is highly over-regulated, badly administered and with lagging enforcement. He stressed the important role of private interests in the development of healthy urban centers, without which cities could hardly emerge. According to Bharati Chaturvedi, it is essential to meet the social and environmental challenges faced by urban India by incorporating the capabilities of the informal sector. Their needs 13 and contributions must be recognized and valued by the private and public sector in mitigating the environmental waste and degradation that so often accompanies rapid urban expansion. Speakers Ricky Burdett Director, LSE Cities and Urban Age Greg Clark UK Minister for Decentralisation and Cities Daniel Libeskind Architect, Studio Daniel Libeskind Portrait of an Urban World: facts, figures, and the future Plenary Session, Monday 14 May, 14:30 - 15:30 Hans Vestberg President and CEO, Ericsson Moderator Overview In a discussion led by Richard Quest, high profile speakers from diverse backgrounds commented on some of the central challenges faced by the urban world today. Panelists elicited what they saw as the most significant trends impacting urban development and what is needed in addressing these. Hans Vestberg described the increasingly networked society that has emerged from innovations in ICT and the widespread dispersion of these technologies. Not only has this had major impacts on social and economic structures globally but it may present solutions to pressing urban challenges, for example via digital healthcare and education. Richard Quest International Correspondent, CNN Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 14 From the public policy perspective, Greg Clark advocated for increasingly decentralized governance structures that leave more room for local leadership and autonomy at the metropolitan level. In discussing the challenges he has faced in bringing large architectural projects to completion, Daniel Libeskind focused on the need for collaboration between a wide range of actors. The greatest difficulty lies in creating consensus and bringing diverse stakeholders together around a vision. This will only happen when projects are deeply rooted in the historical and cultural roots of a city. Ricky Burdett refocused the conversation around the realities facing a major number of city dwellers today. With over 30% of the world's urban population living in slums without access to the most basic of services, the need for more socially inclusive political decision making processes is essential for sustainable urban governance systems. Following the opening statements of panelists, a discussion ensued focusing on key themes: � � people, they are not about buildings or abstract fa�ades. It is from the ground level that we have to think of the city � Libeskind Many success cases have been cities that go back to the human side of the city, rather than making space more anonymous � Clark Financing issues � New combinations of innovative financing tools are needed for funding urban projects. � We're at a tipping point with great opportunities, but actors are more risk averse. Decision making processes � Tension exists between different levels of government, as epitomized by a brief but intense discussion between the new Mayor of Liverpool and Mr. Clark. Connectivity and accessibility in transport infrastructure are of major concern. Socio-cultural dynamics � Successful development must incorporate real human needs at a human scale. � "Without the cultural aspect of development, cities fail." Cities are about 15 � Collaborative action is needed to empower people to participate in local initiatives. Global Cities Investment Monitor Monday 14 May, 15:30 - 15:45 Overview Based on the Global Cities Investment Monitor findings, a synopsis of international trends in urban investment demonstrates that "global cities" continue to be hubs of concentration for inward international investment, accounting for one in every five investments in 2011. In contrast to perceptions based on panel studies of the most important cities for investment, the top-ten cities were widely dispersed globally, including three Chinese cities in the top five investment hubs, and Sao Paulo and Moscow in the top ten. Investments are thus far from being polarized between the `West' and `China'. International competition for finance has never been as intense, and it is in the world's most globally connected cities that this competition takes place. The presentation concluded with a brief discussion of Paris as a strategic business center in Europe and its role in the world economy. There is a gap between common perceptions of Paris and the economic reality, being ranked first in Europe by GDP and third in the world in terms of Fortune 500 companies. Additionally, significant investments will be made in the Grand Paris project in the coming years. Finally, shifts in global investment patterns can be evidenced by the changes taking place in international investment in Paris. Investments from Asia now account for up to 25% of foreign investments in the city. Speaker Pierre Simon Chairman, Greater Paris Investment Agency Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 16 Urban Innovation Festival of Ideas for the New City Monday 14 May, 15:45 - 16:00 Speakers Lisa Phillips Founding Director, Festival of Ideas for the New City Overview The Festival of Ideas for the New City, held from May 4 to 8, 2011, is a collaborative action advocating cultural investment for better cities. The partnership aims to bring together eleven New York City Downtown cultural institutions with two hundred cultural, educational and community organizations. With the idea that cultural actors can be the most powerful agents of change, the groups bring together artists, architects, and urban planners. Three main components composed the Festival. A conference held by Rem Koolhaas took place the first day. Next, 115 vendors, who were local artists, designers and representatives from the Third Sector, animated the StreetFest, which presented exhibitions, performances and projects in more than one hundred cultural spaces. Seventy thousand people came to visit the Festival. The success of this event led to the organization of new versions of the Festival of Ideas to be held in Istanbul, in Sao Paulo, and in New York in May 2013. Karen Wong Co-director, Festival of Ideas for the New City Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 17 Speakers Gianluca Brugnoli Creative Director, frog Rob McIntosh Creative Director, frog Navigating the Meta-City Monday 14 May, 16:45 - 18:00 Overview Comprehensive data collection, construction, and sharing across sectors and disciplines are crucial to the realization of the meta city. This session explored the various layers of data that exist in the city before embarking on an interactive exercise in informationsharing and data production. The city, it is argued through the metacity paradigm, is decoupling people from the computing experience and becoming the computer itself. The introduction of a public data infrastructure is creating comprehensive data across disciplines while maintaining a strong connection to urban folklore. Meta-cities, in essence, will be become an extension of our senses. The premise of the exercise was that smart cities connect smart people. The data stored in the meta-city is full of opportunities, meanings, and connections, which were explored through four 18 Interactive session Video coming soon to the NEW CITIES FOUNDATION YouTube channel database stations. These docking stations and their accompanying moderators facilitated idea-sharing among various experts and stakeholders around the topics of smart buildings, smart transactions, smart mobility, and smart sociality. At the end of the simulation, screens displayed the ideas and information collected and moderators briefed all participants on the aggregated outputs. It turned out that the definition of the word "smart" given by participants had to do primarily with outputs. Smart cities mean cities that give you back something of value in proportion to the data you put in or provide. Smart sociality was discussed in terms of its capacity to bridge the digital divide whereas smart buildings were conceptualized as linking building with technology. This new model created a valuable new interface with the inputs of pertinent and diverse actors that might not otherwise have collaborated at this level. 19 Speakers Thomas H. Green Managing Director Head, Infrastructure Group, Citi Lady Barbara Judge Chairman of the UK Pension Protection Fund Li Dongming General Manager, China Development Bank Capital Urban Fund Securing Investments for the Urban Century: how do we pay for the urban boom? Monday 14 May, 16:45 - 18:00 Christian Sautter Deputy Mayor of Paris for Economic Development Moderator Ulysse Gosset Foreign Affairs Commentator, BFM TV Overview � National governments are not in the position to fund city infrastructure any longer, so cities must think of creative ways to finance their own projects. � The involvement of the private sector in a PPP may be a key option in the financing of new projects. � The Chinese context provides a different example due to its state-owned land tenure and its implications on spatial development. � Cities must work to carry out projects that attract foreign investment and capital, and enhance life for its citizens, such as greener districts. 20 Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session Lady Barbara Judge explained that because governments do not have the money to pay for their entire infrastructure projects, the Pension Fund provides a means through which the UK administration can do so. Through this means, there is less risk involved, investments are assetbacked, and the levy paid by the pensioner is a safe investment. Lady Judge hopes that once the Fund becomes self-sufficient, it will attract foreign investment and go international. Thomas Green asserted that there are trillions of dollars in private capital ready to be invested into city infrastructure, but new mechanisms are needed to secure this capital on a long-term basis. The municipal market in the U.S. provides the potential for cities to raise their own revenues for infrastructure projects on a subsovereign basis, especially because national governments today are too burdened by debt. For Green, this municipal bond model is exportable and has the potential to succeed in other cities. Li Dongming gave his perspective on investment and planning in the context of Chinese cities, which are facing massive urbanization. Rapid economic growth has had great implications on the spatial development of cities in China, primarily due to the lack of good management or planning. Now that the central government has recognized the importance of orderly development, they are playing a larger role. However, the organization of China in terms of investment and financing is still in a transition period and based on "land-fiscality," where stateowned land pushes urbanization and financing. 21 Such a complex land tenure system is unsustainable for financing cities. Therefore, the Fund aims to develop innovative financing tools through the creation of joint ventures with local governments and private actors. Through the development of green districts and involvement of foreign investors, they aim to attract quality capital and to make the city vibrant by integrating industry with the well-being of the city. Christian Sautter stressed the importance of investment for a world city today. In Paris, investments are poured into public transportation and reducing private vehicles, public housing, and innovation through research. For him, innovation is the key to attracting investment to your city, but it is not enough. The involvement of private money is key and this institutional set up of PPPs has long been used in the French urban tradition. Paris is attractive because of the amount of space that may be used for foreign investment and development. The problem is, he says, that Paris retains a "romantic" reputation, so that it is not typically associated with the image of a "business hub." Overall, cities must be able to attract investment to keep up with urban growth and the implications of a lack of infrastructure. Moreover, cities are in competition with one another to attract the best innovators, minds, and foreign companies. This need for investment drives cities to make themselves more attractive, whether through investment in an efficient public transportation system or through the creation of leisurely green spaces. Speakers Jorge Abrahao President, Instituto Ethos Mariana Alegre General Coordinator, Lima Como Vamos Antonio Celia President, Promigas Janaina Herrera Ciudades Latinas: urban Latin America Monday 14 May, 16:45 - 18:00 Advisor, New Cities Foundation Overview Latin American cities are more and more innovative in improving decision-making and government accountability, and incorporating civil society in the information transfer process. Antonio Celia provided a striking example of how a city � Barranquilla, Colombia � has faced economic and social difficulties for many years and tackled all these challenges thanks to Como Vamos, which is composed of a group of entrepreneurs. This organization's main aim is to develop a precise expertise through the development of a wide number of indicators, allowing them to evaluate public policies and actions. This permitted them to promote investment in this territory with more transparency and more dialogue between stakeholders. The second cornerstone of this organization is Moderator Ricky Burdett Director, LSE Cities and Urban Age Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 22 to diffuse its expertise at the local level and inform the communities about their territory. Ricky Burdett contributed to the debate by questioning in more detail how the program was led and how the success claimed by Antonio Celia can be demonstrated. Mariana Alegre exposed the case study of the same organization � Como Vamos � in Lima. Again, she insisted on the importance of raising expectations and awareness through better indicators and measurement about what is going on in this city. She showed that involving media in the common stakeholders' discussion and negotiation is a powerful channel of information for local communities. This network has the power to understand the needs of the people, to communicate them and to develop policy recommendations. Jorge Abrahao presented the Brazilian case study of the platform for an inclusive, green and responsible economy developed by Ethos Institute. It aims to develop new tools and new indicators to integrate new actors, such as businesses, in the public realm. It has also helped many mayors and elected officials to politically commit to new ways of creating the city. Janaina Herrera presented the m-health pilot project in the favela of Dona Marta, Rio de Janeiro, led by the New Cities Foundation. She started by stating that Rio is a city that has a rapidly aging population with limited mobility. This pilot project is based on anticipation of similar health trends in other important emerging urban centers over the next twenty years. This case study 23 aimed to demonstrate the potential of e-health technology for improving current and future health services in urban metropolises by addressing the economic, social and physical obstacles to access healthcare in underserved communities and populations. General Electric provided community workers in the favela with a mobile health kit, containing equipment able to collect and transmit health data to the nearest clinic. The benefits are immediate for the patients and for the overall medical system. The sustainability of all these movements and their actions has been questioned because it might also be related to change in political elections and the lack of political support. All the speakers agree on the fact that if civil society and the private sector work together to define their needs and their solutions, national governments should follow in the decision-making processes. Speakers Greg Clark UK Minister for Decentralisation and Cities Parag Khanna Senior Fellow, New America Foundation John Rice Vice Chairman, GE; President and CEO GE Global Growth and Operations Hard and Software Cities Plenary Session, Tuesday 15 May, 09:00 - 10:00 Jonathan Woetzel Co-Chair, Urban China Initiative; Senior Director, McKinsey&Co. Overview The opening plenary session of the second day attempted to gauge the pressures and opportunities presented by the increasing integration of hardware and software in cities. Mobility and access, basic infrastructure needs and issues of governance within an environment of ever more sophisticated ICT technologies were recurring themes in the conversation. Moderator Diane Brady Senior Editor and Content Chief, Bloomberg Businessweek Key points � New "soft" infrastructures offer major opportunities for creating urban systems that allow for a better flow of information between users and providers. � Technology can give us "smart" systems that reduce cost and energy use while increasing transparency in the 24 Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session governance of city systems. This can change how democracies work, ideally allowing citizens to be more engaged and connected with policymakers. � Hard infrastructure and the basic needs of energy, healthcare and clean water continue to be the most necessary types of investments in cities in developing countries. Panelists also raised the issue of the "info state," continuing the dialogue started in other sessions about data access, privacy and ownership. Giving several examples of recent technological innovations supporting efficient use of transportation services in the UK, such as an app showing the availability of Barclay's Bikes, Greg Clark demonstrated how mobile applications allow residents to be smarter users of city services, while also leading to more interaction and connectivity between them. These kinds of technologies quickly become indispensable to navigating urban life. Parag Khanna emphasized the fact that most cities of the world are still facing major hard infrastructure gaps that are greatly hampering development. Pointed interventions that target specific bottle-necks of mobility can have significant impact. In terms of soft infrastructure and connectivity, it must be recognized that cities need to have strong international connections, as opposed to just internal connectivity. Small-scale interventions and locally embedded innovations that bridge the gap between soft and hardware opportunities must tackle issues "one petri dish at a time", in the words of GE's John Rice. He agreed that fundamental infrastructures around energy, water and healthcare must come first, before issues of congestion should be addressed. The possible leapfrogging of China over the west in terms of urban technologies and infrastructure is very real, according to Jonathan Woetzel. China has been pragmatic in driving forward urban development, with a focus on engineering solutions that draw on the best available technologies, without being on the `bleeding edge'. In mediating the ensuing discussion, Diane Brady, brought up issues around the effective governance of public-private partnerships in infrastructure projects, how the citizen and the community can be better engaged via new technologies and the challenges in bringing the wider population up-to-date so as to benefit from new "soft" infrastructures. 25 Urban Innovation Waze Tuesday 15 May, 10:00 - 10:15 Overview Diann Eisnor demonstrated an innovative mobile phone app that attempts to save urban dwellers time and money by increasing the efficiency of driving using the application, Waze. The interface provides an optimistic view of the city with creatures representing other drivers in the network providing information about traffic conditions on commuting routes across the world. Waze has proven to decrease travel time using crowd-sourced information about alternative routes and driving conditions that saves the individual approximately 61 hours and US $108 per year on gas. Collectively, these benefits for society, the economy, and the environment are extremely powerful. Speaker Diann Eisnor VP of Partnerships and Platform, Waze Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 26 Urban Innovation Ekobus Tuesday 15 May, 10:15 - 10:30 Speaker Filip Mitrovic Deputy Mayor, Pancevo, Serbia Overview Deputy Mayor Filip Mitrovic introduced the audience to the Ekobus project in his city, realized through a partnership with Ericsson and Telecom Srbija serving the 120,000 person population. Air pollution is a serious issue in Pancevo, capable of keeping children home from school and causing chronic diseases. Pancevo's city reputation in Serbia is one of petrochemical pollution, bad driving and an unreliable public transit system. In this vein, the Ekobus was developed to not only collect real time GPS data about public buses through wireless sensors, but also to gather information about the volume of chemicals in the city's air. The GPS data is used to inform citizens about the arrival times of the next bus, while the air quality data helps local authorities monitor pollution and address congestion problems accordingly. The Ekobus solution provides an alternative way to approach real time data in an integrated way to serve all citizens with the information that they care about most. Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 27 Speakers Victor d'Allant CEO, Dallant Networks Leila Janah CEO, Samasource Kasim Reed Mayor of Atlanta The Just City Tuesday 15 May, 11:15 - 12:30 Overview The Just City is not a luxury or an option, but a prerequisite for cities that want to be prosperous, sustainable and competitive around the world. This session took the form of an interactive debate, letting people from the audience come onstage and be part of the discussion, bringing their own topics to the debate. The moderator George McCarthy challenged the speakers by questioning each of the case studies illustrated, asking for more details related to the potential of the Just City. What are the main challenges cities are facing in order to create more equity in urban life? Moderator George McCarthy Director, Metropolitan Opportunity Program, Ford Foundation Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session Key points � To connect where people live to economic opportunity areas: the role of transport infrastructures; 28 � To bridge the informal society to the formal one to change the trajectory of slums and the way people are living for a more inclusive city; opportunities, thereby creating positive collective externalities. Victor d'Allant pointed out that developing dialogue between urban practitioners is one of the main challenges, which is needed for sharing insights on cities, urban public polices, their `epic failures' and good examples. The Urb.im platform is trying to bring into contact all practitioners of the urban ecosystem, between cities and within cities. To overcome the lack of communication between all the stakeholders, the urban platform has to work on the local ground as well as connecting it to the global scale. Interactions between the people invited to the stage and the speakers took many interesting and complementary directions. The need of collaborative action through the wide variety of funders towards specific targets was highlighted. Kasim Reed emphasized the role of the mayor and elected officials in developing a political leadership for imposing the just city as a requirement. It was also argued by all speakers that slums are part of the city, are composed of people who live in them, but also work and create solidarities and communities. Before designing any political or social actions, practitioners need to understand first how people live in their homes. Having access to housing and jobs are prerequisites for helping them to socially upgrade. � To create and develop dialogue between urban practitioners to increase their knowledge about practices, failures and successes of public policies and development strategies; � To take urban violence processes into account and demystify informal settlements Social and spatial disparities are a major trend in our cities. After presenting a map of Atlanta that shows the distribution of economic opportunity and overlaid it on the map of the distribution of subsidized housing, George McCarthy asked Kasim Reed how to fix the mismatch between where people live and where economic opportunities are to succeed. The Mayor of Atlanta brought attention to the importance of transport infrastructure investments in giving better access and connectivity for opportunities to citizens. Then, Leila Janah exposed her perspective on bridging informal settlements to urban and social integration, giving access to slum dwellers in Kenya through sustainable wage `micro-employment'. Access to jobs is crucial and the social enterprise Samasource aims to connect them to computer-based micro-work. Creating a just city necessitates connecting people to job 29 Speakers Jay Carson CEO, C40 Cities Clara Gaymard President and CEO, GE France Masato Ito Deputy General Manager, Head of Sustainable Property Promotion Team, The Sumitomo Trust Bank Greener Districts Tuesday 15 May, 11:15 - 12:30 Hans Tijl Director-General, Physical Planning Department, Amsterdam Overview Key themes � Some of the most important steps in addressing emissions and environmental degradation will be taken at the local level and leadership by local leaders is essential to this process. � The sharing of best practices and innovations for environmental sustainability, along with healthy competition between leaders, are key to achieving goals of sustainability. � Change to policies, laws, regulations, and consumer behaviors will take time. Patience is needed as well as recognition that real reform occurs with a well-informed population. 30 Moderator Joe Peach Editor-in-Chief, This Big City Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session � Technology has the possibility to meet multiple challenges simultaneously, and we should focus on innovations with simultaneous environmental, social and economic benefits. Clara Gaymard demonstrated that two main issues exist in addressing urban sustainability. On one hand, technologies, such as the electric car or solar panels, are not yet mature and efficient enough. Secondly, business models do not yet exist for how innovative services and products must actually be marketed and distributed. For example, healthcare systems and their funding should be based on keeping people healthy at home (possibly through mobile healthcare technologies) rather than through visits to the hospital. � Green Districts are important hotbeds for testing and innovating new environmental policies and technologies, with successful ones scalable at the city level. In discussing the role of mayors to address issues of climate change, Jay Carson spoke of efforts to identify the primary levers by which they might have the greatest impact on emissions. Of the emissions output of cities, mayors actually have 75% control of the production of greenhouse gases. Mayors should thus prioritize those projects that are within their scope of power and which have the greatest impact. According to Hans Tijl, we should focus not just on the development of Green Districts but also on decreasing the environmental impact and emissions of the entire city. In order to do this, the key needs are infrastructure and connectivity (both hard and soft) and smart and efficient coordination between all actors. Sustainability within the built environment will be achieved through maintenance and retrofitting of existing buildings. With carbon credit policies and reduced energy costs, Masato Ito argued that businesses will have the long-term incentive to invest in energy efficient and sustainable space. The use of preferential environmental rating loans can also give proper incentives for green building. 31 Speakers Robin Chase CEO Buzzcar, Founder Zipcar Wolfgang Mueller-Pietralla Head of Future Affairs Volkswagen Group Research, VW Nimish Radia Director of Research, Ericsson City Dwellers on the Move: the future or urban transportation and mobility Tuesday 15 May, 11:15 - 12:30 Moderator Susan Zielinski Managing Director of SMART, University of Michigan Overview This session sought to explore ways in which transportation can make cities better. Instead of discussing the enormity of the problem, this session focused on brainstorming and discussing the solutions to congestion, traffic, and access to transport. It was concluded that seamless multimodal activity is the future and does not need to be cumbersome. Diversifying our modes of transport and making our modal transitions more fluid is the key aspect of a smart solution enabling urban dwellers to connect. Nimish Radia of Ericsson underlined how the company is already creating seamless mobility solutions while Robin Chase described how Buzzcar integrates service into technology. 32 Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session Intermodality was attributed to descreasing urban dwellers' depedence on the car and peer-to-peer car-sharing was to be seen as a useful transition mechanism for the shift from vehicle dependency to other, more sustainable and compact modes. Shifting the conversation from the "what" to the "how," panelists engaged in a discussion about potentials for partnering across sectors in implementation before delimiting the barriers to innovation and the keys needed to remove those barriers. Electronic access to data and insurance companies' policies were cited by Chase as a prime candidate for reform while Radia stated that the key was seamlessness and user-centricity. Volkswagen's Wolfgang Mueller-Pietralla cited symbiosis and making public transport sexier. After some lively inputs from the audience, from a case study of Dhaka to the possibilities of jetpacks, it was determined that a linked system of solutions would be necessary to confront the transport challenges of the future. Mueller-Pietralla also commented on needing not only data for today, but some sort of forecasting system to provide information for tomorrow. 33 Panel Judges Olivier Cormier, GE Esther Dyson, EDventure Holdings Charlie Hale, Google Latif Horst, Cisco Ron Huldai, Mayor of Tel Aviv Naureen Kabir, New Cities Foundation Tim Leberecht, frog Nimish Radia, Ericsson Karsten Selle, Orange AppMyCity! Prize Presentations Tuesday 15 May, 13:30 - 14:00 Speakers Philippe Pujau CityGardens Overview Summit participants heard from the finalists in the AppMyCity! competition about three new applications that seek to improve how we experience the city. City Gardens was inspired a Sunday afternoon at Parc Buttes Chaumont in Paris that left the developer and his family looking for the playground, the ice cream stand, and the theater to no avail. The idea is to localize, inform, and transform knowledge for city dwellers to help them discover the green spaces around them. Next CarbonDiem took the stage and asked the judging panel and audience "What if we could tackle the most stubborn emissions?" The CarbonDiem application seeks to increase travel sustainability in our communities by encouraging and rewarding sustainable thinking. The smart phone app features automatic measurement of people's carbon footprint and stores data about their travel patterns and carbon efficiency for six months. The app equally addresses businesses and communities by leveraging the power of Andreas Zachariah CarbonDiem Patrick Pung Paris-ci La Sortie du M�tro Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 34 social networking and aggregating data. CarbonDiem ultimately sees cities as the world's climate change champions. Lastly, Paris Ci La Sortie introduced a simple, three-step app that could give individuals one week of freedom per year by reducing their commuting time. The developer decided to improve the daily underground user's experience of the Paris metro by showing app users where the exits are in relation to the metro carriages so that they can avoid lost time by waiting on the wrong end of the platform. There is an additional added value in showing the position of escalators and elevators at each metro stop for people with reduced mobility. The app is compatible with the iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone. The winner was announced the same night at the Grand Palais and the winner was City Gardens. Congratulations to Eric and Philippe! 35 A Glimpse into Future Cities Tuesday 15 May, 14:00 - 14:15 Overview How can we sense things in a city? Imagine living in a city where you knew everything that was happening around you in real time, such as how much energy is being consumed. We as humans have almost become like walking sensors. From this perspective, how can this describe cities? Technology has now allowed us to study the built environment in different ways. Through analyzing and learning from data, we can utilize it to add value to the way we live in cities. SENSEable City aims to research the changes that have enhanced our experience of the city through the use of technology. Carlo Ratti, Director of the MIT SENSEable City Lab, presented projects undertaken by himself and his research team, including the Copenhagen Wheel, which is an example of collecting data and implementing a project based on the data collected. After analyzing traffic data in Copenhagen, the Wheel was invented to sense and capture the energy dissipated while cycling and braking, and store the energy for when you need it the most. The sensing unit on the wheel captures data about road conditions, temperature, and carbon monoxide levels, among other things. Users can share this data through a mobile application, which will allow others in the city to benefit from the crowd-sourced information. Another interesting project was the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Follow-up, where one of the old electronic equipment, which was used by MIT researchers and had been programmed to report back information about its environment for MoMA, was stolen. The Lab was able to track its location thanks to a GPS built into the 36 Speaker Carlo Ratti Director, MIT SENSEable City Lab Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session computer, allowing MIT to report the theft and get the computer back, along with pictures of the thief, which were taken by the computer during its time away. For Ratti, this showed that, "when objects talk back to us, they tell us unlikely stories." The future city may hold the answers to what happens to physical objects when we throw them away. The last project presented was the Digital Water Pavilion at the Zaragoza World Expo in 2008. Ratti and his team wanted to explore how they could use architecture to play with water. What became interesting was not the architecture, but how the space was used by the people, which begs the question, how do we use things we design? Buildings of the future may, then, change their appearance and form based on use and necessity. The future city will, when combined with how we "sense" the city, require rethinking the use of data, architecture, and objects around us. 37 Speakers Yuan Yue: CEO and Chairman of Horizon Research Consultancy Group James Lee Architect, Founder of IContinuum Group Jonathan Woetzel Co-chair, Urban China Initiative; Xiao Jincheng A Closer Look at Urban China: towards the urban billion Plenary Session, Tuesday 15 May, 14:15 � 15:30 Deputy Director, Land Economy and Regional Regional Research, Bureau, National Development and Reform Commission Xie Chengxiang Deputy Mayor of Huangshi Moderator Overview � The uniqueness of Chinese urbanization is its shared speed and scale. � Government's strong leadership in urbanization presents unique opportunity. � � Local government is spearheading social housing projects. China needs to design more flexible mechanisms to engage external financial resources into Chinese urban infrastructure investment. Since 2000, Beijing changed its attitude towards urbanization from conservative towards advocating. As a practical policy 38 Johan Bj�rkst�n Chairman, MSL China Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session responding to hyper-urbanization, China emphasizes the robust development of urban concentrations of all scales: small, middle-sized, and big cities. In the coming two decades, 40% of cities globally with over 5 million inhabitants will be in China and over 200 Chinese cities will have over 1 million inhabitants. All the speakers agreed that the Chinese government is well in control of Chinese urbanization. Woetzel pointed out that China's governance model in supporting more sustainable urbanization is "the central government drives urban shapes and standards, and local governments are accountable for initiating and executing implementation plans". Woetzel believes that China's leadership in urbanization presents a unique opportunity to develop innovative solutions. Yuan pointed out the constraints of this government dominated model in that the government cannot estimate what is to happen and cannot fully understand what happens on the ground. Yuan and Woetzel pointed out that Chinese urbanization increased inequality and created social problems, concentrating on land and environmental issues. Today, how to absorb rural influx and give equal treatment to rural and urban inhabitants is a top priority of national leaders. Rural-urban migration happens in mainly two forms: "migrant worker" and "rural-originated graduate." In the coming 18 years, 300 million inhabitants will be added into the urban population. The core of this question is where Chinese cities can find the money to accommodate them. 39 Xie shared Huangshi's experience. A traditional mining city, Huangshi was confronted since entering the 21st century with resource depletion and decay of traditional industries. By 2000, Huangshi had 164 shantytowns with 2 million square meters inhabited by more than 12,000 inhabitants. In 2010, Huangshi government set up Zhongbang, a company that functions as a financing vehicle and wholly controlled by Huangshi government. Since then, Zhongbang has built 45,000 apartments in high rising buildings grouped under 45 community projects with a financial investment of 5.9 billion RMB. Huangshi also uses ICT solutions to monitor and publicize the management of low-income individuals. In the coming 3 years, Huangshi will produce 35,000 apartments through this platform. Ongoing Chinese urban infrastructure heat, as Lee portrayed by several numbers that "11 Chinese cities with subway, 15 cities in construction, 19 cities are planning to build metro", creating a chance to build a urbanization model through what Lee called "Transit Synergized Development (TSD)" that integrates land planning, transportation planning, and urbanization planning. Concerning infrastructure, Xiao pointed out that this heat inevitably slowed down its investment towards increasing social welfare, so China needs to design more flexible mechanisms to engage external financial resource into Chinese urban infrastructure investment. " 500 " " " " 5 " 14 5 " 15 " 200 35 " " 20 " 5 " " " 4 16 " " 30 40 41 Speakers Fahd Al Rasheed Managing Director and CEO, King Abdullah Economic City Jacob Bennett Deputy City Manager, Skolkovo Chen Xiaohui Deputy Chief Planner, Jiangsu Institute of Urban Planning and Design Modern Urban Utopias: a conversation with the builders of new cities Plenary Session, Tuesday 15 May, 16:00 - 17:00 Scot Wrighton City Manager, Lavasa Moderator Overview This session explored a discussion between the builders of four new-city greenfield projects around the world. Carlo Ratti organized the conversation in three main sections: the specificities of each city, the difficult tensions between top-down and bottom-up approaches in designing these cities, and the aspects of the projects that have been implemented that make the cities smart. Jacob Bennett introduced the specificities of Skolkovo, in Russia. This city has been designed to diversify the economy and to allow commercialization of technology. Four hundred companies are already working on the site, hand in hand with universities, research centers, and multinational corporations. Leading master planners and architects have also worked together to develop a mixed-use city, 42 Carlo Ratti Director, MIT SENSEable City Lab Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session composed of open green spaces and low-rise residential areas. The two main characteristics that make this city smart and competitive are efficient social interactions and a strong ICT network. Next, Fahd Al Rasheed presented the King Abdullah Economic City example. Again, the aim of this new city of two million people is to diversify the sources of economic growth, currently dependent on oil. The government did not financially support the project, but allowed it to be developed through an economic zone with specific regulations. Thirty global companies and 10 billion euros have been transferred to King Abdullah during the last six years. The city is now entering its operational phase. The private sector is able to evaluate this project through consumer behaviors, so that it can readjust and update throughout time. Chen Xiaohui proceeded to outline the aspects of Suzhou Industry Park, located 20 minutes from Shanghai by train. The park acts as one of the most competitive in China with an annual GDP growth rate of 30%. The park aims to increase China's international competitiveness by stimulating the economy with a shift from manufacturing to service industry and has already attracted 86 international firms. Lastly, Scot Wrighton presented Lavasa, a 100 square kilometer city located in the PuneMumbai corridor. The city is a completely corporate endeavor in that it receives no financial support from the Indian government. Wrighton highlighted the corporate responsibility of the 43 Lavasa City Master Plan in their construction of schools and village rehabilitation in the indigenous villages around the site. The city's mission is to respond to rural-to-urban migration by diverting migrants through the new city. These "cities from scratch" face the same questions and challenges about building a city from the top-down and incorporating the "bottomup." Due to their diverse experiences and contexts, their responses to these challenges differ. For example, while Skolkovo impressed upon the fact that they try to assemble all stakeholders to mix bottom-up with top-down, Suzhou lamented the government limitations in China inhibiting a lot of bottom-up initiatives. Various visions are complimentary, however, such as the fact that all plans include mixed-use planning to increase the amount of "products," that is, experiences produced in the city. Capitalising Creativity Tuesday 15 May, 17:00 - 17:15 Speaker VHILS Artist Overview In a presentation demonstrating the transformative power of street art, the widely recognized artist VHILS, demonstrated the essential role of creative expression in public spaces of the city, even when it is expressed illegally. Cities have many unused and dehumanized spaces, giving the possibility for street art and graffiti to transform and enhance the public environment. Graffiti is often seen as a problem, especially when it is unorganized. However, street art has the potential to enhance urban spaces through color, political commentary or purely aesthetic work. Street art is about the reinterpretation of the city's space. In describing his own trajectory as a street artist, VHILS drew on the historical roots of his home country, Portugal. Layers of material have progressively been left behind on the walls, including inspiring political murals and ads driving the new consumer cultural. He started to carve large-scale portraits into the peeling layers of paper and paint, leaving behind images representative of the human soul of the city. Having created a name for himself within the street art world, VHILS has now been 44 organizing festivals that draw artists and admirers globally. An event recently organized in Lisbon not only added color and dynamism to boarded up buildings within the inner city, but also brought renewed political attention to the abandoned buildings and spaces scattered within the heart of the city. A festival organized in a declining southern Italian town drew artists and tourists from around Europe, re-energizing the area around original displays of creativity. According to VHILS, thinking globally and acting locally can be powerful for drawing renewed attention to spaces or urban issues. Street art and graffiti are not an urban problem. It is rather the way in which the city handles these expressions of creativity that is the problem. Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 45 Gala Dinner Keynote Speech Tuesday 15 May, 2012 Speaker Bertrand Delano� Mayor of Paris Overview John Rossant opened the evening in thanking the assembled guests of the New Cities Summit Gala Dinner for their presence and participation. He proceeded to introduce Bertrand Delano�, Mayor of Paris, for the keynote address. In his speech, Mayor Delano� opened in thanking guests, public officials and the event organizers. He went on to state that there is nothing more beautiful than being committed to serve, to serve life and to serve humanity. He spoke of Paris as a world city; that is, a city with a million little worlds within it. Being composed of such a diversity of cultures, religions and people is ultimately its greatest strength. Paris itself has historically been a center of innovation, as exemplified by the space of the Grand Palais, so it should be seen as no surprise for the event to be held there. In cities we need to work for social cohesion, economic development, and sustainability; in a word, life. The Mayor asserted his belief that we can meet the challenge of sustaining economic development, but only when we are willing to take risks and to push the 46 boundaries of what has been done before. Paris has been able to take risks, such as investment in the Velib bike-share project and more recently Autolib, the free electric car-sharing service, allowing for a new way to experience the city. He expressed pride in the fact that a Parisian startup, City Gardens Paris, had been recognized by the Summit for its new and innovative smart-phone application. In closing, the Mayor spoke of his confidence in the assembled guests and his anticipation to see the results of this significant effort in reflection and exchange. He urged those assembled to stay creative and dynamic, and to continue to share always, as do the mayors of the world. Again, he thanked everyone for their contributions to the event and reasserted the inherent beauty in being deeply committed to serving life, and the vision that we each have of humanity. Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 47 Speakers Vivek Badrinath CEO, Orange Business Services Pablo Farias Vice President of Economic and Assets Program, Ford Foundation Ron Huldai Mayor of Tel Aviv Kasim Reed Partnering for Better Cities Plenary Session, Wednesday 16 May, 09:00 - 10:00 Mayor of Atlanta Overview The sharing across borders of knowledge, experience, and lessons learned is key to the cooperation of cities. Whether your city is Tel Aviv or Atlanta, each city can learn from one another, making the concept of "building together" important in addressing today's and tomorrow's urban challenges. Saskia Sassen introduces two main challenges that global cities are presently facing. First, in a global economy, the idea that all economies seem to become similar is not completely true. This is because cities, in order to compete with one another, need to be specialized. If the global standards of building a city homogenize the built environment, the way it has been used and is still used by its communities, is making the difference. The second challenge for Sassen is the need to take inequalities, unemployment and poverty into account. 48 Introduced and Moderated by Saskia Sassen Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology; Co-Chair, The Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session When turning to the panel, Sassen asked each of the two mayors to present the strengths and difficulties of the cities they are representing. Mayor Huldai sees his city's advantage as lying in its openness, young age, dynamism, tolerance and creativity. However, without any natural resources to take advantage of, entrepreneurship and connectivity are the two solutions for developing economically and making it competitive around the world. Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta, which is the center of commerce in the U.S. south and the site of such global brands as Coke and CNN, recognizes that 80% of GDP in the U.S. occurs in cities, which shows the urgency of collaborative action. Collaboration is already occurring inside his city, where Republican and Democrat officials cast their partisanship aside and voted to invest billions of dollars into improving Atlanta's infrastructure and transportation system. Reed strongly believes that transportation is a key to bridging inequalities in the city and creating accessibility, whether it be to jobs, education, or other opportunities. It is in the public interest, economically and socially, to solve problems of poverty and accessibility. Pablo Farias oversees grants that focus on expanding opportunities, overcoming inequities, and building economic resources. For him, it is important to innovate through collaboration, and through this process, inclusion can be created. Collaboration itself must also bring together all stakeholders to learn and build knowledge in order to transfer it to an extended network. Cities have to open opportunity to diverse communities 49 and newcomers through democracy and public participation. Cities must also make prosperity a shared goal by every citizen living there. Vivek Badrinath seeks to provide a technological means through which leaders can make change in their cities. Through applications on mobile phones providing water meters or informing one of electric recharging stations for their cars, technology is helping to connect citydwellers faster. It will also be important that companies who own data make partnerships with consumers in order to add more value to what companies produce and sell. Overall, cities and their leaders are now given new means through which they can partner together to make their cities better. By sharing knowledge and lessons learned, local leaders can carry out initiatives to alleviate poverty and to create more equitable cities. Technology and innovation, as well as creating added value, also opens up opportunity for citizen inclusion in the city space. Especially during a time where national governments are de-investing in cities, it will be important to think of cities as a strategic space, and for power to be brought back to local governments and for local leaders to act to address the pressing issues facing today's global cities. Urban Innovation Ciudad Saludable Wednesday 16 May, 10:00 - 10:15 Overview The presentation started with a film showing waste pickers living off of heaps of garbage in Peru and the many challenges posed by large amounts of contaminated urban waste that are not adequately collected and processed. The film then highlighted the importance of innovative waste management tools that have been developed by Ciudad Saludable, including waste pickers. Luciana Lima described the passion of Albina Ruiz, the Founder of the organization. She has spearheaded the project thanks to her passion for finding a solution to waste management issues plaguing most urban centers of the country. Using simple and small-scale models, and demonstrating by example, waste pickers become employed in collecting and processing a town's waste, composting and recycling where possible. Having met with success, these smallscale, self-supporting social enterprises have now been replicated in a number of Latin American cities. Over 9 million poor people have been impacted by the work of Ciudad Saludable, and they have now gained recognition from the Clinton Global Initiative, Ashoka and the Schwabb Foundation, among others. Speaker Luciana Lima Director of Strategic Partnerships, Ciudad Saludable Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 50 Urban Innovation Isla Urbana Wednesday 16 May, 10:15 - 10:30 Speaker Enrique Lomnitz Co-founder, Isla Urbana Overview Isla Urbana aims to provide a viable and scalable solution for the water crisis in Mexico City. Enrique Lomnitz presented the origin of his interest, explaining his first surprising discoveries. If housing is crucial for developing an inclusive city, water is the most vital resource. However, while low-income communities from informal settlements are able, year after year, to build their own home, to pave their streets and to provide electricity to the all neighborhood, they face an unprecedented water crisis. The ironic fact is that slums in Mexico City are exposed to massive flooding issues, while the inhabitants expressed the increasing water scarcity. Enrique Lomnitz developed the adoption of rainwater harvesting, by catalyzing communities through training and collaborative action to develop effective and accessible systems. The benefits are threefold. First, it vitalizes local economies, by training and employing local plumbers. Second, one component of the project is to connect these new innovative systems to existing ones in order to create a self-sustainable system. Finally, it directly involves community leaders and the community itself through the designing of the process and its implementation. One thousand systems have Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session been built in the slum within the past two years. This innovative system couldn't have emerged without the partnership of governments, businesses, universities and NGOs, throughout the entire process. 51 Speakers Alan Hinchman Global Market Director, GE Intelligent Platforms Nathalie Leboucher Director of Smart City, Orange Business Services Henri Saint-Bris Senior Vice President Strategy, Suez Environnement HydroCity: urban water Wednesday 16 May, 11:00 - 12:00 Xiao Jincheng Deputy Director, Land Economy and Regional Research Bureau, National Development and Reform Commission Overview Key issues � � The social costs of water distribution must be addressed. Water scarcity will continue to be a challenge for both developed and developing cities. � Cities must think about new ways to deal with water scarcity, e.g. re-use solutions and correct tariffs. � � Water pricing must be fair. Water losses, which incur heavy economic costs as well, must be mitigated. � A distributed model is where innovation must take place in order for consumers to understand water usage, whether through education or investing in simple technology. 52 Moderator Hugh Aldridge Director of Development, University of California, CITRIS Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session Population growth and urbanization, climate change, and the change of consumption patterns through history have greatly impacted water demand today. Cities will need new solutions in dealing with the almost 40% of urban water that is lost and water infrastructures that are out of date. Issues of equity also arise, as most of the people who are paying the most for water in the world are the poorest, and increasingly only 1% of water is reserved for drinking. This is a problem faced by not only developing countries, but also developed ones. Henry Saint-Bris suggested ways water management may be improved, especially through greater recycling. Nathalie Leboucher proposed that the main solutions will be found in rethinking "re-use" solutions, such as desalination and correct tariffs. A tool such as smart metering networks will help the consumer by showing them how much water they are consuming. With the advancement of technology, multiple applications exist on mobile devices to help measure our consumption. Such services may even be put into cities like Mexico City that may not be infrastructurally ready for wireless water metering; however, the main impediment is money, so the right partnership of stakeholders must be put into place for this to work in cities everywhere. Xiao Jincheng revealed that water scarcity is severe in Chinese cities, especially in the north and west of the country. The fact that China now has three cities with populations over 10 million people, making water very unevenly distributed in the country. Most of the water is used 53 for agriculture. However, the urban water supply continues to be the biggest issue, and local governments are now adopting better policies to save water and clean up pollution, though some projects that have been undertaken to transfer water from water-rich to water-scarce areas are not yet sustainable. Alan Hinchman described "Innovative Industry," a new GE initiative which aggregates and adds value to data through the development of efficient water management tools. For example, water costs more to pump out than oil, yet they are not even close to being the same price because water is pumped so inefficiently and cost recovery measures are difficult to implement. However, this knowledge is not always known. Through the leverage of data, conflicting usages in water may be revealed, such as the imbalance of water usage between agricultural and consumer usage in China, and decisions may then be made on how to optimize the water quantity and its uses. Because of the nature of water as a necessity for human life, challenges concerning the scarcity of the resource, improving water quality, and maintaining the networks and treatment facilities in the world's big cities today will be of utmost importance. Speakers Youenn Dupuis Responsable de la Mission Grand Paris, RATP Jean-Yves Durance Vice-President, Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry Pierre Mansat Deputy Mayor of Paris for Paris Metropole Greater Paris: reinventing the City of Light Wednesday 16 May, 11:00 - 12:00 Robert Vassoyan Director General, Cisco France Overview Stephen Barrett began the breakout session and introduced Pierre Mansat to talk about the origins of the Greater Paris project. He emphasized the fact that if the last French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, gave political visibility to greater Paris, it was the elected officials of the Ile-de-France region that got the project off the ground in 2001, with the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delano�. Many urban stakeholders reached a consensus around the need to change the relationship between Paris intra-muros and its banlieues. Within the last ten years, the challenge for Paris and its region has been to reassert itself in the global economy, as well as the political will to reduce socio-spatial inequalities and political fragmentation. The emergence of the Greater Paris has been crystallized in the massive consultation in which central government, local authorities, 54 Moderator Stephen Barrett Architect, Partner, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session architects, civil society and private sector have been working together to define challenges and potential solutions for the Greater Paris. However, Pierre Mansat insisted on the fact that no consensus has been reached, but the most important thing was to match the strategic plan with the local territories' needs. Nevertheless, the governance challenge is at the heart of the success of the Greater Paris, as all the speakers agreed. The project needs to overcome the administrative boundaries because Paris has a radiating effect in all the region. So the aim is to create a dynamic where all the stakeholders are part of the project, where the institutions evolve regarding the need to find the right scale at which to treat housing and transport issues. Perhaps the public transport system change has been the only point where all the actors found consensus so far. Youenn Dupuis presented the current project on public transportation, developed by the RATP collaboratively with all the stakeholders. 175km of ring-road automatic underground will be connected to the existing system for a cost of 20 billion Euros. The challenges faced are more about getting consensus and being attentive to the territories, actors and private sector than technical ones, in order to develop a sustainable and viable network. Robert Vassoyan presented the Smart Work Centers, initiated from Cisco in Amsterdam, stating that digital technology is an asset, giving flexibility to cities to adapt themselves to the current challenges they are facing. The precondition for success is that it needs to be planned out ahead of time. However, if transport regulations are part of the Greater Paris, both Jean-Yves Durance and Pierre Mansat wanted to remind us that housing is as important as transportation. Another important goal for a prosperous Paris is to develop solidarity. Pierre Mansat concludes the session with an optimistic message related to the discourse of Fran�ois Hollande, saying that the central government wants to partner with local authorities rather than be a barrier to progress. 55 Speakers Paul Delaoutre Chairman and CEO, BHV and Galeries Lafayette Department Stores Jean-Charles Decaux Co-CEO, JCDecaux SA A City Shops: the future of urban retail in the digital age Wednesday 16 May, 11:00 - 12:00 Moderator Overview Key points � Retail continues to be about knowing your customers and providing key services. � Technology is changing the way that people shop, but the in-store experience is still centrally important. � Drawing on evolving technologies and trends, retail and advertising can and should adapt, while staying faithful to values of their key customers. In moderating the discussion, Mark Dytham focused on the changing environment for retail operators and advertising with the 56 Mark Dytham Director, Klein Dytham architecture (KDa); Founder, PechaKucha Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session advent of new technologies. The most significant of these is actually the increasing use of the internet for making purchases, which will continue to change the face of retail. Paul Delaoutre responded to this assertion by agreeing that the topic of matching internet retail to in-store strategies is a hot one. However, it is important to not fall into the trap of thinking of retail in terms of stores selling products, but rather of brands serving customers. The best use of technology is in learning to better understand what customers want and responding to their needs. However, the competition coming from online retailing will make it increasingly difficult for small retailers in disadvantaged areas to compete. From the perspective of Jean-Charles Decaux, the firm is the bridge between products and services and the municipalities that must find innovative ways to fund infrastructure projects. The challenge is to perceive the major trends that will impact mobility and navigation of the city. For example, many were unsure about whether the Velib bike-share system would work given such cheap user pricing. However, this is what ultimately contributed to its success. Despite claims otherwise, Paul Deloutre argued that mobility is not decreasing but increasing, offering new opportunities and markets for retailers. Additionally, the scale of emerging cities holds massive potential for revenue generation according to Jean-Charles Decaux, who cited the fact that 7.4 million people pass though the Shanghai subway every day. The session concluded with the recognition that retail offerings must continue to be customer focused, taking into account changing habits within new urban environments and thanks to ever evolving technologies. 57 Speakers Jay Carson CEO, C40 Cities G�rard Mestrallet CEO, GDF Suez Jean Pistre Architect, Valode & Pistre Khalifa Sall Mayor of Dakar Call to Action Thinking Ahead, Building Together Plenary Session, Wednesday 16 May, 12:00 - 13:00 Moderator John Rossant Chairman, New Cities Foundation Overview The closing session refocused the conversation around the need for effective coordination and partnership between the public and private spheres, and continued sharing of information and best practices between municipal leaders around the world. John Rossant opened by inviting Gerard Mestrallet to discuss the role of GDF Suez in working with municipalities to manage city services. With over 150 years of experience in partnering with urban centers, the CEO described how services, such as increasingly efficient waste water collection/treatment or the smart city dashboard, are creating a more liveable and efficient urban environment with better responsiveness to the needs of people. Click here to watch full session on YouTube: Link to Yo u t u b e Video of the session 58 The Mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall, described the central challenges faced by cities in Africa citing, among others, the need for access to affordable sources of credit for addressing urgent needs for basic services within the city. However, he remained largely optimistic about the development potential of African cities, bringing attention to the young, educated and dynamic population, access to new markets, and the high returns on investment. Coming from the perspective of emissions reduction, Jay Carson highlighted the fact that these issues can and will only be addressed at the city level, where municipal governments have significant power to impact CO2 output. The sharing of best practices is a powerful tool for leveraging innovative solutions globally. Additionally, it should be recognized that some of the most pragmatic steps towards more effective and efficient systems have been taken by cities in developing countries, with many lessons to be learned. The architect, Jean Pistre, argued for design that focuses once more on the human experience and the creation of spaces which facilitate interaction, engagement and sustainable means of access to the experiences, services, and goods that are important to us. In closing the discussion, John Rossant emphasized the important role of cities in meeting the massive challenges that we are faced with globally today. Cities are where innovation takes place, where social problems arise and are 59 solved, and where we must partner and collaborate for change. Finally, he expressed his wishes that the first New Cities Summit had created a community of practitioners that would thrive and expand in the future, enacting positive change in participants' home cities. He closed in thanking the attendees for their participation, as well as contributors and organizers. The NEW CITIES FOUNDATION thanks its... Founding members Corporate members Media partners Summit partners Academic and non profit partners See you next year... 25, Grand-Rue Case Postale 3200 CH 1211, Geneva 3 Switzerland www.newcitiesfoundation.org email@example.com


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Brooklyn Nets v Minnesota Timberwolves
Chris Johnson of the Minnesota Timberwolves dunks the ball against... News PhotoBall,Basketball - NBA Pro,Basketball - Sport,Brooklyn Nets,Chris Johnson - Basketball Player - Center,Minneapolis,Minnesota,Minnesota Timberwolves,Slam Dunk,Sport,Taking a Shot - Sport,Target Center,USA,VerticalPhotographer Jordan JohnsonCollection: National Basketball Association 2013 NBAEMINNEAPOLIS, MN - JANUARY 23: Chris Johnson #20 of the Minnesota Timberwolves dunks the ball against the Brooklyn Nets on January 23, 2013 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images)

subset: commoncrawl


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Skip to Content
Home > MyMidMichigan > Proxy Access > Adults with Diminished Mental Capacity
If a patient is unable to make their own medical desicions, the patient's personal representative (legal guardian, healthcare advocate or representative of the patient's estate) may be eligible for full or read-only proxy access to the patient's MyMidMichigan account. Proper supporting documentation is required.
Read-only proxy access enables you to view all information in the patient's MyMidMichigan account.
Full proxy access enables you to view all information and perform tasks on behalf of the patient, such as requesting appointments or prescription renewals, sending and receiving secure messages and granting or revoking proxy access.
To apply for proxy access, complete Form EMR04140 and mail it or fax it along with supporting legal documents to:
MidMichigan Physicians GroupAttn: MyMidMichigan Support2620 West SugnetMidland, Michigan 48640Fax (989) 839-1871
Or you may take it to the participating provider's office or Medical Center where the patient receives their care.
Phone (989) 839-6299Toll Free (855) 476-1298Weekdays 7 a.m. to 5 firstname.lastname@example.com
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- Magazine
- Newsletters
- Multimedia
- Store
- Buyer's Guide
- Events
- Classifieds
- Got A Question?
The plea for steam
A dry vapor steam machine can be used on the facility as well as a car and can promote your business as eco-friendly.Read More
No, you can't rent my customers
Read how one carwash chain found success in offering windshield repair services.Read More
Do you offer fabric repair and restoration?
One industry expert reveals what it takes to offer this additional service and how it can draw in more customers.Read More
How to start a carwash: Read one owner's story of success
Station Auto Wash (Ryan and Tom Magazzine)Read More


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Has this already been posted?
One of my kids was showing me his Myspace profile and this link was posted.
Has this already been posted?
One of my kids was showing me his Myspace profile and this link was posted.
"I am your child from the future. I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier." - Dylan Easton
It needs to be updated...
2015 Reds record when I'm attending: 3-42015 Dragons record when I'm attending:
"We want to be the band to dance to when the bomb drops." - Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran
"Dirty Water" is still the intro music!
When all is said and done more is said than done.
August ...OLD!!!
And weird at a baseball player having a fan website.
Go Reds!
Baseball Bliss
Im a normal guy blessed with the ability to hit a baseball. - Sean Casey
This really isn't too exciting, is it?
I originally was all set to post the link to his Myspace page but wasn't sure if those are considered only semi-public. Anyway, it isn't too hard to find it, I just didn't want to be the one to expose his site.
"I am your child from the future. I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier." - Dylan Easton
It's sad that the wallpaper still has him in his Boston uniform. I wonder if he owns it?
1st pick of the 2022 baseball amateur draft
I'll be questioning his loyalty if the animation on that site still depicts him in that Boston uni when Spring Training '07 rolls around. During the season, I'm glad he's mostly focused on pitching rather than his web site.
"Dirty Water" is the quintessential Boston song and everyone there seems to identify with it. What is Cincinnati's? Do we have one? Are we relegated to having the theme from WKRP as ours? Is this worthy of a poll question? What's the record for the most questions in one post? Am I approaching that?
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please.


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Crazy Penguin
50,000 - 100,000 downloadsAdd this app to your listsTweets por @Appszoom
Crazy Penguin is a funny shooting game, just like "crazy bird", but bird is replaced with Penguin, while pig replace with bear. If you're tired with birds, or you like birds, try this game also.
Tags: crazy penguin script.
Tags: crazy penguin script.
Comments and ratings for Crazy Penguin
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American blueberry pancakes
Cooking timeCook: 35 mins
Skill levelEasy
ServingsMakes 10 pancakes
Light, fluffy and fruity, these pancakes are a US classic. Serve them stacked high with syrup and extra fruit
Nutrition and extra info
Additional info
- Freezable
- Easily doubled / halved
- Vegetarian
Nutrition per serving (without syrup)
- kcalories
- 108
- protein
- 4g
- carbs
- 18g
- fat
- 3g
- saturates
- 1g
- fibre
- 1g
- sugar
- 0g
- salt
- 0.41g
- 200g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg
- 300ml milk
- knob butter
- 150g pack blueberries
- sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking
- golden or maple syrup
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Not quite what you're looking for?
For more ideas with an American theme visit our Thanksgiving Day recipe collection. Or for more indulgent recipes for Sunday morning heaven visit our brunch recipe collection.
- Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg with the milk, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter. Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir in half the blueberries.
- Heat a teaspoon of oil or small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. Make three or four pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden. Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter. Serve with golden syrup and the rest of the blueberries.
Recipe from Good Food magazine, March 2004
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Comments, questions and tips
A really great breakfast eaten in the garden with friends who had stayed the weekend. Used blackcurrants(from the garden) barely cooked with a little sugar. The maple syrup took the rest of the tartness from the blackcurrants. Also used gluten free flour which worked fine.
Only complaint was from the 5 year old who said the pancakes weren't round enough!
After reading all the reviews for the pancakes I was still a little concerned that they may be a little stodgy - how wrong I was! They were incredibly light and so easy to make, I'll certainly be making these again. I used frozen blueberries as I didn't have any fresh ones, but it made absolutely no difference. Highly recommended!
I always make these pancakes but I also substitute in buttermilk in place of the regular milk. When making for my 2 year old I also add 2 tbsp. of steamed and then pureed sweet potato. Sounds strange but it works. Gives a hint of sweetness but also gives the goodness of the vegetable, even the adults like it. I agree that a low-medium heat is best so not to leave the centres uncooked and soggy. Once the bubbles start appearing when cooking, you can lift the pancake up with the spatula to see if it is brown enough for your liking. When buying the blueberries make sure they aren't the oversized ones as they aren't as tasty as smaller pea sized ones and can be messy for young kids. I also serve them with a few strips of bacon and of course a drizzle of Canadian maple syrup.


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Book your room at Comfort Suites East
Suite, 1 King Bed with Sofabed, Non SmokingMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 1 child, 1 infant)
Suite, Multiple Beds, Non SmokingMax Occupancy: 5 guests (up to 2 children, 2 infants)
Suite, 1 King Bed with Sofabed, Accessible, Non SmokingMax Occupancy: 4 guests (up to 2 children, 2 infants)
Hotel in Columbus with free breakfast and indoor pool
Located in the heart of Columbus, this hotel is 3 mi (4.8 km) from World Harvest Church and within 6 mi (10 km) of Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum and Pickerington Ponds Metropark. The Golf Depot at Central Park and Ed Jeffers Barber Museum are also within 9 mi (15 km).
Hotel Features
An indoor pool, a fitness center, and coffee/tea in the lobby are available at this smoke-free hotel. Free continental breakfast, free WiFi in public areas, and free self parking are also provided. Additionally, a business center, meeting rooms, and laundry facilities are onsite.
Room Amenities
All 66 rooms provide conveniences like refrigerators and microwaves, plus free WiFi and cable TV. Other amenities available to guests include coffee makers, free local calls, and hair dryers.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Comfort Suites East features an indoor pool and a fitness center. Public areas are equipped with complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access. Business-related amenities consist of a business center and meeting rooms. A complimentary breakfast is offered. This Columbus hotel also offers coffee/tea in the lobby, complimentary newspapers in the lobby, and laundry facilities. Onsite self parking is complimentary.
Comfort Suites East is a smoke-free property.
- 24-hour front desk
- Business center
- Coffee/tea in lobby
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Elevator/lift
- Fitness facilities
- Free breakfast
- Free self parking
- Free WiFi
- Indoor pool
- Laundry facilities
- Meeting rooms
- Number of floors - 3
- RV, bus, truck parking
- Smoke-free property
- Total number of rooms - 66
Family Friendly Amenities
- Free Wi-Fi
- Indoor pool
- Laundry facilities
- Microwave
- Refrigerator
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Free self parking, RV, bus, truck parking
Room Amenities
- Air conditioning
- Cable TV service
- Coffee/tea maker
- Daily housekeeping
- Free local calls
- Free WiFi
- Hair dryer
- Iron/ironing board
- Microwave
- Refrigerator
Where to Eat
Guests are offered a complimentary continental breakfast.
Nearby Things to Do
Recreational amenities at the hotel include an indoor pool and a fitness center.
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the "Special or Accessibility Requests" section of "Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
Hotel Policies
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.