New Cities Foundation publishes video series showcasing world’s top urban innovators

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Paris, France, July 31, 2014. The New Cities Foundation has published a series of videos showcasing some of the world’s brightest urban innovators, selected for the WhatWorks talks series hosted at the New Cities Summit, which took place in Dallas this year on June 17 – 19.

WhatWorks is one of the highlights of the annual New Cities Summit – a global, high-level, action-oriented event on the future of the urban world. During the Summit, each WhatWorks innovator has six minutes to tell the story of their urban innovation project.

This year, a total of 11 speakers took part in WhatWorks, each from a different world city, and each tackling a different issue, including crime, sustainable energy, waste management, urban farming and public art.

Watch the Individual WhatWorks Videos

Videos of each individual WhatWorks presentation are available to watch and share on the New Cities Foundation’s YouTube channel:

  • Mouna Andraos, Co-Founder and Director, Daily tous les jours, Montreal, Canada – A design studio that creates collective experiences, focused on urban multi-disciplinary projects at the intersection of participation, design and technology. http://bit.ly/WWMAndraos
  • David Auerbach, Founder, Sanergy, Nairobi, Kenya - An organization that strives to make hygienic sanitation affordable and accessible throughout Africa's informal settlements. – http://bit.ly/WWDAuerbach
  • Gerardo Asali de la Mora, Founding Partner and CEO, DAS Desarrolo Arquitectura Sustentabilidad, Mexico City, Mexico – A company dedicated to the design and development of architectural and urban projects. Gerardo’s talk will focus on "Parklets": public green spaces, that convert street parking spots into vibrant community areas for people. http://bit.ly/WWGAsali
  • Scott Crouch, Founder, Mark43, New York, US – A law enforcement software that helps police better understand and manage gang violence-related crime. http://bit.ly/WWSCrouch
  • Matthew George, CEO, Bridj, Cambridge, US – The world’s first smart mass transit system. Bridj uses big data and network optimization to develop direct transit routes within a city to cut trip times in half without a car. http://bit.ly/WWMGeorge
  • Mohamed Hage, Founder, Lufa Farms, Montreal, Canada – An urban farm with the world's first commercial rooftop greenhouse, aiming to change the way cities produce food. http://bit.ly/WWMHage
  • Chad Houser, Executive Director, Cafe Momentum, Dallas, US –  A restaurant and training platform that provides post-release paid internships and support for juvenile offenders to foster successful re-entry into the urban community. – http://bit.ly/WWCHouser
  • Miloš Milisavljević, Founder, Strawberry Energy, Belgrade – The world’s first free public solar charger for phones, tablets and multi-media players, which also sparks serendipitous connections between city dwellers. http://bit.ly/WWMMilisavljevic
  • Pronita Saxena, Co-Founder, NextDrop, Hubli, India – A social enterprise that helps bringwater more efficiently to consumers by sending information about water availability using SMS. http://bit.ly/WWPSaxena
  • Meenu Vadera, Founder, Sakha Consulting Wings, Delhi, India –  A social enterprise aimed at providing safe transport solutions for women, by women, in urban India. – http://bit.ly/WWMVadera
  • Dr. Su Yungsheng, Director, Technical Development Center of Urban Development Planning Branch, Shanghai Tong Ji Urban Planning & Design Institute; Shanghai, China – In charge of the Etopia project that develops green housing options, intelligent, efficient and available to all. http://bit.ly/WWYSu  

Catherine Cuellar, CEO of the Dallas Arts District, and moderator of the 2014 WhatWorks series, said: “Each inspiring and innovative WhatWorks presenter generated lots of excitement from Summit attendees because these great ideas have already been implemented and proven. The unique combination of global government officials, thought leaders, scholars and entrepreneurs united by the New Cities Foundation are helping WhatWorks efforts to be scaled and replicated in cities worldwide.”

Naureen Kabir, Director of the New Cities Foundation’s Urban (co)LAB, said: “WhatWorks is a really exciting project. It takes months of research for our team to pick out the enterprising individuals who have each had a great idea to make cities better, and seen it through from start to finish. This year’s speakers drew huge crowds and sparked many animated discussions at the New Cities Summit in Dallas. Now that the videos are all online, even more urban thinkers and doers can have instant access to these pioneering innovations, and be inspired by them.”

This year’s New Cities Summit in Dallas gathered 820 participants from more than 50 countries. The E-book, which includes profiles of each WhatWorks speaker as well as videos and session summaries from the entire 3-day event, can be accessed at http://bit.ly/NCS2014Ebook

Ends

Press contact:

Marina Bradbury
Communications & Media Relations Manager
New Cities Foundation
mbradbury@newcitiesfoundation.org  
33 (0)6 17 79 17 72

About WhatWorks

WhatWorks is a series of short talks, presented each year at the New Cities Summit, by urban innovators across a variety of disciplines and regions. The talks are aimed at telling the stories of dynamic entrepreneurs who have had a notable impact on their urban community. Speakers have 6 minutes to engage a high-level audience and present the projects they have implemented to solve the great urban challenges of our time.

Access the highlights movie - http://bit.ly/whatworksmovie

Access the 2014 WhatWorks speaker profiles - www.newcitiessummit2014.org/what-works/

About the New Cities Summit

Organized by the New Cities Foundation, the New Cities Summit is the premier global leadership event on the future of cities. Fostering positive urban change, the high level gathering advocates cross-sector collaboration through network building, cutting-edge forums and lively discussion. The Summit showcases and disseminates the best ideas on the future of cities and generates concrete, scalable solutions capable of being adopted and replicated across the world. Following the inaugural Summit in Paris in 2012, last year’s event was hosted in São Paulo. The New Cities Summit 2014 was hosted in Dallas, Texas, USA, from June 17 - 19.

www.newcitiessummit2014.org

Twitter: #ncs2014

About the New Cities Foundation

The New Cities Foundation is a leading global non-profit organization with a vision to build more inclusive, dynamic and creative cities benefiting people and society. Its mission is to incubate, promote and scale urban innovations through collaborative partnerships between government, business, academia and civil society.

The New Cities Foundation hosts a number of leadership events on the most pressing urban issues, including its flagship event, the New Cities Summit The Organization also hosts smaller leadership events worldwide, such as Cityquest - KAEC Forum, a high level event focusing on the conception and building of new cities around the world (www.cityquest.net).

The Foundation’s applied research wing, the Urban (co)LAB, manages a number of projects including Task Forces, thought leadership activities and competitions. The Urban (co)LAB recently completed two Task Forces on Urban E-health in Rio de Janeiro and on Connected Commuting in San Jose, California. The Urban (co)LAB also manages the AppMyCity! contest for the world’s best new urban mobile app, and seeks out the most talented urban innovators for the WhatWorks series of talks hosted at the New Cities Summit.

An independent, non-profit organization, the New Cities Foundation was created in 2010 and is financed by its members and partners. Overall, its members include some of the most forward-thinking companies, universities, cities and city organizations from around the world. The New Cities Foundation’s Founding Members are Cisco and Ericsson. The Foundation is based in Geneva and its head office is in Paris.

For more information about the New Cities Foundation, please visit:

www.newcitiesfoundation.org

Facebook: /NewCitiesFoundation

Twitter: @newcitiesfound

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Quotes

Each inspiring and innovative WhatWorks presenter generated lots of excitement from Summit attendees because these great ideas have already been implemented and proven. The unique combination of global government officials, thought leaders, scholars and entrepreneurs united by the New Cities Foundation are helping WhatWorks efforts to be scaled and replicated in cities worldwide.
Catherine Cuellar, CEO of the Dallas Arts District, and moderator of the 2014 WhatWorks series
WhatWorks is a really exciting project. It takes months of research for our team to pick out the enterprising individuals who have each had a great idea to make cities better, and seen it through from start to finish. This year’s speakers drew huge crowds and sparked many animated discussions at the New Cities Summit in Dallas. Now that the videos are all online, even more urban thinkers and doers can have instant access to these pioneering innovations, and be inspired by them.
Naureen Kabir, Director of the New Cities Foundation’s Urban (co)LAB