Renowned Architecture and Design Firm NBBJ Joins New Cities Foundation
Paris, France and Seattle, WA – Wednesday, January 8, 2014. The New Cities Foundation today announced that global architecture and design firm NBBJ has joined its network of international members.
NBBJ is the first architecture and design firm to join the New Cities Foundation, an international non-profit organization dedicated to building better cities.
With its 70-year history of innovation in architecture, design and planning, NBBJ will support the New Cities Foundation in its mission to incubate, promote and scale urban innovations. Over the past five years, NBBJ has extended its design practice into new cities, opening studios in Shanghai and Pune, India, and significantly expanding client collaborations in Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Russia, while doubling the volume of work in key U.S. cities such as Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
John Rossant, Chairman and Founder of the New Cities Foundation, said: “Having NBBJ on board is fantastic news for us as we expand the work we do in shaping better cities of the future. Together with NBBJ, we’ll build stronger ties between the architecture and design community and urban leaders and thinkers from many other fields. This new collaboration will also boost our understanding of the role of the built environment within the increasingly connected systems of today’s cities, allowing us to plan projects and test solutions to ensure that our cities remain efficient, vibrant and inspiring places to live, work and play.”
Steve McConnell, Managing Partner of NBBJ, said: “The majority of humans now live in urban areas, with many cities experiencing unprecedented rates of growth. Cities worldwide are growing at the rate of two new inhabitants per second. As designers, we have an opportunity to put livability front and center and make people-centric decisions. We are thrilled to engage with this community of experts and innovators to shape the best urban practices of tomorrow.”
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Press contact:
Marina Bradbury
Communications & Media Relations Manager
New Cities Foundation
mbradbury@newcitiesfoundation.org
33 (0)6 17 79 17 72
Helen H. Dimoff
Principal / Communications Director
NBBJ
hdimoff@nbbj.com
+1 212 739 7235
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, which takes place this year in Dallas, Texas, on June 17 – 19, 2014 (www.newcitiessummit2014.org). The Foundation also hosts other 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 annual AppMyCity! Prize for the world’s best 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:
Facebook: /NewCitiesFoundation
Twitter: @newcitiesfound
About NBBJ
NBBJ creates innovative places and experiences for organizations worldwide, and designs communities, buildings and environments that enhance people’s lives. Founded in 1943, NBBJ is an industry leader in healthcare and corporate facilities and has a strong presence in the commercial, civic, science, education and sports markets. It has won numerous awards and has been recognized as one of the “greenest” architecture firms in the U.S. NBBJ has more than 700 employees in ten offices worldwide, including Beijing, Boston, Columbus, London, Los Angeles, New York, Pune, San Francisco, Seattle and Shanghai. Clients include Alibaba, Amazon, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Boeing, Cambridge University, Cleveland Clinic, GlaxoSmithKline, Google, Massachusetts General Hospital, Microsoft, Reebok, Salk Institute, Samsung, Stanford University, Starbucks, Telenor, Tencent and the Wellcome Trust. www.nbbj.com
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