Cities Today launches roundtable series for city leaders

The Cities Today Institute, which supports a network of innovation, transport and resilience leaders, has unveiled a programme of ten digital roundtables to assist communities in their recovery from COVID-19.

The focus will be on post-pandemic planning through the sharing of experiences among peer groups of city Chief Information/Innovation Officers, Chief Resilience Officers, deputy mayors and directors of transport. The format online will follow the model of the City Leadership Forums which Cities Today launched in 2015.

The roundtables will cover public transit, including rider tracing, infrastructure upgrades, and the logistics needed for key workers and vulnerable populations; how to make municipal IT systems resilient and fit for the digital delivery of local government business; how to adapt municipal and office buildings; and how data can drive decision-making and resilience planning around managing coronavirus and future outbreaks.

“Leaders in municipalities around the world have led the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and are now focusing on how to mitigate the effects of it,” said Bob Bennett, Chair of the Cities Today Institute. “We are convening municipal leaders for short periods of time and recording the hard-won lessons they have learned so that when they are able to reflect, we can provide them with tools to continue to develop resilient communities that will be better prepared for future crises.”

The roundtables will begin on May 14th with a focus in North America and Europe on the mobility and logistics issues thrown up by the crisis. Speakers and participants include Michael Replogle, Deputy Commissioner, New York Department of Transportation; Miguel Gaspar, Deputy Mayor of Mobility, Lisbon; Karina Ricks, Director of Mobility and Infrastructure, Pittsburgh; Pascal Smet, State Secretary for Urbanism, Brussels; Piero Pelizarro, Chief Resilience Officer, Milan; and Anthony Townsend, acclaimed author of Smart Cities and Ghost Road: Beyond the Driverless Car.

Subsequent sessions for city innovation and information officers will be led by Kimberly Walker LaGrue, Chief Information Officer (CIO), New Orleans; Mark Wheeler, CIO, Philadelphia; Gary Brantley, CIO, Atlanta; Raffaele Gareri, Chief Digital Officer, Rome; and Theo Blackwell, Chief Digital Officer, London. Sessions will run throughout the next three months and will be covered by our editorial team (video recordings will also be available for members).

Cities Today team news

Cities Today is also pleased to announce a new addition to the editorial team with Sarah Wray joining as editor. Sarah has extensive experience of covering the digitalisation of city operations in particular IoT, mobility and the built environment from her work at TM Forum and more recently as editor of SmartCitiesWorld.

“We are delighted to welcome someone with Sarah’s experience and enthusiasm to head the content team,” said Richard Forster, editor-in-chief, Cities Today. “We are rolling out a new Cities Today website as well as a members’ portal for the Cities Today Institute which will include research reports and access to our new knowledge hub. Sarah will play a big part in driving the next phase of development of our knowledge-sharing tools for cities.”

Our departing editor Jonathan Andrews will return to a press and PR role after ten years’ service as a journalist and editor with Cities Today and PFD Media. Jonathan was part of the launch team for UN-Habitat’s magazine Urban World before moving to join PFD in 2010 for the launch of Cities Today.

“His interviews with the new CIOs and CDOs that cities have been appointing have been instrumental in leading us to launch a global CIO network,” added Forster. “We will miss him and wish him well in his move away from journalism.”

Jonathan can be contacted on LinkedIn.

The digital roundtables are invitation-only and registrations are pending approval. Cities Today Institute members can click here to register. Cities and other guests who wish to join the Institute and receive further information, please click here.