
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


How can cities strengthen their business cases for net zero investment? And if their plans are brought together and aligned in a new and creative ways, could they generate greater scale, volume and predictability in ways that might make them more attractive to investors?
To answer these and other questions, the Connected Places Catapult has teamed up with the UK's Core Cities and London Councils to create the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission. The aim is to the leverage the combined scale and clout of the UK's cities to mobilise investment into low and net-zero carbon projects across all of the UK's largest cities, not just individual ones.
As an initial step we have commissioned research to assess and analyse the low carbon investment that cities need, and the associated investment cases. The findings of the report will be launched at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow and will look at the following sectors; commercial and industrial property, waste and electricity generation, and transport.
In this episode we take a look at transport, which contributes almost a quarter (22%) of the UK's green house gas emissions. There are of course different modes of transport – cars, buses, lorries, trains – and they each contribute emissions in different ways too. In a UK context you also have to bear in mind that local authorities have limited impact on most of those modes, and zero impact on some.
So the Commission has been focussing on where councils can have the most impact through policy and investment:
Prof. Greg Clark, who chairs the Commission, speaks to Cllr Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council about what this looks like from the perspective of one of the UK's core cities. We also meet Andrea Fernandez, Managing Director of C40 Cities Climate Leadership and specialist in climate finance in cities, as well as Asif Ghafoor, CEO of Iduna, a company playing a leading role in Greater Manchester's electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)
Show notes:
To read the Joint Declaration of the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission on our website. You can also watch a recording of the launch of the Commission, which was held on 1st July, which included a presentation on the initial findings of the research report.
To read and download the Catapult's Net Zero Places Innovation Brief, which explores a number of new market opportunities in the active travel sector, click here.
To register for our Pathway to Net Zero Investment event on the 21st October, where the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission will be presenting its findings, click here.
You can also learn more about the organisations featured on this episode;
If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on Connected Places, please email: [email protected]. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, please sign up to our newsletter!
Follow the show!
Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.
In this instalment of our City Leader's dialogues, "The net zero road to COP26 and beyond", we speak to Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol; the largest city in the south west of England and a hotbed of innovation, creativity and discovery going back centuries.
Before the industrial revolution catapulted cities like Manchester and Liverpool to prominence, Bristol was Britain's third most prosperous city and throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries it remained a key trading gateway to the wider world. To this day Bristol remains a uniquely global city with cosmopolitan connectivity and dynamism in its DNA. In more recent years its innovation and technology economy has shaped what's come to be known as Silicon Gorge – comprising the wider regional economies of Bristol, Swindon, Gloucester and Bath, now ranked as the fifth largest high-tech region in Europe. Behind London, Bristol is now the fourth most popular city for startups in the UK.
Yet this globally-minded city also has a reputation as a progressive city where activism on the legacy of colonialism and slavery through to social justice, urban sustainability and tackling climate change have shaped its civic culture. So in this fourth episode in our City Leaders dialogues that we've been holding in the run up to the COP 26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow this November, Prof. Greg Clark speaks to Mayor Marvin Rees. He asked him how Bristol is positioning itself for the monumental changes ahead; both the challenge of achieving net zero, and the opportunities that innovation and digitisation are bringing to the city? And what does a fair and just transition to net zero look like for a city with some of the highest levels in England of both wealth and deprivation?
This conversation was recorded live as part of our City Leaders Dialogue and you can watch the full video here.
Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)
Show notes:
To read more about the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission, founded by the Connected Places Catapult, London Councils and Core Cities, click here.
To learn more about the work of the Coalition for Urban Transitions, click here.
You can also register for our Innovation Places Summit on 23rd September, as well as our Active Travel Summit on 29th September.
If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on Connected Places, please email: [email protected]. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, please sign up to our newsletter!
Follow the show!
Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.
In this instalment of our City Leader's dialogues, "The net zero road to COP26 and beyond", we speak to Jan Vapaavpouri, former Mayor of Helsinki; the world's northern most city region with over a million people and the most northerly capital in Europe.
Helsinki is often referred to as Finland's only metropolis, the Pearl of the Baltic sea, and after Stockholm and Oslo it's the third largest in the Nordic countries. Famously, Helsinki has one of the world's highest standards of living and consistently ranks among the world's most liveable cities. In July this year Time magazine ranked Helsinki as one of the greatest places in the world in 2021 and the Boston Consulting Group ranked it as the third best city in the world to live, behind New York and London.
Yet Finland urbanised quite late compared to most European cities with the population tripling since the 1970's and the arrival of the subway system the same decade. In recent years the city has become a world leader not only in public health and wellbeing, but also environmental sustainability and digital innovation. And now, as cities around the world are adapting to a rapidly changing global climate Helsinki, like most other large cities, has a suite of ambitious plans to reduce carbon emissions and achieve net zero by 2035. Yet Jan Vapaavpouri has attracted a lot of attention for his vision of simply making Helsinki 'functional'.
So in this third episode in our City Leaders dialogues that we've been holding in the run up to the COP 26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow this November, Prof. Greg Clark met the Mayor of Helsinki as he prepared to leave office. He asked the Mayor how Helsinki is positioning itself for the monumental changes ahead; both the challenge of achieving net zero, but also the opportunities that digitisation is bringing to the city? How should the political leadership of a city bring people along with it? And is the intention to become a 'functional' city a bland sounding slogan, or surprisingly compelling vision?
This conversation was recorded live as part of our City Leaders Dialogue and you can watch the full video here.
Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)
Show notes:
To read our CEO's recent blog on the role that innovation hubs can play in accelerating the UK Government's ambition to level up the economy, click here.
You can register for the live City Leader Dialogues with the Mayor of Bristol, Mayor Marvin Rees on 7th September.
You can also register for our Innovation Places Summit on 23rd September, as well as our Active Travel Summit on 29th September.
If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on Connected Places, please email: [email protected]. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, please sign up to our newsletter!
Follow the show!
Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.
In recent months we've been exploring one of the most exciting areas of growth and opportunity within urban mobility, and why it matters so much to the Connected Places Catapult, and the future of healthy, connected and net zero places.
Active travel is about creating options for us to move more. This can have a massive impact on our physical and mental health, the air quality in our overly congested cities by getting more commuters out of cars and onto bikes and footpaths, and the UK's collective effort of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
In this third episode in our active travel podcast series we continue the conversation with businesses, place leaders and campaigners for better and more active travel. We ask what seizing this potentially huge opportunity might look and feel like on our streets and in our neighbourhoods. How do we design our public spaces for more active travel? How do we ensure that change is accessible to everyone? And what are the gaps in our existing knowledge base when it comes to understanding even the current market?
In this episode we hear from Prof. Rachel Aldred, Director of the Active Travel Academy at the University of Westminster, Susan Claris, Associate Director at Arup and Vice President of Living Streets, Isabelle Clement, Director of Wheels for Wellbeing, and Ben Knowles, CEO of Pedal Me.
Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)
Follow the show!
Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.
Show notes
Register now for our Active Travel Summit on 29th September!
You can click on these links to read the two UK government reports that are referenced in the episode – Gear Change: A Bold Vision for Cycling and Transport, and Decarbonising Transport: Setting The Challenge.
To read and download the Catapult's Net Zero Places Innovation Brief, which explores a number of new market opportunities in the active travel sector, click here.
The Active Travel Academy has co-authored a report out this month on the benefits of cargo bikes in London, which was supported by Pedal Me. You can download the report here.
To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, please sign up to our newsletter!
How does innovation happen in a place? What is it about a district, a neighbourhood, a cluster or a corridor that makes it possible for innovation to flourish? And what is the role of local authorities in curating innovation within and between places?
In the 2021 Budget, the UK Chancellor, Rishi Sunak MP announced a commitment "to stimulating private sector investment to create jobs, develop hubs of innovation, and revitalise local areas and regions across every part of the UK". This was followed in July by the launch of the UK Government's Innovation Strategy which aims to make the UK a global hub for innovation by 2035.
The innovation economy has become one of the defining features of the economic cycle, especially the role of innovation in the post-pandemic recovery and the wider 'levelling up' agenda. Yet there are stark differences between the innovation activity in different parts of the UK, and there is renewed focus on enabling the innovation economy to flourish right across the country.
This is the second episode in our Hubs of Innovation podcast series which began with two reports that the Catapult recently published, 1) Hubs of Innovation which looks at the role of innovation hubs in the COVID-adjusted economy, and 2) the accompanying Playbook for Place Leaders, a practical guide for how to establish or grow an innovation hub. In this episode we explore the role of local authorities curators in the innovation economy.
This episode is an edited version of an online event that the Catapult held on 20th July, 2021, "Local Authorities: Curating Places of Innovation", which is also available to watch in full online.
Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)
Show notes:
Our Hubs of Innovation podcast series comes out of two reports that the Catapult recently published, 1) Hubs of Innovation which looks at the role of innovation hubs in the COVID-adjusted economy, and 2) the accompanying Playbook for Place Leaders, a practical guide for how to establish or grow an innovation hub. Both reports are free to download on our website.
You can register for our Innovation Places Summit on 23rd September, as well as our Active Travel Summit on 29th September.
If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on Connected Places, please email: [email protected]. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, please sign up to our newsletter!
Follow the show!
Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.
In this instalment of our City Leader's dialogues, "The net zero road to COP26 and beyond", we speak to the Leader of Manchester City Council in the north of England; one of the most important cities in the history of the industrial revolution and the story of modern Britain. For centuries Manchester has been a hive of innovation, and the urban and industrial technology that's come out of Manchester has had a profound impact not just on the rest of Britain, but on much of the world.
Manchester is the home of the UK's first canal and its first passenger railway. It's the birthplace of atomic theory, the programmable computer and the world's thinnest material, graphene. It's a city defined not only by science and industry, but huge amounts of creativity and dynamism. So it's no surprise that going back 150 years the much-loved symbol of Manchester has been the industrious worker bee.
And now, as cities around the world are adapting not just to the fourth industrial revolution but a rapidly changing global climate, Manchester is aiming to be a net-zero carbon city by 2038, 12 years before the rest of the UK. So in this second extended summer episode, we meet the Leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese. Greg spoke to Sir Richard as part of the City Leaders dialogues that he's holding in the run up to the COP 26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow in November.
How is Manchester positioning itself for the monumental changes ahead; both the challenge of achieving net zero, but also the opportunities that digitisation is bringing to the city? What will a liveable, sustainable and thriving Manchester look like as we begin to recover from a pandemic? And how will the political leadership of this globally connected hive of a city, bring people along on the next phase of Manchester's journey.
Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)
Show notes:
To read our CEO's recent blog on the role that innovation hubs can play in accelerating the UK Government's ambition to level up the economy, click here.
You can register for the live City Leader Dialogues with the Mayor of Bristol, Mayor Marvin Rees on 7th September.
You can also register for our Innovation Places Summit on 23rd September, as well as our Active Travel Summit on 29th September.
If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on Connected Places, please email: [email protected]. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, please sign up to our newsletter!
Follow the show!
Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.
Cities aren't so much becoming smart, they've always been smart and the history of urban technology is often forgotten when it comes to cities. Yet even the most global and future-facing of cities are living legacies of long histories. Taking a long view of innovation can help us think more creatively in the present about the many possible futures that a city needs to prepare for. Whether it's recovering from a global pandemic, responding to a rapidly changing climate, repivoting an economy to net zero, or improving the trust between city government and citizens, technology will play a defining role.
In this extended episode of Connected Places we explore what this means for one of the world's most global and iconic of cities, New York, and few people are more qualified than our tour guide when it comes to understanding the role that urban technology has played, and continues to play, in New York's story.
Rit Aggarwala has advised cities all over the world on urban technology and sustainable planning, including his hometown of New York where he played a key role in Michael Bloomberg's administration when he was Mayor of New York. Rit is an adjunct professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and a Senior Urban Tech Fellow at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. He was also a founding member of the team that built Sidewalk Labs, an urban innovation company founded by Google.
What's so insightful about Rit's reflections is that the story of New York is similar to the story of many other cities because the questions he's grappling with apply to any city: How has technology played a role in the evolution of New York, what are the technologies that will most likely shape its future, and how is the city's leadership preparing for that future? How do you ensure that all New Yorkers can participate in the digital economy? How do city leaders bring people with them in a time of growing mistrust in public institutions and concerns over privacy and civil liberties? And how consequential is the role of leadership, both political and business, in shaping the future of a city?
Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)
Show notes:
To read our CEO's recent blog on the role that innovation hubs can play in accelerating the UK Government's ambition to level up the economy, click here.
You can register for the live City Leader Dialogues with the Mayor of Bristol, Mayor Marvin Rees on 7th September.
You can also register for our Innovation Places Summit on 23rd September, as well as our Active Travel Summit on 29th September.
If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on Connected Places, please email: [email protected]. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, please sign up to our newsletter!
Follow the show!
Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.
How can cities strengthen their business cases for net zero investment? And if their plans are brought together and aligned in a new and creative ways, could they generate greater scale, volume and predictability in ways that might make them more attractive to investors?
To answer these and other questions, the Connected Places Catapult has teamed with a number of partners to create the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission. The aim is to the leverage the combined scale and clout of the UK's cities to mobilise investment into low and net-zero carbon projects across all of the UK's largest cities, not just individual ones.
As an initial step we have commissioned research to assess and analyse the low carbon investment that cities need, and the associated investment cases. The findings of the report will be launched at COP26 with a series of dissemination events being planned in the months leading up to November. The aim of the commission is to;
This episode is a summarised overview of the work of the commission using audio from the launch event that was held on 1st July, 2021 chaired by Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of the Centre for Cities and attended by Prof. Greg Clark, Chair of the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission, Cllr Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, Niall Bolger, CEO of the London Borough of Hounslow, Rachel Dickie, Executive Director for Investment at Grosvenor Britain and Ireland, Shuen Chan, Head of ESG at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM).
Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)
Show notes:
To read the Joint Declaration of the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission on our website. You can also watch a recording of the launch of the Commission, which was held on 1st July, which included a presentation on the initial findings of the research report.
To read and download the Catapult's Net Zero Places Innovation Brief, which explores a number of new market opportunities in the active travel sector, click here.
You can register for the live City Leader Dialogues with Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council on Monday 26th July, and Mayor of Bristol, Mayor Marvin Rees on 7th September.
You can also register for our Innovation Places Summit on 23rd September, as well as our Active Travel Summit on 29th September.
If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on Connected Places, please email: [email protected]. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, please sign up to our newsletter!
Follow the show!
Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.
The physical and digital infrastructure that connects and powers our towns, cities and transport systems is something we don't often think about until emergency strikes. Which is why in countries all around the world the COVID pandemic has refocussed our attention on the resilience and adaptability of our infrastructure. Yet ironically, how we design, build and invest in infrastructure is at the heart of the post-pandemic recovery. Even before COVID, the 2020s were set to become the most consequential decade in living memory for infrastructure investment, especially for new, low carbon technologies and the industries of the future as we re-pivot our economies towards new zero.
In this episode we look at the global investment patterns and infrastructure needs that will shape the coming decade, and the opportunities that digitisation brings in decarbonising our economies and achieving net zero carbon emissions. What might this mean for those larger connectivity projects like ports, airports and critical rail infrastructure? What's the role of government and industry - where do public and private sector responsibilities lie? Prof. Greg Clark CBE, Chair of the Connected Places Catapult speaks to Nick Chism, an expert in the field of infrastructure investment and delivery.
Nick was Global Chair of Infrastructure, Government and Healthcare at KPMG, where he worked on infrastructure and new technologies in global markets across 120 countries worldwide. He represented KPMG on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the CBI Infrastructure Board, and at the World Economic Forum.
More recently, he was Chief Business Adviser and Director General of Enterprise at the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy where his portfolio overed business engagement, growth and investment. Nick is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and Executive Chair of IPFA, the global professional association for infrastructure and energy project financing. We're also very lucky to have Nick on the Board of the Connected Places Catapult.
Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)
Show notes:
If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on Connected Places, please email: [email protected]. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
To read and download the Catapult's Net Zero Places Innovation Brief, which explores a number of new market opportunities in the active travel sector, click here.
Our Connections Cafés are our series of SME innovation support webinars that explore developments and opportunities in the built environment and mobility sectors that enable new levels of physical, digital and social connectedness. Our next café is on the 14th July and will be focussing on knowledge exchange and collaboration between SMEs and Universities. You can register here.
We're working with the Department for Transport, to help deliver their 2021 Transport Research and Innovation Grants for Zero Emission Flight. The department will be awarding a minimum of 12 funding grants of £50k to organisations doing R&D in this space, and on the 12th July we're running a webinar that will provide further information, support and guidance to interested businesses You can register here.
To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, please sign up to our newsletter!
Follow the show!
Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.
We're running a series of dialogues with Mayors from around the world in the lead up to the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow later this year. The series was launched this week at the World Cities Summit 2021, which was hosted by our partner, the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) and held virtually for the first time. Over the coming months the Catapult will be convening a series of dialogues with city Mayors from around the world about the road to a resilient and green recovery. Each dialogue will be facilitated by Prof Greg Clark, the Chair of the Connected Places Catapult.
The effects of the COVID pandemic are far from over but city leaders have already begun planning for the recovery. And with the grand urban challenges of climate change, population growth and quality of life still very much in the in-tray, that recovery needs to be both resilient and green.
In the first conversation in the series, we begin with a city that is often lauded as one of the most liveable in the world: Melbourne, one of Australia's urban jewels known for its parks, beaches, thriving cultural life and innovative economy.
But Melbourne is also a city that has had to adapt, pivot and embrace change throughout its history, and no more than during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode we meet the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sally Capp to hear how the City of Melbourne has actually used the disruption of lockdown to fast track it's environmental sustainability programme. We ask how Melbourne's world-renown innovators and entrepreneurs are shaping the city's embrace of a digitised future. How is the city's innovation economy and its iconic global port helping to make Melbourne a more connected place in which to do business? And how is the Lord Mayor taking Melburnians with her on the road to a greener and more resilient future?
Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)
Show notes:
You can learn more here about what the City of Melbourne is doing on climate action and a list of climate change impacts on the city region, as well as the city's Climate Change Mitigation Strategy.
If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on Connected Places, please email: [email protected]. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
To read and download the Catapult's Net Zero Places Innovation Brief, which explores a number of new market opportunities in the active travel sector, click here.
If you're an SME looking to understand the impact of COVID-19 on your business, the wider supply chain and what the road to recovery might look like, come along to our next SME Masterclass: Rebalancing the Supply Chain in COVID Recovery being held on 29th June. To register for free, click here.
On the 1st July we'll be launching our UK Cities Climate Investment Commission, in partnership with Core Cities and London Councils. We'll be presenting some early-stage findings on the estimated Net Zero investment need of the UK's Cities. It's a piece of work that we've commissioned in the run-up to the COP26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow later this year. To register for free, click here.
To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, please sign up to our newsletter!
Follow the show!
Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.
From the publisher's feed

379 Listeners

415 Listeners

110 Listeners

664 Listeners

8,362 Listeners

2 Listeners

13 Listeners

3,132 Listeners

1,193 Listeners

940 Listeners

454 Listeners

167 Listeners

95 Listeners

2,511 Listeners

1,076 Listeners