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From the Ground Up: Building Resilient Cities
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00:00Thank you very much for being here and to welcome with me our speaker for this session today, speaking about
00:09resilient cities.
00:11So we have around the table Edouard Bouygues, Deputy CEO of Group Bouygues,
00:17who intervened on several industries, but he will tell you more about it.
00:23Please welcome with me also Sasha Stolp, which is the Director of Innovation of the Department of Engineering of the
00:31city of Amsterdam.
00:33And finally, we have Andrea Fernandez, representing the C40 network of cities.
00:50So, everything is okay with the micros? Okay.
00:54I don't know.
00:56So, maybe to introduce this session, my first question will go to Sasha.
01:04Sasha, when we met for the first time for the preparation of this session, you said me something that surprised
01:11me a lot.
01:12You said that resilience has nothing to do with technique.
01:16We are at AdViva Technology, so could you please elaborate a little bit of this idea?
01:22Yes, of course I can.
01:24Well, over the many years, I've done many pilots and some failed and some really made the big change.
01:32But as I want to summarize all this experience into one core insight, it is not that innovation never happens
01:44alone.
01:45It takes five essential roles and one invisible powerful force that connects them all.
01:53So, let me introduce them to you, because it's so much more important than technique itself and we forget it.
02:00Well, first of all, we have, of course, the initiator.
02:04And this is the person who dares to start, who sees a problem, feels it deeply, and says, this can't
02:12wait.
02:13Without, nothing begins.
02:15And then we have the inventor, the creative mind.
02:20The ones who images a different way.
02:23A new idea, a fresh concept.
02:26The inventor gives us the what we are going to do.
02:30And next comes the builder.
02:32The hands and the hearts.
02:34The one who says, let me try, test and build.
02:38And the builder brings the how.
02:40And then we have the legitimizer.
02:44The respected voice.
02:46The one with the platform who says, this matters and I will support it.
02:51And they create the space for innovation.
02:54And the funny part is, you have those four and nothing happens.
02:59Because they don't speak the same language.
03:02They don't have the same rhythm.
03:04They don't have the same interests.
03:07And that's when comes the five roles in.
03:10And that's how, what I call the mediator of innovation.
03:14The ones, the one who helped to build the trust.
03:18While in France you can probably say, c'est moi.
03:22But then, it is the coach.
03:25It is the connector.
03:26And it is also sometimes the referee.
03:29But always this guardian of trust.
03:32Because if we talk about creating resilient cities.
03:35We must talk about trust.
03:38And trust is just the really currency.
03:42And it can't be bought.
03:43It can't be downloaded.
03:45And it can't be forced.
03:48Imagine.
03:49The initiator, he needs to have trust.
03:53That the inventor will come up with something meaningful.
03:57The inventor needs to trust the builder.
04:00That he stay true to the idea.
04:03And the builder needs to trust the legitimizer.
04:07That he will stay true to the idea.
04:09Support it.
04:11And promote work.
04:13And the legitimizer needs to trust.
04:16To trust the other tree.
04:17To know that they are not rumbling around.
04:20But creating something really.
04:23And only with trust.
04:25People stop defending their territory.
04:28They share.
04:30They listen.
04:30They move.
04:32And then you see the beauty of trust.
04:35Because it doesn't lie in not making failures.
04:39But it's in co-creation.
04:41In co-innovation.
04:43It's not perfect.
04:45But it is adaptive.
04:47It is comprehensive.
04:49And that's impactful.
04:54Maybe to launch the discussion, Andrea.
04:58What Sasha just said about her experience from innovation in the city of Amsterdam.
05:06You work a lot also with developing countries.
05:08This model of developing resilience and innovate for more resilient cities.
05:13Do you observe the same issues in developing countries?
05:17Thanks so much.
05:18So I think some of the key challenges that we see working with our members.
05:23Which are about 100 cities.
05:25Half of them are in developing countries.
05:27Is really issues of related to how vulnerable these cities are.
05:34And what capacity they have.
05:35So I think the kind of climate issues that cities around the world are facing.
05:40Are similar.
05:41Flooding.
05:41Extreme heat.
05:44Droughts.
05:45Wildfires.
05:46You've got 1.6 billion city residents around the world.
05:50That are going to face extreme heat by 2050.
05:53So these are global issues that are affecting everyone.
05:55The challenge when you get to an emerging and developing economy.
05:59Is just very different context.
06:03So we've done some analysis of how climate change will impact our cities in the global south.
06:09And have found that the impact of climate change will be 10 times in those cities.
06:14Than what it is in the global north.
06:16Why?
06:17It's because of this context.
06:19The cities have higher poverty rates.
06:21Lower standard of living.
06:22Higher inequality.
06:23Much more informality.
06:25Informality in terms of jobs.
06:27But also informality in terms of housing and communities.
06:32You have poor communities living by a river.
06:34Because that's where their subsistence is.
06:37The day a flood happens.
06:38That's it.
06:39Their home.
06:39Their livelihood is gone.
06:41So these are real structural challenges.
06:43That are really difficult to tackle.
06:47They require time.
06:49They require really strong urban planning.
06:51But I think the second area where we can do a lot more.
06:54Is relates to capacity.
06:56And that is that institutional capacity.
06:59That openness to innovation.
07:00That knowledge.
07:01That expertise.
07:02That understanding of what's out there.
07:04How do I go about it?
07:06This is the challenge I have in my city.
07:07How can I approach it?
07:08How can I work with the private sector?
07:10And then the finance capacity is a major issue as well.
07:14Understanding how you can get funding for your project.
07:17How you can work with private sector.
07:19How you can create the kind of partnerships.
07:21To access the finance you need to implement these projects.
07:25Thank you.
07:26Thank you Andrea.
07:27And maybe handing over to Edward.
07:32Our guest that in Sasha's model you would be the builder.
07:37Meaning that.
07:38Yeah I think we're the builder.
07:40And sometimes the innovator.
07:43And so as a builder and innovator.
07:47Definitely a solution provider.
07:49Could you give us some example you strongly believe in.
07:53To build more resilient cities.
07:55Sure.
07:56So as I've heard and I completely agree with that.
08:03There are more and more climatic events.
08:06And it's becoming more and more difficult.
08:08To live in a city.
08:11That you could consider resilient.
08:13Because there's flooding.
08:14There's fires.
08:15I mean.
08:16It's happening more and more.
08:18And we can see it in the news.
08:19More and more.
08:20And within the Bui Group.
08:22Maybe I should do a quick description of what we do.
08:25We're a multinational company.
08:29That has six different activities.
08:32Construction.
08:33Roadworks.
08:34Real estate.
08:36Telecoms.
08:37Television.
08:38Energy and services.
08:40And there's also railworks.
08:41Within the roadwork company Colas.
08:44And so I think we can bring a panel of solutions.
08:48To help with this.
08:49Of course we don't have all the solutions.
08:51To everything.
08:51But we can help.
08:52And we have some elements of innovation.
08:56That can help decarbonize.
08:57For example.
08:58When you use thermal energy.
09:01To heat buildings.
09:02Instead of just burning coal.
09:06Or when you store rainwater.
09:10To use it later.
09:11Later on.
09:12Instead of just letting it run off.
09:14And having more water usage.
09:16So we have lots of different solutions within the group.
09:20I saw a figure that earlier.
09:2350% of the world population lives in cities today.
09:27And this number is supposed to go up to 70% in 2050.
09:31So we really need cities that work.
09:35That are resilient.
09:37That can resist major climatic events.
09:42And we need them to be comfortable.
09:44And nice to live in.
09:46Because you can also build some kind of concept.
09:49That works technically.
09:51But that's not somewhere where you'd like to live.
09:53We need them.
09:54We need both of these things to work.
09:55I believe.
10:00And maybe to react.
10:03Andrea.
10:04Did you see some solutions that you would like to speak about?
10:09Maybe focusing on nature-based solutions?
10:13Sure.
10:15And Edward quickly showed me a brochure of the incredible variety of things that Buij does.
10:22So this is what...
10:24There it is.
10:25This is what we need more of, right?
10:27Come and see it on our stand later on.
10:29Okay.
10:30Everyone come and see.
10:31This is what we need, right?
10:34Companies to bring that innovation and to really look for those creative solutions.
10:38So it's really fantastic to see.
10:39So nature-based solutions is a major part of what all of our cities are trying to do.
10:47And why?
10:47It's because nature-based solutions have all of these co-benefits.
10:52So if you're investing in nature, you're not just removing carbon dioxide from the air,
10:56which for us as a climate organization is important, but you're also improving air quality.
11:02You're cooling a city.
11:04You're improving biodiversity and creating new habitats.
11:08You're creating potential for rainwater harvesting and flood protection.
11:15You're creating jobs in the planting and the maintenance.
11:19And frankly, you're making cities happier.
11:22There are studies that greener cities are happier cities.
11:25So these are the kinds of solutions we want to see.
11:27Whether it's green roofs, green walls, rainwater gardens, just urban tree planting, green corridors.
11:40There's lots of different solutions and it really depends on the context of the city, what's appropriate.
11:44And I'll just give a couple examples and I'll take some from the Global South to show the kind of
11:50innovation.
11:51So in the city of Medellin, there are 30 green corridors around the city, which are achieving all of these
11:59co-benefits we talked about,
12:00but are actually proving to reduce the temperature in the city by two degrees Celsius, which is quite incredible.
12:08And the other amazing social innovation there is that the city has worked with the Botanic Garden to hire young
12:18disadvantaged people from disadvantaged communities
12:23to actually learn how to plant and take care of the green corridor.
12:27So there's some social innovations too that are great to see.
12:30Another city is Freetown, Freetown in Sierra Leone.
12:34It is a very poor city.
12:36It has a very small municipal budget.
12:39So they've had to get really creative.
12:41The city had to experience massive flooding, which basically washed away.
12:48It created mudslides and lots of people lost their lives many years ago.
12:53So the mayor decided, okay, I want to build a million trees.
12:57So how do you do this when you don't have much of a budget?
13:00Well, they worked with residents to plant trees and paid those residents to take care of those trees.
13:08They sort of monetized the trees.
13:09They created tracking systems.
13:11So residents were paid as the trees grew.
13:15It wasn't just a one-time thing.
13:16And then they turned to carbon credits.
13:19They turned to companies to make donations, some CSR there.
13:24And really created a self-sustaining model where they are greening the city.
13:30I think they're very close to their one million tree target.
13:33And again, bringing enormous benefits and really strengthening urban resilience.
13:37So there's some different innovations that we see there with something that can be very traditional, like nature-based solutions.
13:44But we need a lot more innovation in this space to help us monitor, track, to analyze what are the
13:51best solutions for any given city.
13:55Thank you, Andrea.
13:57And maybe going back to Sasha.
14:00So we hear that there are companies providing solutions, that solutions are emerging all across the globe.
14:06So from the perspective of a city government, what is the next step?
14:12So you talked about innovation, but how can we innovate into city planning, also in public procurement, to bring this
14:21project in our city today?
14:24Yes, well, it's exactly where we started, where I started it, because procurement is also a system.
14:31So it's about how do we change the system?
14:34How do we change the rules within the system?
14:38So let's go back.
14:39We have the initiator, can be a city too, can be city procurement, who pushes the start button.
14:47Then we have an innovator, who had an invention.
14:51And we have a builder, who can create things.
14:54And then we have a legitimizer, who protects it.
14:57And that can be a government, but it can also be a large private entity.
15:02For instance, the Solar Impulse Foundation here in France is a big one.
15:07And we have a mediator of innovation, who cultivates that trust.
15:13So if you have all these five roles, and we combine this with bold and beautiful ideas around, let's say,
15:20water, which you have talked about.
15:22Because it's water that keeps cities resilient.
15:25And what you see, if you combine all those, you see that an idea becomes a plan.
15:30And a plan can become a prototype.
15:34And when you have a prototype, you can create a really working thing also within cities.
15:41Something that people can touch, touch, they can trust it, and they can believe in.
15:46And once people start believing in things, truly believe, really believe, that things can be better and that there are
15:56new options,
15:57that's the moment when the people in the system start changing.
16:02Not because something is obliged, because you have to do it, but because people wanted it to.
16:08If you are here in Paris, we are talking about greening the streets.
16:12It's now going about 500 streets.
16:15That's an amazing thing.
16:17But that's because the people of Paris want their streets to be green.
16:21And they've seen what it can mean if the streets are green.
16:25You can feel it.
16:26We all stood in the line here in front of the door.
16:30And then it was really hot.
16:32And if you had a tree nearby, it was much better.
16:36You can feel it.
16:37You can truly feel it, what makes the difference.
16:40Well, and if we do that, you see that things are scaling up in procurement, in regulation, and in everything
16:47that we do as investments.
16:50And that's how we can build up these green cities from the ground up.
16:55And that's why we're here today, aren't we?
16:59And, Edward, from the perspective of a solution provider, this issue of procurement, how could we change the system to
17:09give you more space maybe to innovate and to put your innovation at scale in the projects?
17:15Well, we bring some solutions that are very simple.
17:20I mean, there are some things that can already be done and that are not being deployed fast enough or
17:26fast enough to solve the global warming problem, for example.
17:31We have many easy things that are not a technological breakthrough that exist and that can be implemented.
17:38It's just that they take time.
17:41They need lots of authorizations and a little bit of money, too.
17:46So, you know, cities need to do this gradually with the money they've got when they have it to implement,
17:56for example, you know, a city heating system, city cooling systems.
18:01Some cities already have them, some cities don't.
18:04And you need to implement these things that are expensive and that take a lot of time to build and
18:08to plan.
18:09We bring most of these solutions with our different branches.
18:14We also we're also starting to think about solutions as a system.
18:21So not just one or two different things that we just are going to sell and build.
18:26We're also bringing, for example, you're talking about heat and the problem of standing outside on a street that's made
18:37of, you know, asphalt and that doesn't have any green, any trees or anything.
18:42It's almost unbearable in the summer now.
18:45We have teams that can redesign completely some of these centers and cities that can, you know, change the road
18:56with something that absorbs rain and that restitutes the humidity slowly and cools the air.
19:04We can, of course, do all the greening of these places with our different teams.
19:10And we have different solutions that can reduce air conditioning needs.
19:15And when you reduce air conditioning needs or reduce exhaustion of heat that's required by all these systems.
19:23So I think, of course, there's not just one solution.
19:26You need many solutions to be implemented and that can help cool down the cities, but also help biodiversity come
19:34back in the cities and just have life as it should be in the most natural way possible.
19:43And another question, maybe again to you, Edward, how can we intervene on the city that is already built?
19:52We talked about developing countries where cities are still expanding, but in very dense city, how can we change what
20:03exists already?
20:04So in the We Group, we've built entire cities from scratch.
20:09Yes, it's easier and it's faster because you don't have to destroy things and, you know, you have a clean
20:15slate.
20:17But I have to say, sometimes it doesn't feel very natural either.
20:20You know, an entire new city is something that needs, you know, patine, patina, if I can say it like
20:27that.
20:27The soul.
20:29The soul.
20:30We have lots of solutions around renovation.
20:32I mean, I think renovation is one of the key elements.
20:37Instead of building new things and using more land to build new things, there are so many buildings, including public
20:46buildings,
20:46that can be renovated to be used better or used in different ways.
20:51And we can also use buildings in a way that they can have multiple lives, multiple usages.
20:59If you take a normal office building today, it was designed for desks and offices.
21:05If you try to transform it into an apartment building, you don't have the water, you don't have the areas
21:14to use just for the toilets to be flushed.
21:19You don't have anything like that.
21:20If you design buildings in a way that they can be reversed to another usage from the start, it changes
21:27lots of things
21:28because you don't have to break the building and build a new one when you're going to change the type
21:32of usage.
21:32And after COVID, we've seen lots of changes in the way companies use their office space.
21:40It actually created a crisis in real estate for office space, at least in France.
21:46And so we're always thinking of ways that we could transform these areas to give them a new life and
21:52to be used in a different way.
21:54So I think renovation is one of the key elements.
21:57But also to better renovate, you've got to design things that you're doing in a way that they're kind of
22:03future proof.
22:06Do you want to react?
22:08Yes, I think it's because it's so important that we as cities realize that our maintenance is probably the most
22:16biggest investment we can do.
22:18Annually, we spend on keeping the city of Amsterdam as it is over 400 million euros.
22:28So it's annually and it's coming back every time.
22:31So you can use that as doing things as whatever we did.
22:35And I'm only talking about public space.
22:37It's really narrow thing.
22:39But if we invest this in building back better, inviting companies to join us with their new ideas, inviting Knowledge
22:48Institute with new ideas, then we can create better solutions together.
22:53But it's all about how do we create these new demands?
22:56Because actually, probably maintenance is for Europe, the largest investment in public space we will see over a decade.
23:06And it's not very strange that NATO is saying too, we need to enlarge our defense budgets, but look at
23:15infrastructure.
23:15So how do we build back better the infrastructure we have?
23:20And then think in a broad way.
23:22So it's also about how do we replace water systems into neighborhoods?
23:27How do we capture the water that's falling and not let it run off so fast?
23:33Keeping change, it is system change and it's a transformative approach in your neighborhoods.
23:39And with these ideas, in the back of your pocket, you go aboard to the cities that are going to
23:47grow so fast.
23:50Andrea, your perspective on this?
23:52Yeah, I think this is the biggest issue we face in Europe and North America.
23:58And particularly here in Europe.
24:01We've got existing cities that are built up infrastructure, but we know we need to get to net zero.
24:06How do you tackle the buildings? How do you tackle the outdoor space?
24:10But also just how do you make better communities, healthier, greener, happier communities?
24:16So this really requires a holistic perspective.
24:19We're trying to do some research now on if you were through our Green and Thriving Neighborhoods program,
24:25if you were to tackle these issues at a sort of neighborhood scale, what is the role for the city?
24:31How can the city, through targeted investments in infrastructure, in open space, in green space, help to create those conditions?
24:41How can policy come in? How can programmatic work the city does?
24:46And then what is the role of the private sector?
24:49We need a huge transformation that is not just, you know, that will affect small, medium enterprises that also need
24:57to come along with this switch.
24:58So if we really want to transform our cities, we need really everyone engaged.
25:03The SMEs, the big companies, the solution providers, the cities have a really important role.
25:08And we need to find creative solutions that will allow us to overcome these sort of the governance challenges of
25:15driving this.
25:16We need policy solutions, finance solutions.
25:20And we need to do this pretty quick, which is, I think, the biggest challenge.
25:24You know, by 2030, we need to collectively have our emissions and a huge opportunity exists in cities.
25:31But, you know, doing this in an existing city is quite challenging.
25:36We've seen a lot of piecemeal approaches.
25:38So, yeah, we welcome more conversation, dialogue with private sector to really see how we can advance this.
25:47And I go back to Edward.
25:49Edward is representing a private company and maybe a company specialised in the so-called grey infrastructure.
26:00There is a shift toward green infrastructure.
26:04How does it impact your company and also the culture at Bouygues?
26:11Well, first, we try to apply this to ourselves.
26:14We're not perfect, but we try to reduce our consumption of our own buildings, of our own work sites, construction
26:24sites, as much as we can.
26:27Because, of course, if you're giving lessons to your clients or telling everybody what to do, you're not even doing
26:32it yourself.
26:33It doesn't look too good.
26:34So, we're first doing that.
26:36And we've committed to SBTI on all six of our branches.
26:39And so, that's a start.
26:41But, you know, it really needs to be in the numbers.
26:45And we're going there.
26:47Last year, we reduced our emissions by 10%.
26:50So, we're advancing.
26:51I think we also need help, in a way, from our regulators and the European Union and locally, even in
27:02France or even on a city level.
27:04Sometimes, we have solutions that could reduce consumption or that could reduce material use that we cannot apply because we're
27:16the only one or there's only two or three companies capable of offering the solution.
27:21And so, it wouldn't be competitive enough for the city or for the local area to ask us to bid
27:31on these solutions because they're afraid they won't get enough players and the prices will be too high.
27:36But I think we really have, you know, for example, at Colas, our road company, there's a solution called Recycle.
27:44And basically, what Colas does is we have a special machine that instead of removing a road completely and replacing
27:51it completely, which you have to do every once in a while, it grinds up the top layers of the
27:57road and it reuses it on site.
28:00You just add a few of our products that we usually use, but a lot less, and you rebuild the
28:07road on site.
28:07Well, that solution, we're only two players in France to really have that solution.
28:12And so, we can almost never use it because the clients are afraid the prices are going to be down.
28:17So, I think there has to be an advantage given to companies that bring these solutions on the table, even
28:24if, you know, it's regulated in a way that controls the car.
28:27I completely understand we don't want someone to have a monopoly on something, but if it exists, what a shame
28:33not to use it just for a price problem.
28:38Yeah, well, I think it's both sides of the currency actually. The thing is that we need the data to
28:45check whatever is the solution working for.
28:48So, for instance, we need to put our procedure of procurement, let's even say an example.
28:59We have tested water harvesting on roofs, and if it evaporates, what's the cooling effect of a blue-green roof?
29:08Then we had, of course, we had two innovators, and that was in the innovation process, so we had living
29:14labs, and we could compare.
29:16But in the end, we knew that water was, or if a green roof always have access to water, and
29:23the water evaporates to the green roof, the green roof is 40 degrees cooler, 4-0, than a standard black
29:35roof.
29:35So, we're now not buying on green roofs or black roofs, no, we demand roofs that are 40 degrees cooler.
29:44And then you have a platform in which all kinds of companies can collaborate and can offer what we need.
29:53So, then you don't have the problem with having one or two companies who can provide the solution, but you
30:00create a platform actually on which a lot of companies can deal in procurement.
30:06And I think that's important, because what we can change is the demand and the question.
30:12I mean, if that's what everybody starts doing, that's perfect, because you demand a result, and the companies will provide
30:21a solution that brings that result.
30:24I hope that happens everywhere, but sometimes we see regulators choose the solution, they want to choose the solutions.
30:30For example, in Europe, they chose that we're all going to go to the electric car.
30:35They didn't say to the manufacturers, choose a solution that works to reduce carbon emissions, it could be something else
30:42than electric cars, it could be hydrogen, I don't know, maybe it is electric cars.
30:45But they chose the solution, now everybody has to go that way, instead of just saying, find a way, reduce
30:52the emissions.
30:53That's what we would love, is to just, you know, let us do our job and find the solution.
30:58This is part of the system transition that I was talking about, and that requires a new approach.
31:05Not so much of new techniques, but a new approach of working, a new way of allocating investments.
31:15Do you want to add something about public procurement?
31:17No, I think just sometimes the most innovative solutions are the hardest to procure.
31:22Unless you're Amsterdam, and you have a focus on innovation within your engineering department, which is really amazing.
31:28So we need more Amsterdams, more cities open to different ways to explore innovative solutions.
31:35Well, thank you, I hope there may be more Amsterdam.
31:40Yes, always in favor of, and always in favor of sharing, because I think that helps.
31:45Why not? Other cities can just do whatever we do, and we can just provide them with what's necessary.
31:52And that's about the C40 idea too, it's about sharing this type of knowledge, but also this type of trust.
32:00And it's so necessary, because otherwise, all these great solutions, they can't scale.
32:05They need a certain demand that all cities will ask the same thing.
32:13Maybe the last word for you, for you, Sasha.
32:18What are the projects you are working on with your team that we will be able to see in Amsterdam
32:26soon?
32:28Oh, well, that's what we're right now working on a whole infrastructure of blue green infrastructure, but we're also trying
32:38to challenge the next generation.
32:40And I think that's so important, because if I talk about system change, it's not only system change between roles,
32:49but it's also a system change between generations.
32:52We have so many young people who are afraid to lead, and I just want to encourage them, please, the
32:59younger generation here available, you are never too young to lead.
33:04You can start, you bring in the creativity that my generation is missing, but my generation, please be here to
33:13facilitate them.
33:15You are never too old to help the younger generation to make the ideas come true.
33:21Connected with the data, but also connected by bringing in your bypasses in the system, because you know these bypasses,
33:30and the younger ones don't.
33:31And then I think, in the end, if we want to truly create the cities of the future, we need
33:41bold ideas, brave people, and fiercely attractive solutions.
33:48Thank you very much to everyone. It was a great discussion, and I think we're coming to the end of
33:56this.
33:57Thank you.
33:58Thank you very much.
33:59Thank you.
33:59Thank you.
34:00Thank you.
34:00Thank you.
34:01Thank you.
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