Verge Conference

Wednesday, September 20, 8am-12:15pm

Research shows that even a small investment in building design and operations that affect health and wellness can result in huge percentage gains in productivity and employee engagement, leading to lower absenteeism and health care costs. The impressive growth of this field is enabled by a rich body of research demonstrating the value of the benefits of such buildings, driving advances in technology, design innovations and building management practices. All these efforts are reducing how buildings affect climate change, air pollution and human health — while creating productive and resource-efficient environments.

The Summit begins with an opening breakfast to establish the focus and frame for the session. Participants will then engage in a series of facilitated discussions focused on exploring challenges and promising solutions to accelerate more circular economies. The Summit is designed to be an interactive, roll-up-your-sleeves experience, with a limited number of speeches and slide presentations.

Potential Topics

• Space utilization and workplace experience
• Tech-enabled experience
• Building rating and certification systems
• Sustainable and healthier materials
• The business case
• How healthy buildings support healthy cities
• International development opportunities

Thursday, September 21, 12:15-4:30pm

Demand for transportation is growing in lockstep with urbanization, thanks to an increase in both passenger and commercial vehicles on the roads. The growth of instant and same-day deliveries is creating a more fragmented transportation system with even lower utilization of vehicles. At the same time, there’s a $5.2 trillion global gap between infrastructure spending and demands for the next 15 years.

The result: Congestion and air quality in cities is worsening and greenhouse gas emissions are on track to double by 2050.

Technology innovations and new mobility services are changing the way we efficiently move people and goods around cities. However, success requires thinking about each mode of transportation as part of an ecosystem and making sure decisions made about regulation and land use, changing consumer preferences, infrastructure investments and other issues are taken into consideration in designing an urban mobility system.

The Summit begins with an opening breakfast to establish the focus and frame for the session, which will be informed by Summit knowledge partner McKinsey & Company’s latest analysis on commercial mobility in urban settings. Participants will then engage in a series of facilitated discussions focused on exploring challenges and promising solutions to improve urban mobility and prepare for the social, economic, and environmental implications of rapidly changing urban environments. The Summit is designed to be an interactive, roll-up-your-sleeves experience, with a limited number of speeches and slide presentations.

Report and Summit Framework:

• Set of solutions that will shape the future of urban commercial transport
• City archetypes and how each will be affected
• Impact of the integrated solution on emission, congestion and overall cost
• Stakeholder engagement strategies

Potential Topics

• The role of autonomous vehicles in cities
• The rise of shared mobility solutions
• Applying big data in solving congestion
• Incentives that reduce congestion
• Flexible and adaptive public transit systems
• E-commerce strategies to reduce congestion
• Stakeholder engagement strategies for urban drivers and passengers