Ramon Gras Alomà, Aretian Urban Analytics and Design founder and CEO, contributed to the New York Climate Week 2024 invited by Systemiq and Holcim, the urban sustainability firms co-organizing the UN Goals global leadership event. Mr. Jeremy Oppenheim, CEO at Systemiq, and Ms. Nollaig Forrest, Chief Sustainability Officer at Holcim, cohosted the New York City Climate Week event entitled Unleashing a Regenerative Revolution for the Built Environment, in the context of the Goals House initiative and the United Nations General Assembly gathered in NYC. The event featured global leaders such as Artur Carulla (Allies and Morrison), Simone Mangili (Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance), Kritika Kharbanda (of Henning Larsen), Alison Landry (NYC CIO), Rachel Payne (Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory), Mikkel Bülow-Lehnsby (Urban Partners), Chun Yee Yip (Lendlease), Kate Ascher (Columbia University), or Lindsay Baker (International Living Future Institute).
Ramon presented and discussed during the NYC Climate Week events the Belém Innovation District Masterplan codesigned by Aretian and Systemiq, which focuses on undergoing a profound urban regeneration process around the Belém do Pará airport in order to envision and create an innovative ecosystem in the capital of the state of Pará. Belém do Pará has been selected to host and celebrate the United Nations UN Climate Change Conference, to be held in November 2025. The COP30 Belém events will involve the 30th session of the Conference of the Parties, the 20th meeting of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, and the seventh meeting of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, as well as other important political and scientific conferences. This global event is followed worldwide and is considered the most important event in discussing the issues related to climate change and its related topics.
Aretian worked with Systemiq to conceive a city science and urban design-fueled urban design and economic strategy master plan for the development of the innovation ecosystem in Belém do Pará, allowing the city to fulfill its potential, showcasing a successful example of urban regeneration to host such a prestigious event. Aretian presented illustrative renders of what the innovation districts may look like in the future. To develop this project and create a sustainable plan, Aretian used its novel City Science developed by Harvard researchers in recent years. This novel science is presented in the book “City Science: Performance Follows Form”, published by Actar earlier this year.
This new book “City Science: Performance follows Form” presents an extended study of 100 urban environments and metropolitan areas throughout the World, across the 5 different continents. This study replicates in a three-dimensional manner the morphological features of cities and metropolitan areas, as well as the economic and human systems that inhabit them. This research allows us to compare and contrast - in terms of urban performance - not only the quality of the architectural and urban design characteristics and civil engineering infrastructures, but also the impact that those systems have on the quality of life of citizens. This book answers some of the most crucial questions in modern urbanism such as: to what extent are cities able to provide 15-minute city standards? How are cities able to provide and shape a prosperous knowledge economy? As well as a good and efficient intermodal mobility and transportation system? Among other important urban topics.
Buy the book HERE.
Aretian Urban Analytics and Design is a spin-off company from the Harvard Innovation Labs which developed a novel city science methodology evaluating the relationship between city form and urban performance.
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