2,098 words in this newsletter - about 8 minutes and 49 seconds to read.

By Vicki Fanibi

… And just like that: the month of June has (almost) come and gone! Despite best intentions to unwind and relax in the summer weather, June always feels like a whirlwind. The Cityfi team is fortunate to have spent much of this month traveling and meeting with our peers, interrogating the intersections of queerness, mobility, and planning, and pursuing valuable professional opportunities for the firm.

This issue of the Cityfi newsletter showcases a heartfelt reflection on Pride from Partner Sahar Shirazi. Ryan Parzick interviews Cityfi Affiliate Nico Larco about his new handbook on urbanism and its 10+ years in the making. Finally, Partner Story Bellows reflects on the leadership of U.S. Mayors while Partner Karina Ricks urges us to do big things.

With national politics freshly on our minds, the Cityfi team is restrategizing to adapt and deliver in an unknown environmental and transportation future. What will mobility, equity, and climate work look like come 2025 – regardless of who is in office? How can we make our work resilient to political change? As always, we are fortunate to do what we do – and we are glad to be doing it with all of you.

Lead with Love

By Sahar Shirazi

Last night, I found myself in Washington, DC on the evening of a major presidential debate. For those who have spent time in DC, you know what that means: EVERYONE was watching, analyzing, critiquing, worrying on one end or the other. Despite my policy roots and commitment to political action, I could not get myself to participate in the drama of it all, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Was it fear? Was it concern? Was it apathy? (it definitely was not apathy).

This morning, I woke up and realized that today is the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising; the origin of Pride month, and the catalyst for the LGBTQ+ rights movement. I thought about what life must have been like 55 years ago, forcibly living in the shadows of a society that shunned you, your life, and your existence; of what it must have been like to have an entire world judge your love- one of the most innately intimate emotions we hold. Then I thought about those same things 40 years ago, and 30, and 20…and now.

We often think of Pride month as a celebratory period, and it is: Celebrating love, life, and our collective rights to be treated with respect and equality. But as I thought about the LGBTQ+ movement this morning concerning my inability to watch the debates last night, I realized that it’s partially my internal acknowledgement of how much farther we have to go to achieve those goals. I am not interested in the theater of politics, I am interested in the work of political action. And wow do we have some work to do.

Globally, according to the UN Council on Women, an estimated 2 billion people live in places where consensual, same sex relationships are criminalized, and 42 countries specifically target same sex relationships between women, including transgender women. In the US, anti LGBTQ+ crime has been on the rise, increasing 19% in 2022 alone. LGBTQ+ people are still 4 times as likely to experience violence in their lifetime. They are more likely to experience poverty due to factors such as housing and employment discrimination, and isolation from family and resources; family kicked out 43% of unhoused LGBTQ+ youth, and 46% left home after being disowned for their sexual orientation. As a result of these and other concerns, the community experiences mental health issues at twice the rate of their heterosexual counterparts, and suicide is the leading cause of death for LGBTQ+ people aged 10-24.

Have we made gains since NY police raided the Stonewall Inn 55 years ago? Absolutely. And we should celebrate not only those gains, but the spirit of love and humanity that underlies any movement for human rights and equal status. Appropriately, NYC’s Gay Pride parade is one of the largest in the world; and I can only imagine what those patrons and protesters who lived through Stonewall would say if they could see it now. But let's not forget- no matter who our next leader is, or where our politics take us as a nation- that we still have a long road ahead of us to ensure the safety, health, and opportunity for life of the LGBTQ+ community, here and internationally. Love is love. Let’s lead with love.

Sustainable Urbanism with Nico Larco

*Photo Source:* T *he University of Oregon*

By Ryan Parzick

In our latest interview, Ryan talks with Cityfi affiliate Nico Larco - a leading expert in emerging urban trends, new mobility and sustainable cities. Nico is the author of the newly released Sustainable Urban Design Handbook, which gathers the best sustainability practices across architecture, landscape architecture, planning, development, ecology, and environmental engineering and presents them in a graphically rich and accessible format to guide urban design decisions in cities of all sizes. For the full interview, see our blog.

Ryan: In addition to the many roles that you have professionally, you decided to write a book with all the free time that you have! Can you tell me the inspiration you had to actually create a book like this?

Nico: Sure. So first of all, the book has taken more than 10 years to put together (just the book itself) and another two or three years before that to develop the Sustainable Urban Design Framework that the book is based on. The whole book is based on inspiration stemming from work earlier in my career dealing with walkability, mostly in suburban areas. During that time, I started to wonder about all the different aspects of sustainability that exist around Urban Design. I thought at the time that I would be able to just look up some people who had done a lot of this work before and run from there. I was surprised to find that there was nothing truly comprehensive which hit on the various physical aspects of the built environment and looked across all these different dimensions of sustainability. I was going to teach a class on this topic as a way of immersing myself into some of these things and it created a little bit of a panic for me - there was nothing out there that really combines all of these different pieces and I kept thinking there's a strong need for this. And from that kind of an inspiration (necessity being the mother of invention), I thought how would one organize all of this? That's where The Sustainable Urban Design Framework came from.

Ryan: We've worked together with you in many different capacities over the years. How did your collaboration with Cityfi begin, and what drew you to working with us?

Nico: The collaboration started many years ago. The Knight Foundation was starting a multi-million dollar project working with four cities on how to deploy autonomous vehicles of all different shapes in a way that was going to be equitable and helpful to communities. We came together for that project and really got to know each other working on that - developing the project and providing the technical assistance, doing evaluation. Our whole team at Urbanism Next has deeply appreciated and loved working with the Cityfi team. Tons of energy. Super smart. Super agile. It has been a great partnership. We're just coming to the end of that project now, and since that time we've done a couple other projects together and a number of presentations across the country. We're working with Cityfi on a project with the Lane Transit District on mobility management approaches, working with OMF and cities with SMART grants on curb management issues, and a few other irons in the fire. Cityfi has been a great partner for the Urbanism Next conferences that we've had over the years.

For the full interview, where Nico shares more about the book's development, its practical applications, and his vision for the future of urban design, visit our blog.

America's Mayors in the Heartland

Photo: Adam Lane, Waymo; Phil Brock, Mayor, Santa Monica, CA; Story Bellows, Cityfi; Kate Gallego, Mayor, Phoenix, AZ; Kevin Hartke, Mayor, Chandler, AZ; Jon Erickson, Mayor, West Hollywood, CA (photo credit to Karina RIcks)

By Story Bellows

As I wait for the first presidential debate to begin, I reflect on three packed days. Cityfi Partner Karina Ricks and I spent last week/end with nearly 200 of America’s mayors. The difference in tenor could not be more stark. The refrains of “mayors get things done” and “there’s no Republican or Democrat way to pick up the trash” were constant and emphatic. While mayors, like many of Cityfi’s newsletter readers, are deeply passionate about theory (and most run circles around me in that regard), this is an action-oriented audience. Mayors were eager to highlight the projects and programs that they’ve implemented or are testing that are having significant impacts in addressing issues of equity, homelessness, housing, and rebuilding infrastructure, while at the same time taking deep dives to understand how cities can direct resources to. Representatives from the White House, USDOT, Local Infrastructure Hub, and others were on hand to highlight some of the critical funding opportunities around electrification, safer streets, and energy efficiency. Our team was particularly interested to hear CFI, SMART, Safe Streets for All, and GGRF programs highlighted - multiple of which have submission deadlines later this summer!

Cityfi had the privilege of co-hosting (with Waymo) a reception featuring five mayors, representing Phoenix, AZ; Chander, AZ; Santa Monica, CA; Beverly Hills, CA; and West Hollywood, CA. These mayors talked about their experiences with autonomous vehicles and the ways they’re seeing this mobility option impact the lives of residents In addition to connecting with mayors and colleagues from other city-focused companies and organizations, Karina and I enjoyed the opportunity to see some of Kansas City’s great civic assets: the amazing Kauffman Center for the Arts, the World War I Museum, the first purpose-built stadium for professional women’s sports - CPKC stadium, and its quick, clean, fare-free streetcar!

We came away from the gathering with the clear sense that across divergent parties, Mayors are coming together to make communities stronger, healthier, and more resilient. They are looking to realize purpose-driven innovation and need actionable roadmaps - including funding and policy strategies - to make change happen quickly (things Cityfi happens to specialize in!)

A big thanks to the US Conference of Mayors and to Mayor Quinton Lucas for hosting.

Photo: Cityfi present (Story and Karina) and past (Metrolab Executive Director, Kate Garman Burns. Ashley Z. Hand was sadly absent and very much missed, but had the great excuse of a 2 week old baby, so we are glad to see the Cityfi family expanding)!

Motor City Rising

By Karina Ricks

We can do big things.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a chance to attend the opening of Michigan Central. It was the culmination of commitment over a decade in the making. The celebratory concert was not the big thing (that’s a lie - anytime Diana Ross, Big Sean, Jack White, Eminem and a half dozen other greats share a stage, that is, objectively, a big thing). The big thing was the partnership that meticulously restored a landmark building and reinvigorated the neighborhoods and city around it.

America used to do big things. We built an intercontinental railroad and a national highway system. We built beautiful buildings, bridges, and parks that showcased civic pride. And in the process, we built the American middle class who had the audacious belief that each successive generation could do better than the last.

It may be controversial to say, but we do precious few “big things” today. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) were absolutely big things - don’t get me wrong. But Michigan Central is (sadly) unique today.

I grew up in Michigan - the daughter of an immigrant nurse and a farm boy turned auto worker. The Michigan of my youth was blue-collar but comfortable. The auto wars and the Great Recession, however, slid us backward. Factories closed, store windows were boarded up, and (eventually) buildings were burned down. Michigan Central - a towering, gutted landmark for most of my life - was a constant reminder that the innovation and energy that catalyzed the last industrial revolution was simply not there any more.

But then, against odds, famously feuding city, state, major employer, and philanthropies galvanized behind a singular notion - make Motor City into Mobility City and once again the catalytic epicenter of transformative technology. Michigan Central was the place to put it.

It is not the restored building that is a big thing. It isn’t the diversity of world class mobility innovators Michigan Central and New Lab have already attracted. It isn’t even the stellar concert that was the big thing. The truly BIG THING of Michigan Central was the audacious vision and authentic partnership that made it happen. That is what lets us do big things. Let’s do more.