June 2021 | COP 26 and Smart Cities by Yohan Abrahams & Mark Cannata

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26, Conference Of the Parties) will take place in Glasgow between 1 to 12 November 2021. It will be the first COP since the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015 and represents a significant opportunity for nations to come together to review commitments and strengthen ambition.

As COP26 is to be Co-Chaired by UK and Italy, the PMI UK and South Italy Chapters have agreed to co-produce a series of webinars and workshops as a corollary to the official conference, while mirroring the joint chairmanship of this event.

This webinar is intended to show how a “Smart Cities” approach contributes to achieving the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of countries and the reversal of Climate Change.

Urban growth, sustainability and needs for a greener life, are driving the requirement to make cities smarter, more efficient, and sustainable for their residents. The context is extremely challenging; characterized by growing commitments, limited resources aggravated by the COVID -19 pandemic.

Energy, Mobility, Building & Construction, Water & Waste Management assisted by New Technologies are the evolving battlefields of “Smart Cities,” as they strive to achieve the ambitious targets of a greener environment.

In this webinar Yohan Abrahams will show how Transport for London (TFL) pursues these objectives in the UK Capital, followed by Mark Cannata who will explain how Kassandra; a multi-dimensional research and design approach, is helping to take a whole-system view of the historic urban environment.

Yohan is fascinated by the great cities of the world, and the women and men who work behind the scenes keep them running.

He has spent the last decade working in cities on portfolios as diverse as law enforcement, professional services, London’s world-renowned financial services and is currently at Transport for London (TfL), who are responsible for operating the world’s oldest underground transport network.

Yohan served as PMI UK President for four years. During that time, he was instrumental in the creation of the PMI European Chapters Collaboration (ECC) and member services such as the ECC passport, mentoring, and corporate ambassador initiatives.

Mark is an Architect with over twenty years’ international experience in practice. Prior to moving back to Italy, Mark founded his architectural practice in New Zealand and was previously Head of Culture and Heritage at HOK in London and led the Historic Buildings Unit at John McAslan + Partners.

Mark has been responsible for the delivery of a large number of projects that often-involved careful interventions in historic contexts, such as London’s King’s Cross Station, the De La Warr Pavilion and BBC Maida Vale studios in the UK, the new Archaeological Museum in Ragusa and was responsible also for the Heritage Assessment for the Auckland City Rail Link. 

Mark has also been a visiting lecturer and examiner at several schools of architecture in the United Kingdom and at Auckland University in New Zealand.

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