Global Agenda

The report outlines ten urban innovations aimed at improving city sustainability and liveability. These include digitally re-programmable spaces, smart water management (Waternet), urban forestry, augmented mobility, trigeneration energy systems, the sharing economy, mobility-on-demand, social integration infrastructure in Medellin, intelligent street poles for sensing, and vertical urban farming.

• Urbanization creates significant pressures, with the UN predicting that by 2050 the world's urban population will equal the total global population of 2002. While cities drive economic growth—with the top 100 cities expected to account for 35% of global GDP growth by 2025—they also face issues of pollution, congestion, and urban poverty.
• To manage increasing urban capacity, cities are adopting 're-programmable space' to better use existing infrastructure. Examples include Melbourne repurposing 86 hectares of underutilized road and space over 30 years, and New York repurposing asphalt for footpaths. Melbourne's approach could potentially reduce required infrastructure funding by $440 billion over 50 years if population growth is accommodated within current boundaries.
• Smart water management, such as the 'Waternet' model using Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, addresses the risk of freshwater demand outpacing supply by 40% by 2030. In Queensland, Australia, Unitywater used these technologies to reduce direct water losses by one billion litres in a single year, resulting in $1.9 million in savings.
• Urban forestry is presented as a climate change adaptation strategy, as increasing a city's green area by 10% can compensate for temperature increases. Melbourne's Urban Forest Strategy involves over 70,000 tagged trees, with a goal to increase tree cover from 22% to 40% by 2040.
• Energy efficiency can be improved through 'trigeneration' (co-generating, co-heating, and co-cooling), which captures wasted heat from electricity generation. A project in Sydney aims to reduce the city's annual carbon emissions by 3% and save Town Hall and Town Hall House an average of $320,000 per year in energy bills.
• Urban farming, specifically vertical and hydroponic systems, addresses food security and waste. Hydroponic systems can use up to 10 times less water than traditional farming, and some stacked systems yield up to 100 times more per square meter. This is critical as 45% of perishable vegetables grown in Europe are wasted before reaching consumers.
• The report identifies four core principles for urban innovation: unleashing spare capacity (e.g., the sharing economy), cutting out demand peaks through technology, implementing small-scale infrastructure (e.g., bike lanes), and ensuring people-centred innovation.

APA

World Economic Forum (2015). Global Agenda. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Top_10_Emerging_Urban_Innovations_report_2010_20.10.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Global Agenda. 2015. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Top_10_Emerging_Urban_Innovations_report_2010_20.10.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Global Agenda |date=October 2015 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Top_10_Emerging_Urban_Innovations_report_2010_20.10.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2015global, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Global Agenda}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2015}, month = oct, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Top_10_Emerging_Urban_Innovations_report_2010_20.10.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }