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Invent City

CODE RED.

Atmospheric CO₂ in April 2023 reached a staggering 424 parts per million (ppm). 2023 was also the hottest year on record. The Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation, crucial for moderating the global climate, is showing signs of weakening. Sea levels continue to rise at an accelerating rate...

mauna loa

These trends will increasinglly have profound economic impacts on cities worldwide. For NYC, Sandy was just a tease. NYC is predicted to have more frequent severe weather, coastal flooding, soaring infrastructure repair costs, unusable subway lines, spiking energy demand, healthcare demands, and an influx of climate migrants...

Invent City is a proposed framework to transform the Financial District (FiDi) into a carbon neutral city and marketing engine. 

Invent City

MISSION: CREATE AN ECONOMIC ENGINE TO PUSH BACK ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS.

INVENT CITY'S OBJECTIVES.

Establish FiDi as a Model Carbon Neutral City

Build a supercharged marketing engine

Boost FiDi's Real Estate Competitiveness

Stimulate Demand for Vacant Office Space

Create Diverse High-Quality Jobs

Increase Tax Revenues

TARGET MARKET: A POSSIBLE $12.3 TRILLION CARBON NEUTRAL ECONOMY.

Invent City's strategy is based on a potentially $12.3 trillion carbon neutral economy, but also because deploying carbon neutral solutions is critical to combating the climate crisis.

Industry Comparison
Underscoring the massive size of the future carbon neutral economy ia a comparison with NYC's GDP for 2022 which the EDC says was $2.2 trillion. The state of Florida is about $1.6 trillion.
Industry Bar Charts
This approach aligns with the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), offering a universal blueprint for a carbon-neutral future.

FiDi as a carbon neutral city and global marketing district will create knock-on attracting other parts of the value chain across all five boroughs and regionally.

Value Chain
Invent City would liaise with NYSERDA regarding opportunities to attract much of the value chains.   

One demand driver of carbon neutral solutions is the climate crisis'existential risk. Rising seas, more storms, and soaring temperatures are now realities for NYC and cities worldwide. Surging health costs, falling property values, climbing insurance premiums, and hefty bills for infrastructure and migration.

NYC Temperature Change
Source: New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC), 2023. NPCC also preducts rainfall to increase up to 10%, and temperatures rise between 2° to 4.7° by the 2030s. Note some past NPCC predictions were incorrect.
Sea Level Rise
Last century, NYC's sea levels rose by a foot. NPCC predicts an additional rise of a foot by the 2030s.
Central Park on Fire
2035: Central Park Fires after continued scorching August conditions.
Flooded Subway
2037: Subway permanently shuts service on three lines.
Immigration Riots
2041: Riots break out with migrants mostly from Texas and its 120-degree heat.

A second driver of urban carbon-neutral solutions is surging urban population growth. By 2050 65% of the global population will live in existing cities. What is needed, and what we are proposing, is a real world existing city which can be transformed into a real-world laboratory for sustainable solutions.

Urban populations already out number non urban ones.
Urban populations already non urban ones. On one hand it creates efficiencies, but on the other, it creates greater exposure, including to climate caused famine. 

NEOM (Saudi Arabia), Telosa (somewhere in the US), Forest City (Malaysia), Masdar (UAE), and Songdo (South Korea)  offer intriguing concepts for new urban developments, but fall short in addressing the scale or specific challenges existing cities face.

NEOM

A third demand driver is that the climate crisis is global, its not just NYC. The World Economic Forum projects annual damages globally to be between $1.7 and $3.1 trillion by 2050.

Flooded Dhaka
Dhaka faces rising sea levels, flooding, heatwaves, and more, demanding urgent adaptation and resilience efforts. Communities vanishing.
Flooded London
London struggles with sea level rise, flooding, and heatwaves, impacting critical infrastructure and health.
Flooded Shanghai
Shanghai is threatened by sea level rise, leading to flooding and water supply issues, alongside economic disruptions. Rising seas, besieging coasts.

Urban growth is increasingly skewed towards developing regions, where resources are markedly scarcer. NYC's global reach, financial prowess and proximity to the UN position FiDi as a crossroads of developed and developing markets.

City Populations 2018
Source: UN
City Populations 2100
Source: OntarioTech.

WHY FIDI? EXCELLENT TRANSIT, GLOBALLY WELL KNOWN, AVAILABLE SPACE.

Location starts with NYC.

GLOBAL STAGE — Wall Street, the UN. setting worldwide trends.
xxxECONOMIC MELTING POT — From Wall Street to Silicon Alley, arts to academia.
INNOVATION EPICENTER — Home to tech giants, startups, and cutting-edge research.
XXXWORLD STAGE — Wall Street meets the UN, connecting cultures and economies.
MEGA METROPOLIS — A bustling hub with a diverse 18 million-strong population.
WORLD'S SECOND HOME — Over 800 languages, a testament to its global community.
FINANCE CAPITAL — The nerve center of global banking and investment.
MEDIA GIANT — Broadcasting NYC's vision for a sustainable future.
TOURISM BEACON — Drawing 66+ million visitors to experience eco-innovation.
INSTITUTIONAL LEADERS — Academia and non-profits Fostering tomorrow's leaders at top institutions.
XXDIPLOMATIC HUB — The UN's home, driving global diplomacy and policy.
ECONOMIC TITAN — As a separate country, economically NYC would be about 10th .
World Map
Source: ChatGPT

Bounded by the Hudson and East Rivers, and New York Harbor, FiDi may be the very best location on the planet to be a globally oriented carbon neutral city.

harbor
transit
FiDi stands as North America's top transit-accessible neighborhood, essential for hosting everything from high-volume showrooms, business conferences to a potential urban world's fair. Its unparalleled transit links ensure easy, cost-effective, and eco-friendly visitor access.
Fulton Center connects with 13 subway and 2 PATH lines, alongside 18 ferry and 30 bus routes. Citibike stations add to the mix. It's a hub with direct access to the Javits Center, the UN, and airports JFK, EWR, LGA, ensuring seamless travel for all. 
history
FIDI IS HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT. FiDi, where the Dutch seized land from the Lenape in 1625 to establish NYC, has always been an economic linchpin. It hosted the first U.S. Congress, the Bill of Rights signing, and Washington's inauguration, marking key historical milestones. The site of early Revolutionary War conflict, it became the world's premier financial hub with Wall Street leading for decades. Today, FiDi still boasts the world's largest gold reserves.

IDCNY: An Epic Failure.

Location, location, location is a golden rule. In contrast to FiDi is the now defunct IDCNY, a cautionary tale. Despite the grand vision of the mid-1980s to create a central marketplace for the design industry in Long Island City, the IDCNY failed to attract tenants and visitors, largely because the city and private developers didn't repect that golden rule, and IDCNY failed within a few years. In contrast, FiDi is as good as it gets.

idcny

From agile startups to industry titans, a carbon neutral FiDi would enable NYC to attract companies focused on carbon neutral, across the spectrum of industry and from across the world.

Promotion in Invent City
Attraction to Invent City

Invent City would be a physical and virtual forum for the buyers and sellers of carbon neutral products and services to meet. FiDi has about 10,000 hotel rooms of a wide price range.  

Illustration of buyers and sellers
Illustration of meeting, deal, deploy
BENEFITS TO BUYERS
Access to New Products and Innovations
Market Research Opportunity
Networking with Suppliers
Product Demonstrations
Industry Trends Insights
Strategic Partnership Opportunities
BENEFITS TO SELLERS
Direct Access to Potential Buyers
Brand Visibility
Product Launch Platform
Immediate Market Feedback
Competitive Analysis
Networking Opportunities
Market Trends Insight
Lead Generation
Sales Opportunities
Strategic Partnerships

Invent City focus on marketing and deployment would complement what the EDC describes as NYC's carbon neutral initiatives as being a collection of climate-focused academic and research institutions, incubators, and businesses form a synergistic ecosystem.

ying yang
HARBOR OF THE FUTURE
FiDi Overflow Map
The "Harbor of the Future"  along the East River and New York Harbor. FiDi could be the globally-focused marketing front-end complementing NYC's existing and proposed dynamic ecosystem of climate-centric academic, research institutions, incubators, and businesses.
INNOVATION HUBS
Cornell Technion: Academic and a hub for innovation, fostering green tech startups and sustainable practices. Encourages technologies to address environmental issues, from reducing emissions to sustainable urban living.
GI Climate Center: Advances research and development in healthy urban solutions. Focuses on improving quality of life and creating job opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds, offering educational programs and platforms.
Navy Yards: A center of urban manufacturing and innovation located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, housing over 500 businesses across 300 acres, including New Labs.
Climate Innovation Hub at BAT: Provides prototyping, testing, and commercialization services. It includes workforce development programs and pilots technologies in the “Pilots at BAT” program.

HIGH LEVEL TACTICAL STRATEGY TO TRANSFORM FIDI.

Tactical involves immediate, actionable steps tailored to achieve specific goals, such as establishing a venue, attracting businesses for events and later locating in FiDi, and boosting economic activity. This method emphasizes adaptability, leveraging short-term initiatives for long-term gains, and engaging community stakeholders for rapid, effective implementation.

Identify outdoor areas that can be used for outside corporate-sponsored exhibits, cultural performances, and other activities. Key initiatives focus on pedestrianization to boost foot traffic, stimulating retail growth, enhancing quality of life, and raising property values—thereby increasing tax revenues.

TYPES OF SPACES
Street Parking Sheds: Inspired by NYC’s Open Restaurant Program's, sheds introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taxpayer Parking Lots:  These warehouse long-term development sites, generating sufficient revenue for property taxes in the interim.
Alleyways and Narrow Streets: Historically rich yet often underutilized spaces within the urban landscape.
Under the FDR: Between Whitehall Terminal and the Brooklyn Bridge, adjacent to the Seaport and part of the LMCR project.
Public Spaces: Examples include Louise Nevelson Plaza, Alvin Garden, DeLury Square Peck Slip Plaza, and Coenties Slip Park.
Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS): Areas open to the public but privately owned and maintained. Part of zoning. Tracked by the MAS .
A pedestrianized street in the Financial District
Pedestrianized street for World's Fair. This one maintains the street bed for permitted vehicles (e.g., emergency trucks and moving trucks).
A pedestrianized street in the Financial District
Another pedestrianized street. Many variations are possible based on need.

Similarly, identify a variety of potential indoor spaces for exhibits and events.

Large FacilitieS: Winter Garden (Brookfield), Oculus (Westfield), Pier 17 (Hughes Corporation), Fulton Center (Westfield), the American Stock Exchange building (in redevelopment).
Educational Facilities: Pace University, Peck Slip High School, and the High School of Economics and Finance on Trinity Place are all examples.
Vacant Retail Space: This category tends to shift more quickly. Concentrations of vacant retail are found on Fulton Street and Nassau Street.
Vacant Office Space: FiDi's Insurance District and Finance East subdistricts (east of Broadway) have 35.4% and 24.1% vacancy respectively. In square footage, from a total stock of 42.5 million square feet of space, almost 12 million square feet is vacant. The lost income of local building owners from these vacancies exceeds $600 billion annually.
Total sf Available sf Lost Rent
Financial East 29,924,951 7,223,686 $377,943,252
Insurance 12,587,451 4,459,626 $225,300,306
Totals 42,512,402 11,683,312 $651,227,810
Map showing FiDi's high vacancy rates
Manhattan's highest vacancy rates. FiDi, east of Broadway, has 11 million square feet of available office space, and Manhattan's highest vacancy rates. A number of features of Invent City's strategy will boost demand for office space, thereby increasing property values and tax revenues.
Urban agriculture exhibit
Sample Exhibit on Urban Agriculture: Transforming vacant office space into farm-filled towers to reduce transport costs, grow food locally, create jobs, and promote self-sufficiency.
Urban agriculture exhibit
Sample Exhibit on Carbon: Showcasing how carbon innovation turns emissions into valuable materials for construction and manufacturing.
Carbon innovation exhibit
Sample Exhibit on Water: Addressing scarcity and excess rain through urban water innovation.

An overflow plan ensures that any large scale event (like a world's fair) can handle extra attendees.This is in keeping with many of NYC's initiatives including the Blue Highway, expanded use of NYC Ferry, and the so called future harbor.

Overflow options
Invent City plans to draw 5 million visitors to the World's Fair, with a goal of 2 million yearly afterward. In case of higher turnout, overflow will be accommodated at nearby venues such as Liberty State Park, The Navy Yards, and Governors Island, all conveniently accessible by ferry.

A prerequisite of pedestrianization and any carbon neutral city, is a stronger operational background for the movement of people, packages and waste. Invent City proposes a network of Urban Hubs.

COMPONENTS OF AN URBAN HUB 
Micro Cargo — NYC's package deliveries are up nearly 100% in over six years. Urban Hubs will support the burgeoning micro cargo industry. Urban Hubs could also make NYC's Blue Highway happen.
Micro Mobility — Citibike is just the start. Micro Hubs will provide comprehensive services like bike retail, rentals, recovery, and repairs, along with cargo bike rentals and secure parking.
Micro Waste Stations — Let's face it, NYC has a chronic garbage problem. NYC lacks Chicago's alleyways. Urban Hubs would enable ongoing experimentation to address this problem.
Public Toilets — Ever look for a loo in NYC? Tourists, delivery workers, and the homeless all need toilets. Public toilets would economically prudent . 

hub

blue highway
FiDi is surrounded on three sides by water. In addition to being the most overall transit accessible neighborhood, with 7 water accessible piers FiDi is also specifically the most water accessible.
BE PART OF THE BLUE HIGHWAY.

NYC's 520-mile shoreline positions it ideally for enhanced waterway use. Historically, Manhattan's ports and docks flanked both the Hudson and East Rivers. Now, the city aims to revitalize these waterways for cargo, aiming to reduce truck reliance, alleviate congestion, and improve air quality. Trucks, more so than smaller vehicles, accelerate road wear and tear, increasing the need for costly road repairs funded by taxpayer dollars.

The DOT and EDC have demonstrated their commitment by seeking proposals for this transformative initiative. However, what is essential, and what is part of the Invent City Urban Hubs proposal is micro cargo infrastructure to fulfill its ambitions. This inclues at Pier 11 .

THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF PEDESTRIANIZATION

Times Square's pedestrianization and the Open Streets Program are successful models of permanent and short term pedestrianization. Strøget in Copenhagen, Cat Street in Tokyo, Carnaby Street in London are a handful of examples worldwide. To enable enable pedestrianization, a powerful marketing district, and particularly large scale marketing events like a world's fair, Urban Hubs are needed to provide a variety of basic public services.

Establish a portfolio of events to increase awareness and develop solutions. Topics will focus on the building blocks of a carbon neutral economy, and pressing issues affecting NYC and other cities due to the climate crisis.

events
COMPONENTS OF THE PORTFOLIO 
Catalysts (including Roundtables) — Action-oriented events (25 to 50 people) targeting specific industries that are the building blocks of a carbon-neutral economy.
Competitions— To address specific challenges like excess waste, increased package demand, insufficient bike infrastructure, food insecurities, a move to use waterways for transit, and more.
World’s Fair— Major promotional events for large audiences, potential powerful economic drivers. This World’s Fair will encourage and promote a carbon neutral future.
More on Events
building blocks

Develop a complementary virtual presence. IC's virtual integration across apps, web, and metaverse enhances physical exhibits and significantly boosts sponsorship value by providing continuous, global engagement around the clock.

THE APP — The app serves as a central hub for all content, linking all digital assets and providing users with in-depth content information through QR codes. The app is a powerful monetization tool not only during any micro world's fair or similar event but also for daily use as a neighborhood app in FiDi.

App diagram

THE METAVERSE — Invent City's metaverse will transform sponsorship into a powerhouse of opportunity, offering a 24/7 global platform that seamlessly enhances physical exhibits. Sponsors can now unlock unprecedented reach and deepen customer engagement in a dynamic, interactive space. Dive into effective promotion and sales, and supercharge their marketing strategies to their fullest potential.

Metaverse diagram

INVENT CITY WILL BRING SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC AND OTHER BENEFITS TO NYC.

Economic Benefits

Attract Companies to Locate in FiDi — Carbon Neutral marketing from around the world.
Increased Tax Revenues  — Drives direct employment with new company setups.
Significant Job Growth  — Drives direct employment with new company setups.
Support Sector Boost  — Enhances job opportunities in support, dining, and retail sectors.
Economic knock on  — Enhances job opportunities in support, dining, and retail sectors.
Surge in demand for vacant office space  — Increases property values and tax revenues.
Provide Tourism Boost  — Attracts high-value business tourists.
Fuel a Retail Upsurge  — In retail and dining sectors in FiDi.
Enable Infrastructure Savings  — Reduces costs through decreased truck traffic.

Other Benefits

Enhanced Air Quality— Improves air quality by reducing traffic.
Mental Well-being— Reduces stress and boosts mental health with less noise.
Increased Safety— Reduces traffic accidents, enhancing public safety.
Community Engagement— Boosts engagement in car-free areas.
Healthier Lifestyles— Encourages physical activity for better health.
Vibrant Local Culture — Promotes local culture through events and markets.

Join us.

Cities, especially New York City, demand daring, inventive strides forward—no more business as usual. Propelling FiDi into a carbon net-zero zone epitomizes such audacity. Backed by a constellation of IC Local Hubs, a carbon-neutral FiDi promises to elevate living standards for its dwellers and workforce, boost the local economy—including real estate values—and stand as a pivotal countermeasure against climate threats. Pre-COVID, NYC was already lagging behind global powerhouses like Shanghai or Paris, and even within the U.S., it watched its financial prowess drain towards South Florida. 

The era of resting on historical achievements is over. Kathryn Wylde points out that the city is navigating through a period of significant transformation. NYC faces a choice: stagnate in the comfort of the familiar or surge ahead, leveraging the enormous potential benefits of a carbon net-zero economy for both quality of life and economic growth. Hank Gutman, former DOT Commissioner, reminds us that today's decisions sculpt tomorrow's New York.

 It's time for action. As we approach 2025, marking 400 years since the land's original acquisition from the Lenape and the birth of New York City in what is now FiDi, the moment couldn't be more opportune. Let's lead with bold plans and take charge in the climate conversation. NYC is poised to redefine its economic landscape and enhance its living standards. The time is now. Let's not just make plans—let's make history. Thank you.

SPONSORSHIPS AND MORE INFORMATION.

Want high profile exposure? Invent City's proposed marketing district includes an innovative comprehensive OOH/DOOH plan.

British Sponsor
NYSE Sponsor
Unicorns Sponsor
NYC Flooded Sponsor
Traffic Sponsor
Subways Sponsor

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