cities

Corporations have recently begun to recognise the significant business opportunities that are emerging at city level. These opportunities arise because many cities are seeking solutions to a range of challenges that fall within their jurisdiction but are beyond the budgets and capability of local government to address. Issues such as increasing city populations, energy & water demands, congestion, pollution, and increasing frequency & severity of weather events require innovative solutions. At the same time, many cities are growing to a size where corporations can begin to treat them as large customers justifying tailored solutions.

That is, cities are becoming customers in themselves – for products and services that are only just emerging.

Our team members have assisted clients to address the key commercial questions related to cities, including:

• What are the opportunities? i.e. What stresses are being faced and what solution sets exist.
• Where are these opportunities – specifically, what types of cities, on what growth trajectories, and which actual cities?
• Which business models are most attractive to capture these opportunities – including aggregation models, partnering models and distribution channels?
• What are the investments required and the financial returns on these?

Please refer to the page Our Perspectives on Cities page for examples of the work by our team members on cities.