Future Cities Need Proactive Brands

In 2021, we saw more legislation implemented that requires far greater transparency from businesses. For example, the ESG Disclosure Simplification Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in June 2021, will require publicly traded companies to disclose their commitments to ensure that strong environmental, social, and governance standards are embedded in their activities.

In addition, the need for a response to major climate change events put city planning and design under the microscope. The 2021 heatwave in Oregon, for instance, saw temperatures reach an all-time high in the city of Portland, and prompted calls for greater urgency from urban planners to tackle the severe impact on people.

Alongside this, greater sustainability and circularity in supply chains, and the positive impact this could have on food, transport, storage, and distribution in major cities, was a major talking point considering volatility caused by the pandemic.

Proactive businesses are adapting their presence in urban spaces in both a functional sense and in a move to make these environments more inclusive. We’ll see more brands thinking beyond simply opening stores in cities and considering how their retail spaces benefit and add different dynamics to communities –designing spaces and developing areas for creativity and collaboration. Brands understanding and being active in urban spaces to advance the critical nature of inclusivity become powerful enablers of societal movements A location such as London’s Coal Drop yard is an example of a public and private partnership that involves brands using their commercial space as a platform to grow and bring something more into the environment alongside offices, and public utility.

Opportunities are emerging for brands to get involved in the role of transportation and technology in light of extreme weather and its impact on the environment, and to take account of an ageing global population. There’s the potential for organizations to deploy their expertise with IoT technology to aid disaster relief rapid response, and to determine vital findings around cities with ageing populations such as Tokyo. Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world's population aged over 60 years will nearly double from 12% to 22%, according to the World Health Organization. Supportive physical and social environments will enable this ageing population to remain relatively active despite losses in capacity. We’ve already seen this in the pedestrian and cycle areas that have been created in Paris.

Brands can work with cities and their populations to make them more inclusive and safer. For instance, in Osaka, Japan, dentsu Japan’s InnoLab team has helped to launch Compass Service, an app-based platform that delivers information about the city but also learns about people’s needs and movements through interactive signage and sensors. And, in Hiroshima, where the largest recent development is the baseball stadium, IT solutions have been installed to help encourage people to base their activity around this new location in the center of the city. In October 2021, Microsoft launched its EcoPod concept in Chicago, which operates as a temporary pop-up lab designed to engage local people by providing environmental data and expertise to build greater resilience to climate events.

Brands can address the greater need for transparency through their ESG disclosures by accurately measuring and reporting their impact on urban spaces. Measures should not only include a businesses’ influence on environmental sustainability, but also financial sustainability, social sustainability (including the rising demand for social support), and the wellness needs of urban populations (impact on food, shelter and security, but also contributing to a sense of belonging).

Brands’ involvement in improving the infrastructures of modern cities has to be forged on a unified basis if we are going to achieve a utopian vision for the first time ever, because cities have so far ended up being dystopian places. Progressive brands need to be involved at all levels of daily life and at the intersection of policy, law, justice, and equity. And, above all, to work more closely with citizens in urban spaces to reflect the wider needs of populations.

Charlie Almond, Chief Strategy Officer, dentsu Canada 

Simren Deogun, SVP Solutions, dentsu Americas

Kai Exos, Chief Creative Officer, dentsu Good

Hiroshi Morita, dentsu Japan

Masahiro Yamamoto, dentsu Japan