KANSAS CITY, Mo (November 1, 2022) — BNIM Director of Sustainability and Regenerative Design and Climate Action Kansas City Executive Board Member Jeremy Knoll will represent the Kansas City region at the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) Annual Event in Brussels, Belgium, on Nov. 8.

IURC is a program funded by the European Union (EU) that brings together cities and regions as global partners in sustainable thinking, networking and problem solving. The program contributes to objectives of the UN New Urban Agenda, the Agenda 2030 (SDGs), the Urban Agenda for the EU, and city-to-city diplomacy and collaborative regional efforts to overcome common challenges. As a participant in IURC North America, which pairs European cities with U.S. and Canadian cities, Kansas City is working in collaboration with Metropolis GZM of Poland to help address similar challenges in urban development and innovation for both regions.

In the past year, Climate Action KC, a regional collaborative to create a more resilient, equitable and healthy Kansas City region, has collaborated with partners in Metropolis GZM to take part in sustainable conversations. The group has focused on the IURC thematic cluster of Mobility and Transport, an area of focus geared toward technology and policies for emissions reduction, energy efficiency and micro mobility for urban transportation.

The partnership between the Kansas City region and Metropolis GZM has focused on discussion of the next rapid prototyping technology for kinetic energy storage technology for electric car charging. Jeremy Knoll, alongside Metropolis GZM cohort Krystian Gryglaszewski, will participate in a three-part thematic panel discussion to share the conversations and ideas that have emerged from IURC’s international and regional pairings. The team will present "Prototyping Academy on Transport and Climate Actions" in IURC’s Panel 1: Ecological Transition – Green Deal.

This panel will be moderated by Ana Contreras, IURC central coordination consortium manager, and also host representatives from the Essen-Fortaleza partnership to discuss waste management and circular economy.

The IURC Annual Event 2022 will be open to in-person attendees in Brussels and in a virtual format.

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ABOUT CLIMATE ACTION KC
Climate Action KC is a nonprofit regional collaborative bringing elected officials and community leaders together to reduce emissions, invigorate the economy, promote public health and improve the quality of life across the Kansas City region. CAKC recently published its Regional Climate Action Plan in coordination with the Mid-America Regional Council for the bistate metropolitan area of 10 counties in Missouri and Kansas. CAKC is a coalition made up of more than 100 local and state elected officials, and leaders from many significant civic, nonprofit, public and corporate organizations.

ABOUT BNIM
BNIM’s core purpose is: “We deliver beautiful, integrated, living environments that inspire change and enhance the human condition.” The services we provide—architecture, interior design, landscape design, sustainability leadership and consulting, graphic design, and planning—are guided by this mission. BNIM has been recognized with more than 500 awards for exceptional design and thought leadership, including the 2011 AIA National Architecture Firm Award, and the firm has emerged nationally as a leading resource for established methodologies, innovative technologies, and cutting-edge research in architecture, planning, and landscape design. Through a process of integrated design, which is both an organized collaboration between disciplines and an interweaving and interconnectivity of building systems, our team creates designs that are both environmentally responsible and achieve the highest level of design excellence.

For more information, contact Beena Ramaswami.

Links:
[1] IURC, [2] IURC North America, [3] Climate action KC