[LONDON] FedEx Express Europe, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, announces its latest charitable collaboration with C40 – an organisation that brings together almost one hundred mayors from cities around the world, all committed to taking science-based, people-focused climate action.
A charitable grant awarded to C40 Cities sees FedEx come on board as a sponsor of the current third edition of the Reinventing Cities global competition, as well as enabling the second edition of Students Reinventing Cities competition. While one delivers a real redevelopment of urban sites through the implementation of the winning projects, the other stimulates tangible ideas and fosters creative collaboration between cities and university students. Both programs ultimately strive to stimulate sustainable urban regeneration.
“Conversations around the concept of a smart, or 15 minute-city model, so often call out the importance of inviting collaboration between civil society, corporations and the communities that call them home. For a company like FedEx, with team members and operations that truly span the globe, we’re excited to support C40 in convening people from multiple sectors and enabling uptake of this rare opportunity to co-design a more sustainable and liveable future,” said Vinay D’Souza, Senior Vice President Planning & Engineering, FedEx Express Europe.
“The Reinventing Cities competition inspires exactly the kind of inventive collaboration we need to combat the climate crisis. More than just an innovative competition, this initiative is providing vital solutions to build the urban future we all want. C40 is thrilled to welcome FedEx on board as a sponsor, helping our organisation build on the past successes of these two competitions and helping cities to build resilient, zero-carbon communities. We are united in action.” said Mark Watts, Executive Director C40.
The professional competition, which launched in May 2022, invites multi-disciplinary teams of professionals in areas of architecture, property development, investment, creative businesses and more, to propose ideas for the regeneration of under-utilised urban spaces, identified by the cities as ripe for transformation. Twelve cities are participating globally and representation from European cities is strong – including four in Italy – Bologna, Milan, Naples, and Rome – as well as Izmir (Turkey), Lyon (France) and Bristol (UK) all having put forward competition sites. At each site, at the end of the competition, a winning project is chosen for implementation that supports both decarbonisation and environmental resilience in a repurposed urban setting. The previous editions of the competition already saw 3000 businesses involved and 33 winning projects are currently being implemented on the ground.
The second Students Reinventing Cities competition was launched last week at the C40 triennial mayor’s conference in Buenos Aires. The cities participating in this edition - including Barcelona (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), and Milan and Rome (Italy) – are inviting university students in areas of urbanism, real-estate, architecture, business, environment, engineering, and more, to collaborate on solutions and imaginative proposals for the transformation of urban sites into green and thriving neighbourhoods.