Increase creativity and diffuse stress by running your company like a learning organization — I’m fascinated by the fundamentals of how humans innovate and collaborate. As a serial builder, I’ve been in those rooms where magic happens — new ideas are born. But here is the catch. To collaborate, we need to meet. …

A story about motorcycles, and how our environments shape us — I met Evans early in my Kenya years. Running down a busy, dusty road in heels and a skirt, I was late and none of the matatus were stopping. Matatus in Kenya are the public buses that few expats take but I was new and money was tight. Visiting tourists…

What the M-Pesa of healthcare looks like — Two years into the coronavirus pandemic, less than 7% of the Kenyan population was vaccinated. In my 9 years living in Nairobi, I have been blown away by the energy of the city. Healthcare associations and communities exchange hundreds of messages each day over WhatsApp. …

Battling the Urban Heat Island Effect with Novel Solutions — With scorching temperatures dominating headlines, it's no secret that rising city temperatures are becoming an increasingly pressing concern. Within cities, it is not only the broader climate patterns at play; it’s the microclimates our built environments create. Thankfully, innovative startups have the potential to reverse these trends.

Working with what we’ve got. — Every city has hidden assets. Things — sometimes hiding in plain sight — that have many uses. Last month in London I went to an evening concert at the Vauxhall Farm cafe. This cozy spot is run by a charity that maintains city farms in dense neighborhoods. …

Thanks for zooming in on one legislative change that's creating opportunity for nimble entrepreneurs to make an impact on urban heat. I'm interested in neighborhood level heat differentials as much as the meta-trends. I'm impressed with your innovators here thinking about equity in addition to climate. It's great to see Gradient working on public housing - this won't just cool those homes, but now, those blocks will have less hot air blown back out on them. And Dynamic Air Cooling already talking about the potential for their technology to strengthen developing world food supply chains. When they are ready for that challenge, I'd love to talk!

Always interesting to see how investments in protecting our planet usually protect our physical and mental health too.

Places, not just people, have vitals. Where we live impacts our health. Health systems need to be looking at neighborhood level data and trying to improve Neighborhood Vitals. I’ve written before about how my experience in community health in Nairobi illustrates this concept, and why I believe we need a…

I was asked to guest blog on this topic by IHC Global as a part of their Smart City, Just City blog series leading up to the United Nations Habitat Assembly in Nairobi in May 2019. It goes without saying that urban health is an essential component of the smart…