CLIMATE WEEK
United for Infrastructure, Duke University, AECOM, the American Society for Civil Engineers and Bentley Systems are pleased to return to New York City for a special edition of the global Twin Talk series during Climate Week NYC 2025.
Twin Talks are an invite-only fireside chat with leaders in the infrastructure sector. They offer a space to explore global and local best practice, exchange lessons from success and failure, and promote actionable ideas that help solve today’s most pressing infrastructure challenges.
Building on Twin Talks that sparked fresh thinking and solutions in London, Toronto, and Washington, DC, Twin Talks NYC Climate Week will offer practical insights and tools for state and municipal infrastructure leaders. The event will explore three critical areas for strengthening infrastructure resilience and performance and crucially, how technology is increasingly a key enabler across all three areas.
- Resilience Planning
- Policy and Regulatory Reform
- Empowering Communities, Leaders, and Decision-Makers
Infrastructure systems across the United States are under increasing strain. In 2024, there were 27 confirmed weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each to affect United States. The 1980–2024 annual average is 9 events.
These escalating shocks are colliding with deeply entrenched infrastructure challenges. Aging assets, cascading system failures, and rising service demands are intersecting with tightening budgets, workforce shortages, and outdated planning models. Despite increased federal investment in recent years, many state and municipal leaders still lack the tools, knowledge, and resources to prepare for and respond to compound shocks. In the U.S. (as in most jurisdictions globally), state and municipal governments are on the front lines, owning and operating the majority of infrastructure, but often facing major planning, capacity, and delivery constraints.
Twin Talks NYC will preview key themes from the forthcoming white paper Built to Endure: A Systems Approach for Resilient and Responsive U.S. Infrastructure, co-developed by Bentley Systems, Duke University, ASCE, AECOM, and Microsoft. This discussion will highlight how state and local governments can move from principles to implementation, translating resilience goals into measurable action using standards, digital tools, and collaborative policy reform.
Taking place during Climate Week NYC, the largest global event of its kind, Twin Talks NYC will connect U.S. subnational action with international momentum on climate ambition, resilience, and infrastructure investment. The session will offer a best practice yet grounded conversation tailored for practitioners, policymakers, and public-private partners working to deliver infrastructure that lasts.
EVENT DETAILS
- Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2025
- Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Twin Talks) followed by lunch 12.00 – 12.45 PM
- Venue: AECOM, 605 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10158
AGENDA
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM | Guest Arrival & Networking |
10:45 AM – 11:00 AM | Pre-Event Speakers and Partners Huddle |
11:00 AM – 11:03 AM | Welcome & Opening Remarks (Rory Linehan, Bentley Systems) |
11:03 AM – 11:13 AM | Keynote Remarks (TBC – Elected Official) |
11:13 AM – 11:45 AM | Fireside Chat – Moderated by Elizabeth Losos |
11:45 AM – 11:55 AM | Audience Q&A |
11:55 AM – 12:00 PM | Closing Remarks (Ross van Dongen, United for Infrastructure) |
12:00 PM – 12:45 PM | Networking Lunch |
SPEAKERS
- Keynote Speaker: TBC
- Fireside Chat Guests:
- Jennifer Goupil, Chief Resilience Officer, American Society of Civil Engineers
- Nick Novelli, High Performance Building Specialist, AECOM
- Moderator:
- Elizabeth Losos, Executive in Residence, Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Duke University & Chair Chappel Hill NC Planning Commission
- Opening Remarks:
- Rory Linehan, Director of Infrastructure Policy Advancement, Bentley Systems
- Closing Remarks:
- Ross van Dongen, Chief of Infrastructure and Workforce Development, United for Infrastructure
Justin Bibb
Mayor of Cleveland, OH
Kate Gallego
Mayor of Pheonix, AZ
Lauren MClean
Mayor of Boise, ID
WHY THIS MATTERS
The 2025 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card highlights resilience as a top priority for U.S. infrastructure but also a persistent gap. With compounding risks including aging assets, population pressures, and increasing frequency of extreme weather, state and municipal decision-makers urgently need new tools to plan, fund, and deliver infrastructure that can adapt and endure.
Climate Week NYC 2025 will bring together a crucial mix of existing and new leaders from the world of business, tech, politics, academia, and civil society that have the means, the scale and the ideas to take bold action. Twin Talks advances these efforts by sharing actionable pathways for U.S. subnational leaders to strengthen infrastructure resilience, drawing on national and global examples, highlighting digital innovation, and spotlighting enabling policies.
The event will also draw on findings from the Infrastructure for Good Barometer, developed by Economist Impact in collaboration with Duke University and Deloitte, which benchmarks infrastructure ecosystems in 30 countries globally, including a dedicated category for environmentally sustainability and resilience. These insights provide a global context for U.S. challenges and offer comparative models for embedding resilience into infrastructure systems.
By learning from and building on efforts led by United for Infrastructure, Twin Talks helps move insights into implementation. A do-tank hosted by Accelerator for America, United for Infrastructure works directly with municipalities, through initiatives like Infrastructure Week and regional funding accelerators, to build local capacity, navigate federal funding streams, and fast-track climate-smart infrastructure projects on the ground.
The event will provide an early opportunity to preview the insights and frameworks of Built to Endure, before its formal launch in October 2025. Participants will explore how to integrate systems-based thinking into local governance, leverage data and technology for better decision-making, and drive cross-sector collaboration to improve long-term infrastructure outcomes.
AUDIENCE & ENGAGEMENT
Twin Talks NYC will convene:
- U.S. state and municipal leaders
- Infrastructure policymakers and planners
- AEC professionals and engineers
- Investors, standard setters, and private sector partners
- International climate and infrastructure leaders attending Climate Week NYC
- Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with speakers, share on-the-ground experiences, and explore new tools and partnerships during the networking lunch.
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