Tackling the climate crisis by reducing commuting

by Startacus Admin

The initiative from proptech startup Desana that's aiming to reduce employees' travel distances by getting cities and organisations to work together...

UK based proptech startup Desana have just launched an innovative initiative that is aiming to tackle the climate crisis by reducing commuting.

Their initiative, Cityworks, aims to get cities and large organisations working together to reduce employees’ travel distance. Through its partnerships with cities, flexible workspace operators, and large organisations, it gives workers access to workspaces nearby where they are.

Basically, employees get access to an app which shows them a host of workspaces where they can book a desk for the time that they need - whether it’s 15 minutes or an entire week. With spaces available across the UK, it thereby allows them to work closer to home and removes the need to commute.

By reducing commutes, the Cityworks project aims to improve worker wellbeing, increase workforce productivity, and reduce pollution and congestion.

Michael Cockburn, CEO of Desana, said:

“The world's cities have a big responsibility to look at multiple solutions to help combat climate change through transport, from moving around more efficiently to moving around less. Once we’re not commuting for several hours a week, people have the potential to spend more time with their families, reduce the stress and expenditure relating to the commute.

We're keen to look at the impact this can have on people's mental wellbeing and productivity and to look at how economies can change when we de-centralise cities’ workforces.”

The Cityworks project will also gather data on transport usage, commute lengths and participant satisfaction in order to find new ways that cities can meet their sustainable development goals.

Global urbanisation is already a huge problem and many cities are currently facing struggles as a result of rapid increases in population. Also since transport is responsible for a third of all carbon emissions in the UK and rush-hour journeys by Londoners produce an average 1.35kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) per person per day, there is clearly a definitive need for a project like Cityworks.

We look forward to seeing the impact that this project will have and also what other interesting initiatives that this innovative startup comes up with!

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• #proptech
• #commuting
• #climate
• #environment
• #smartcities
• #sustainability

Published on: 23rd January 2020