Mark and Focus Intelligence
What is changing, brought into focus.
Evidence-bound analysis of the institutions, investments, technologies, policies, and systems shaping markets, societies, cities, infrastructure, and the future.
Latest analysis
Newest publication
Japan Is Building a Local Carbon Chain Around a Waste Plant
Japan's Environment Ministry has selected a Koriyama demonstration that links carbon capture at a municipal waste facility with regional conversion and use, testing whether public infrastructure can anchor a local carbon-utilisation chain.
Read the analysis →Editorial desks
Ten connected fields of systems intelligence
Urban Systems
Cities, urban governance, planning, adaptation, public space, and systems transformation.
24 analyses
Latest analysisJapan Is Asking Which Infrastructure Still Needs to Exist
Explore desk Water Governance
Water security, utilities, integrated water management, reuse, digital water, and institutional reform.
46 analyses
Latest analysisPoland Is Opening Power-Station Cooling to Reclaimed Water
Explore desk Climate Resilience
Climate adaptation, disaster resilience, drought, flooding, extreme heat, coastal pressures, and the mechanisms used to strengthen resilience.
91 analyses
Latest analysisEngland’s Drought Response Is Now Managing Scarcity and Sudden Flooding at Once
Explore desk Infrastructure Systems
Water, transport, energy, digital, and municipal infrastructure, with a focus on governance, investment, implementation, and delivery.
38 analyses
Latest analysisBrazil Is Rewriting the Connection Rules for a Two-Way Grid
Explore desk Digital Systems & Intelligence
Digital infrastructure, data systems, AI, sensors, monitoring, digital twins, automation, and operational intelligence.
21 analyses
Latest analysisMassachusetts Has Made Local Consent a Gate for Large Data Centres
Explore desk Circular Economy
Resource recovery, reuse, industrial symbiosis, circular procurement, waste systems, and material transitions.
64 analyses
Latest analysisJapan Is Building a Local Carbon Chain Around a Waste Plant
Explore desk Nature-Based Solutions
Green infrastructure, ecosystem restoration, urban nature, wetlands, and nature-based adaptation.
11 analyses
Latest analysisEngland’s Wildfires Show Why Peatland Resilience Is an Operating System
Explore desk Environmental Governance
Institutions, regulation, policy frameworks, public administration, cooperation, and implementation capacity.
17 analyses
Latest analysisBRICS Has Built Four Environmental Frameworks—Now It Needs a Work Programme
Explore desk Infrastructure Finance
Capital planning, public investment, tariffs, blended finance, climate finance, asset management, and delivery systems.
31 analyses
Latest analysisJapan Is Moving Nature Finance From Disclosure Toward Investment Decisions
Explore desk Sustainable Urban Development
Integrated urban sustainability, resource resilience, land use, housing and infrastructure relationships, and long-term urban transitions.
23 analyses
Latest analysisAuckland Is Drawing a Fiscal Boundary Around Unplanned Growth
Explore desk 
Mark and Focus Monthly · September 2026
The Rules of Delivery
Five apparently unrelated decisions reveal how governments and institutions are changing the way policy commitments become operating results.
Read the issue →Selected recent analysis
Across the editorial desks
Poland Is Opening Power-Station Cooling to Reclaimed Water
From January 2027, Polish power and heat plants may use reclaimed municipal wastewater for cooling under a water-permit regime, creating a new operational link between treatment plants, energy assets and drought resilience.
Read analysis →
Auckland Is Drawing a Fiscal Boundary Around Unplanned Growth
Auckland Council estimates that 50,000 to 60,000 homes in unanticipated developments could impose about NZ$3 billion in council infrastructure costs, prompting a proposed change in who pays and which services receive priority.
Read analysis →
Massachusetts Has Made Local Consent a Gate for Large Data Centres
Massachusetts now requires data centers above 25 megawatts to secure local approval and meet state expectations on energy, water, infrastructure and community benefit before key state permits can advance.
Read analysis →
Brazil Is Rewriting the Connection Rules for a Two-Way Grid
Brazil's electricity regulator has proposed common connection requirements for distributed solar, batteries, electric vehicles and flexible demand, shifting distribution rules from technology categories toward the functions each resource performs on the grid.
Read analysis →
Paying Farms for Water and Biodiversity Outcomes
Payments for Environmental Services can link farm management with measurable water and biodiversity goals.
Read analysis →
Saudi Arabia Is Standardizing the Ground Rules for Commercial Data Centers
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Municipalities and Housing has adopted uniform municipal requirements for standalone commercial data centers.
Read analysis →Editorial methodology
How Mark and Focus works
Publication archive
Explore the complete record
Follow the evidence across institutions, places, investments, technologies, and connected systems.
Browse all 366 articles →