Episode 3: Innovating urban governance: the Creative Bureaucrat

Does creativity have a place in City Hall? The idea that bureaucracy should or can be creative certainly runs counter to common ideas we have of city government. But recently, that has begun to change. Innovation in city governance is being recast as ‘creative problem solving’. Drawing on stories from city governments around the world, in this third episode of ‘Innovating Cities’, Tom Baker and Pauline McGuirk discuss what it takes to build creative capacity within bureaucracies.

Tom Baker is Associate Professor in the School of Environment, University of Auckland. His research focuses on how public policies are made and implemented, addressing social, institutional, ideological and spatial dimensions.

Pauline McGuirk is Senior Professor of urban geography and Director of the Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space, University of Wollongong. Her work revolves around critical studies of urban governance, its changing geographies, material practices and politics, and the differential implications for urban places, communities, subjectivities and power.

For more information about our podcast series, including transcripts, go to: https://uow.info/innovating-cities

Find out more about our research project Innovating urban governance: practices for enhanced urban futures at:

https://www.uow.edu.au/the-arts-social-sciences-humanities/research/access/research/rce/

Special guests

Anne-Marie Croce, Program Lead, Customer Experience Transformation and Innovation, City of Toronto

Brad Badelt, Director of Sustainability, City of Vancouver, CityStudio Vancouver.

James Corless, Executive Director, Sacramento Area Council of Governments

Eliza Erickson, former Director of Innovation and Strategy, Office of Innovation and Technology, City of Philadelphia

James Wagner, Chief Financial Officer, Office of Performance, Strategy and Innovation, City of Tulsa

Arna Ýr Sævarsdóttir, Service and Digital Transformation Manager, Department of Services & Innovation, City of Reykjavik

Michele D’Alena, Director, Civic Imagination Office, City of Bologna

Kris Carter, former Co-Chair, Boston Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics

Terrance Smith, Former Director of the Innovation Unit, City of Mobile

This podcast episode was supported by the Australian Research Council under Grant ARCDP200100176 Innovating urban governance: practices for enhanced urban futures, a joint project by the University of Wollongong, the University of Sydney and the University of Auckland.

Audio recording and editing by Jennifer Macey. Additional editing by Emily Perkins. Coordination by Laura Goh. Special thanks to Brian Dwyer.