In this Episode #14 Jerome Glenn, the Executive Director of the Millennium Project, shares with us some of the trends and influences that are shaping the future of urbanisation.  Jerome mentions that the idea of “respect for the other” is extraordinarily important for peace in the future.  According to Jerome, the urbanisation of humanity is one of the strongest trends that there is.  In this interview, he explains some of the most significant accomplishments of the Millennium Project so far and talks about artificial intelligence influences on the social dimension and on individual self-actualisation.

Jerome Glenn is the Executive Director/CEO at The Millennium Project, a global futures studies and research think tank stablished in 1996.  He is  the creator of the Futures Wheel method.

The city of Turku has ambitious targets, it aims to become carbon neutral by 2029.  On this episode, we had the pleasure to speak with Minna Arve, the Mayor of the City of Turku.  During our conversation, Mayor Arve explained to us Turku’s carbon neutral plans, the vision of the smart city and the ways in which Turku deals with uncertainty and rapid change in our digital age.

EP.12 - Urban Density, the 15-Minute City and the Transformation of Proximities:   What are the real challenges for cities in the future horizon 2030, 2040, 2050?  In this episode, we speak with Professor Carlos Moreno about the need to reconsider the future of urbanisation to seek a new path. He talks about what has inspired the 15-minute city concept he pioneers, the purpose of proximities and the transformations he has observed in cities in Europe, Latin America and around the world.

Professor Carlos Moreno is an Associate Professor and Scientific Director of the Chair “Entrepreneurship –Territory –Innovation” (IAE Paris -SorbonneUniversity). Prof. Moreno earned international recognition thanks to his major contribution and pioneer concepts: Human Smart City, 15-MinuteCity, 30-Minute Territory; bringing an innovative perspective on urban issues.

EP. 11 – From “Smart” City to Intelligent Communities-The Espoo Story:  How can the structure of the city shape its future? In this episode, we have invited Päivi Sutinen, the Director of the City as a Service Development at the City of Espoo to share the Espoo Story with us and how the network structure of her city Espoo is supporting transformation towards a sustainable future. In our talk, Päivi explains the highly participatory approach that characterizes the city strategy and how relationships between nature, technology, people and urban planning (central axis) are shaping urban development.  Päivi also share with us the vision of Espoo as a “close to nature” green city. In Espoo, common values are strongly intertwined with how the city plans for the future.  On this, Päivi mentions how Espoo’s polycentric structure allows people from all areas a year-long access to nature areas for wellbeing.  Espoo is one of the fastest growing cities in Finland.  In the beginning of the 1950s, roughly 20,000 people lived in Espoo. Today, its population is roughly 272,000 people and the city is expected to reach 300,000 inhabitants by or before the year 2022 (City of Espoo). Link: City of Espoo.

EP. 10 – CITIES EMPOWERED BY SYSTEMATIC FUTURES THINKING: Sirkka Heinonen is a Professor of Futures Studies at the University of Turku and a member of the Club of Rome.  She has a long trajectory in the field of Futures Research working at the crossroads of futures and city planning, applying what is called a “Systematic futures thinking;” and long-term view for making a positive impact in the future. In our discussion, She, emphasises the importance of futures thinking as an approach: “We can enrich urban studies when we introduce different methods from futures studies.” Sirkka gives examples of interesting methods she has used and their significance in planning.  During our conversation, Sirkka also gives us her views on the future of green areas within her growing city-Helsinki. She talks about important linkages between human-nature intertwined with Finnish culture and her views on on the future of nature-related tradition. Important links

EP.09 – THE CIVIC CITY IN A NOMADIC WORLD: Charles Landry is an international authority on the use of imagination and creativity in urban change.  He created the concept of the Creative City in the late 1980s to help people and cities think, plan and act with imagination. Charles helps cities identify and make the most of their potential opening up the conversation about more desirable futures.  During our session, Charles talks about some of the key messages of his latest project, The Civic City in a Nomadic World aim to start the conversation about the promise of a different urban civilization.  According to Charles, everything emerging is one way or another, is connected to mobility and movement.  “More people for more reason than before, are criss-crossing the globe, from one city to the next in search of better work or life.”  Some of Charles’ research and initiatives include the Urban Psyche Test and the Creative City Index in collaboration with the City of Bilbao.

EP.09 – THE CIVIC CITY IN A NOMADIC WORLD: Charles Landry is an international authority on the use of imagination and creativity in urban change.  He created the concept of the Creative City in the late 1980s to help people and cities think, plan and act with imagination. Charles helps cities identify and make the most of their potential opening up the conversation about more desirable futures.  During our session, Charles talks about some of the key messages of his latest project, The Civic City in a Nomadic World aim to start the conversation about the promise of a different urban civilization.  According to Charles, everything emerging is one way or another, is connected to mobility and movement.  “More people for more reason than before, are criss-crossing the globe, from one city to the next in search of better work or life.”  Some of Charles’ research and initiatives include the Urban Psyche Test and the Creative City Index in collaboration with the City of Bilbao.

In this episode we speak with Dr. Benjamin Thompson, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sydney to discuss the financing strategies and economic viability of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) in the context of urban settings.  In our session we discuss Ben's ecosystem services habitat restoration publication: Urban Ecosystems: A New Frontier for Payments for Ecosystem Services and dig deeper into the key considerations in terms of equity, and ecosystem disservices as potential difficulties when applying PES schemes in urban cores like the CBD of Sydney.

What is a city without values? In this episode of the podcast we speak with Gotzone Sagardui, the Deputy Mayor of the City Bilbao to find out how Bilbao is planning to attain high levels of social progress and what is the next transformation the city will face. During our talk, she explains why Bilbao is focusing on values, what is called, Bilbao Charter of Values, and the importance of addressing issues of human rights in city planning.  According to Gotzone, Bilbao wants to be known as a social progress city where success is measured by the quality of life of the last citizen not the first. Looking into the future, Bilbao is inviting citizens to reflect on core values to drive urban inner change.

Marja Mesimäki is an environmental sociologist at the University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on issues concerning values, meanings and the experiential dimension of urban green roofs.  In this podcast, we discuss Marja’s latest work, what she calls, the fifth dimension of green roofs for urban areas.  Using the method of empathy-based stories to study the green roof potential in the City of Helsinki. Marja talks about her observations when applying a human perception approach to the field of green roofs research.  According to Marja, a focus on the sensory and experiential qualities of green roofs create opportunities for improving liveability in cities by addressing the needs of the different user groups and the importance of human interaction with the space.