Resilient Futures Podcast

The Hudson River flows from the alpine peaks of New York State’s Adirondack Mountains to the harbor of New York City. Its tidal valley includes diverse suburban communities and post-industrial cities that will face new challenges from sea level rise and amplified storms as climate changes over the next few decades. In this episode, George Scott interviews Dr. Klaus H. Jacob, an expert in disaster risk at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (@LamontEarth), Ryan Palmer, the Director of the Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak (@slccurb/@sarahlawrence), and Jessica Kuonen, the Hudson Estuary Resilience Specialist at New York Sea Grant (@nyseagrant) to learn more about how these communities are planning to enhance their resilience to climate-related coastal threats.

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.

Host Jason Sauer (PhD candidate, ASU) talks with researcher Heidy Correa (Master of Science, Universidad Austral de Chile) about a grassroots community organization in Valdivia, Chile, that was instrumental in the spread of a wetland conservation ethos across the city. Counter to the work that we often highlight in this podcast, this wetland conservation effort started with a single person and spread upward to academics and politicians through the dedication and hard work of this community, rather than starting with experts or specialists at the top and moving downward. We also talk about “natural heritage,” the importance of the “green commons,” and how “commoning” can be used to articulate and make legitimate the ways in which individuals and communities value their environment and identity.

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.

New Orleans, Louisiana faces ecological challenges, but also social challenges in learning to adapt to climate change and to adopt new water management techniques. The existing stormwater infrastructure isn’t cutting it, but new methods have been slow to be implemented. Robert Lloyd(@RL_Grey) discusses why, then interviews Jessica Dandridge, Executive Director of the Water Collaborative, who is one of the people helping to move the Big Easy into a more sustainable and resilient future.

Water Collaborative - https://www.nolawater.org/

Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan - https://livingwithwater.com/

City of New Orleans Resilience & Sustainability - https://nola.gov/resilience-sustainability/

We are trying to improve the show and we would like your feedback! Please fill out this short survey to help us learn about your preferences and what you think we could do to improve. It should only take a few minutes.

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.

Pedestrian deaths in the United States have risen by 50% since 2009, with over 6,000 pedestrians dying in 2018 alone. In this month's episode, Stephen Elser (@stephen_elser) talks with our guest, Angie Schmitt (@schmangee), about her recent book addressing some of the factors that have led to this silent epidemic. She explains how marginalized groups tend to be most vulnerable to traffic violence and how systemic racism keeps these communities in dangerous situations. She tells us how design principles in our cities have totally changed over time from being pedestrian-focused to being car-focused, and what that means for pedestrian safety. They also discuss what role autonomous vehicles play in current and future conditions on our streets and how the cars we drive affect pedestrian safety.


You can buy Angie's book, Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America through the publisher by follow this link. You can get 20% off if you use the author's last name, "Schmitt" at checkout.


We are trying to improve the show and we would like your feedback! Please fill out this short survey to help us learn about your preferences and what you think we could do to improve. It should only take a few minutes.

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.

Roughly 1.6 billion people across the world live in inadequate, unsafe, and overcrowded shelter. In this episode, Stephen Elser (@stephen_elser) interviews Alan Marcus, the Chief Digital Strategy Officer of Planet Smart City, about what his company is doing to address the global housing crisis by building smart and affordable communities across the world. For Planet Smart City, "smart" is all about thinking in terms of services and how people engage at the community level. By optimizing their use of space, they are able to create more communal areas and other amenities while keeping costs down. We also learn about their process of building trust with the communities where they build, how they incorporate knowledge about climate change, and some details about some of their new developments in Brazil.

To learn more about Planet Smart City, please visit their website at www.planetsmartcity.com.

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.

We were recently featured in Feedspot's Top 10 Smart City Podcasts list. Be sure to check it out to find other great podcasts!

There are many ways to refer to nature in cities: urban green space, nature-based solutions, green infrastructure… But which name is best? Does it really even matter what names we used to describe urban nature? In this episode, Stephen Elser (@stephen_elser) interviews Dr. Dan Childers (director of @caplter) about some of the issues with various terms to describe urban nature, and a relatively new term that he prefers: urban ecological infrastructure. Then, we hear from Jason Sauer (@JasonRSauer) about a term he uses to describe his own study system: "heritage" wetlands. Learn how the words we use can change our research approaches and the perspectives that we adopt.

Find Dr. Childers' paper on urban ecological infrastructure here, and listen to his previous appearance on our show with a conversation about urban ecology here.

Listen the episode that Stephen and Jason made about Valdivia's urban wetlands here (y en español aquí).

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.

We were recently featured in Feedspot's Top 10 Smart City Podcasts list. Be sure to check it out to find other great podcasts!

Dr. Elsa Anderson stops by the show to talk with us about vacant lots and urban biodiversity, or how urban areas can provide spaces for many species of plants and animals. Dr. Anderson has worked on plant diversity in cities as diverse as Chicago, Illinois and Berlin, Germany. Her recent publications explore how different management strategies of vacant lots in cities, actions as simple as mowing or installing fences, or as complex as erecting a wall to divide two political philosophies, can impact plant communities for years to come. Find her on Twitter at @ElsaAnderson16 and Instagram @elsaa1016.


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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.


We were recently featured in Feedspot's Top 10 Smart City Podcasts list. Be sure to check it out to find other great podcasts!

In today’s rapidly evolving climate, and amid unprecedented technological disruptions, engineers and designers seek infrastructure solutions that are resilient to both known and unknown future conditions. This podcast explores the use of biomimicry to provide examples and guidance for resilient infrastructure systems, spanning theory and practice. We evaluate opportunities for improving design, prompted through consideration of Life’s Principles.

Collaborators (in order of appearance): Alysha Helmrich, Dr. Samuel Markolf, Dr. Nancy Grimm, Dr. Mikhail Chester, Dr. Cheryl Desha, and Dr. Samantha Hayes.

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.


We were recently featured in Feedspot's Top 10 Smart City Podcasts list. Be sure to check it out to find other great podcasts!

Cities are at the center of the COVID-19 pandemic, but what happens in cities once a pandemic takes hold? What systems are failing? Are cities prepared to simultaneously deal with this pandemic and extreme weather events like hurricanes and heat waves? Can we ever return to any semblance of "normal" and if not, how can we transform to create more positive futures? Today, we hear from a group of experts as they reflect on what the COVID-19 pandemics means for our public health systems, critical infrastructure, the research being done in cities, and ultimately – urban resilience.

Our guests were Dr. David Eisenman (@deisenman), Dr. Timon McPhearson (@timonmcphearson), Dr. Mike Chester (@mikhailchester), and Dr. Nancy Grimm (@DrNitrogen).

Alysha Helmrich and Dr. Bernice Rosensweig (@brr_nyc) conducted two of our interviews for this episode.

Our host, Stephen Elser (@stephen_elser) wrote a haiku based on the conversations in this episode:

COVID changed the game.
We must transform our cities
And build back better

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.


We were recently featured in Feedspot's Top 10 Smart City Podcasts list. Be sure to check it out to find other great podcasts!

As their first topic, Tessa Martinez and Stephen Elser discuss an article on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge being opened up to oil drilling and how that can potentially affect habitats. They then talk about how planting trees can be a tool to slowing down climate change.

These are the links to the two topics discussed!

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-09-12/interior-finalizes-plan-to-open-alaskas-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-to-oil-drilling

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/04/planting-billions-trees-best-tackle-climate-crisis-scientists-canopy-emissions

Listen to the most recent full episode, Trees to Help Cities Breathe, here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/125676/3252745-trees-to-help-cities-breathe

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.