Dr. Tim Williams is currently CEO of the Committee for Sydney. Before coming to Australia Tim was CEO of the Thames Gateway London Partnership, where he played an important role in attracting new investment in infrastructure into East London and established the urban renewal case which helped secure the 2012 Olympic Games for the area.

Crossrail is one of the largest infrastructure projects underway in London and you have access to Simon Bennett, Head of Learning Legacy at Crossrail and Mark Raiss, Director of Engineering at AECOM Europe Middle East India and Africa. Simon worked on the original 1990s Crossrail scheme for London Underground and in 2000 was seconded to Cross London Rail Links to work on developing the project. Mark led all of AECOM's design work on the Crossrail Central Section, part of Europe's largest construction project.

Chris Ward served in Mayor Bloomberg's first administration and more recently led the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He is currently Chief Executive of AECOM's Metro New York business. After being rescued from the collapse of Tower 2 during the 9/11 attacks he led the redevelopment of the World Trade Centre precinct.

Season two kicks off with a true blue Aussie legend, Dick Smith. After dropping out of tertiary studies he opened a small store, known today as the retail chain Dick Smith Electronics. Recognised as an Australian Living Treasure, and appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, Smith's current focus is on encouraging major political parties to moderate immigration rates and challenge the need for increasing population in Australian Cities.

A brief shout-out from James Rosenwax, the host of Talking Cities to wrap up season 1. In this series James gets to know the people focused on the many challenges facing the world's rapidly growing cities. James reveals a number of city shapers lined up for season 2, launching in October, including Dick Smith, Tim Williams, Ken Shuttleworth and Phil Davies.

Bill Hanway is arguably the world's leading sport stadium and precinct planner. Some of his project highlights include the Rio and London Olympic Games and the recently opened Golden 1 Centre, home to the LA Kings in Sacramento California. An architect by training, Bill is currently Executive Vice President and the leader of Global Sports at AECOM and holds a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

James is in Los Angeles, the home of over a dozen freeways. He discusses movement with two of AECOM's leading thinkers, Andrew Bui and David De Rosa.  An experienced city and transport planner, David is working on a variety of projects including autonomous vehicles, high speed rail, light rail and Hyperloop. Andrew is at the forefront of integrating electric car and truck charging into existing roadways.

Stephen Engblom leads AECOM's cities practice and is based in San Francisco. A qualified architect Stephen and his team are dedicated to innovative urban policy and development strategies that underpin world-class infrastructure that enhances the environment, equity, and liveability of our cities.

Mark Steinert has been the CEO of Stockland since 2012, making a switch to property from his previous career in investment banking. Today, Steinert heads a team working on $20 billion of projects that will create new communities around the country.

David Pitchford currently Principal of the Right Pitch Consultancy was until recently Chief Executive of UrbanGrowth NSW. UrbanGrowth NSW's mandate is to focus on large-scale urban transformation projects. Prior to this David was Head of Profession for UK Government Major Projects and advised Prime Minister David Cameron.