The #CitiesFirst Podcast

Where some see forgotten places, Rik Adamski sees extraordinary opportunities and is dedicated to supporting extraordinary places where people thrive. As the President of ASH+LIME, Rik has consulted on over 50 projects across 35 towns and cities, focusing on downtown and neighborhood planning, local economic development, support for small developers, and deep stakeholder engagement. His approach is bottom-up and incremental, providing communities with tools and resources to achieve immediate, productive steps towards tangible results using their current resources. Rik earned his Masters Degree in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Planning & Urban Affairs and a BA in Sociology from the University of Cincinnati. Rik has consulted for several of the most prominent planning organizations in the US before moving to Texas and embracing a more nimble, actionable and participatory approach to developing communities.

Here's a sneak peek into the episode, which is all about Third Places, tactical urbanism and incremental placemaking: 👇👇👇

✅Tell us about how you approach public engagement and equity

✅How can tactical urbanism re-activate neighborhoods & communities

✅What are the building blocks for thriving public spaces & Third Places

✅How have urbanism & mobility evolved since the pandemic

✅Tell us about your professional journey to leading ASH + LIME

Accomplished public official, economist, and administrator, Enrique Peñalosa completed his second term as Mayor of Bogota, Colombia in December 2019. While mayor, Peñalosa was responsible for numerous and radical improvements to the city and its citizens. He promoted a city model giving priority to children and public spaces and restricting private car use, building hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways, and parks. After organizing a Car-Free Day in 2000, he was awarded the Stockholm Challenge Award and rewarded by a referendum vote endorsing an annual car-free day and the elimination of all cars from streets during rush hours from 2015 onwards,

Peñalosa also led efforts to improve Bogotá's marginal neighborhoods through citizen participation which involved planting more than 100,000 trees, creating a new and highly successful bus-based transit system, and turning a deteriorated downtown avenue into a dynamic pedestrian public space. He helped transform the city's attitude from one of hopelessness to one of pride, developing a model for urban improvement based on the equal access of all people to transportation, education, and public spaces.

Here's a sneak peek into the episode, which will is about Bogota and Enrique's new book, "Equality and the City: Urban Innovations for All Citizens": 👇👇👇

✅Tell us about how Bogota built environment has evolved during your two separate terms as mayor

✅How has Bogota's bike lane network become a global model for active transportation

✅What can North American and Europe learn from Latin American urbanism

✅How is the Transmilenio BRT network integrated with shared and active modes

✅Tell us about your new book "Equality and the City: Urban Innovations for All Citizens"

An advanced city is not one where the poor own a car, but one where the rich use public transport.” - Enrique Penalosa

Veronica Vanterpool is the Federal Transit Administration’s Acting Administrator, assuming that role on February 24, 2024. Before that, she had served as Deputy Administrator since May 2022. She first joined FTA as Senior Advisor in August 2021.

As Acting Administrator, Ms. Vanterpool helps advance the goals of the Biden-Harris Administration related to equity, climate, innovation, safety and workforce development. She oversees policy priorities and objectives along with day-to-day operations of the 700-person agency.

She created FTA’s first Data Office, a new business line in the agency dedicated to data analysis, governance and communication. She also represents FTA on the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation and serves as a member of The White House Inter Policy Council on Puerto Rico.

Ms. Vanterpool came to FTA from Delaware Transit Corporation, where she served as the agency’s first Chief Innovation Officer. Her previous roles include being the Deputy Director of the national Vision Zero Network, executive director of the New York City based Tri-State Transportation Campaign and board member of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Having served on a number of boards, commissions, task forces and working groups, Ms. Vanterpool has 17 years of experience in advocacy, policy, media communications, public outreach, coalition building and issue campaigns. She is co-founder and former president of WTS Delaware; a member of Latinos In Transit, and a 2023 Awardee of COMTO Headquarters’ Women Who Moves the Nation. She was also selected to join the first cohort of the Biden Administration’s Presidential Leadership Workshop.

She is a native New Yorker born and raised in The Bronx.

Here's a sneak peek into the episode, which is all about federal public transit leadership: 👇👇👇

✅Tell us about how FTA delivers equity in public transit

✅How can we make public transit more accessible to all users

✅What are the latest innovations that can bring riders back to public transit

✅How has FTA leveraged the Infrastructure Bill to build back better

On the founding team at Lime, the world's largest electric micromobility company operating in over 250 markets globally, Andrew Savage helped lead the company from its inception through expansion across more than 30 countries while raising over $750 million in investment. Serving on the company’s executive team, Andrew built an organization which led Lime’s market development, government relations, and policy strategy before creating and leading the sustainability function at the company. Prior to Lime, he served on the executive team of an Inc. 500 solar manufacturer and renewable project developer where he spearheaded market-transforming policies, led new business development, and supported the company's national expansion. He was a twice-elected member to the Solar Energy Industries Association board of directors representing 1,000+ member businesses. While working in US Congress, Andrew helped author and lead the U.S. House of Representatives-passage of a $6 billion home energy retrofit program endorsed by President Barack Obama and included in the 2022 IRA. Andrew serves as an advisor to several impact start-ups, mentors at Harvard University’s iLab and Techstars, and is a past board member to several community non-profits.

Here's a sneak peek into the episode, which is all about sustainability in micromobility: 👇👇👇

✅What was micromobility and Lime like early on with cities and how has it changed/evolved?

✅How has Lime built the sustainability arm of the business?

✅What are the most important form factors in scooter and bike share design that encourage mode shift?

✅How can operators and cities strengthen partnerships to achieve better public policy?

✅Tell us about your mentoring work at Harvard’s iLab and Techstars, and how it strengthens the startup ecosystem

Thijn is based in Amsterdam and is a Venture Capital Investor at No Such Ventures and is responsible for portfolio management, fundraising, LP relations, internal operations, deal making, and deal flow management. Thijn is also the Founder of Check and led efforts across the organization such as operations (local, central, markets, analytics, hardware, launch), corporate development and legal. Thijn also currently advises and invests in Dockler B.V. and other startups. He was previously VC at Ponooc and Associate M&A and Junior Associate Equity & Debt Capital Markets at Linklaters. Trained as an attorney, Thijn graduated with both a Master of Laws (LL.M.) cum laude in Corporate and Commercial Law and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the European Law School at Maastricht University.Here's a sneak peek into the upcoming episode, which will be all about the “Dutch Way” of investing in mobility: 🇳🇱🚲💰👇👇👇

✅Why is the Netherlands (and Amsterdam in particular) such a dynamic ecosystem for mobility startups and investors?

✅Tell us about the “Dutch Way” of investing, and how the Triple Helix model of public/private/academic collaboration factors in?

✅What can founders learn from the post-COVID city, and refine their pitches to align with impactful mobility use cases?

✅How can cities more effectively align sustainable mobility plans (SUMPs) with private sector innovation and investment?

✅Tell us about No Such Ventures and your “No BS”, democratic approach to investing in EU startups?

Andrea Learned is the Founder of LEARNED ON, LLC. She is a sustainability-focused writer and communications strategist specializing in digital thought leadership. Her early career success in marketing to women, culminating with the publishing of her book, Don’t Think Pink, gives her current sustainability and leadership work an underlying gender lens as well. After a year serving as a We Mean Business Coalition social engagement strategist around COP21, Andrea has returned to her independent consultancy, and is back to leveraging her networks and guiding clients to leadership platforms for a carbon footprint-countering, positive collective impact.

Here's a sneak peek into the episode, which is all about sustainability: 👇👇

✅What are key strategies that cities can put in place to encourage active transportation?

✅How has Seattle positioned itself as a leader in shared mobility and tactical urbanism?

✅What are the main factors that reinforce the role of mobility as an urban change agent?

✅How can communities create safe and empowering public spaces for women?

✅Tell us about Learned On and your book Don't Think Pink

Alex is Founder and Managing Director at Full Turn Capital, where he invests in early-stage companies innovating at the intersection of cleantech and mobility. Previously, Alex was the SVP of Market transformation at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), where he oversaw LACI's technical priorities, multi-stakeholder programs and initial pilots and deployments. He joined LACI from Groupe PSA in Paris where he was VP of Corporate Strategy, co-leading the company’s acquisition of Opel from General Motors and leading the company's work on autonomous mobility. Previously he haded the automotive automotive industry vertical at the World Economic Forum, with a focus on autonomous mobility. Alex has also served VP of retail sales at an LA-based EV startup CODA Automotive, Inc., and worked at Toyota Motor Europe and McKinsey & Company.

Here's a sneak peek into the episode, which is all about Los Angeles: 👇👇👇

✅Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the dismantling of the Pacific Electric railcar system

✅Watts Uprising - how a community that had been one of the prime nodes of the Pacific Electric railcar system rioted, but kept the rail station intact, a telling reminder of the importance of mobility in people's lives

✅1984 Olympics - LA created a bus rapid transit system and changed commute patterns!

✅Why LA might be the 2nd city in the US to have congestion pricing!

✅How the 2028 Olympics are a nice to have in the existing plan to build a functioning metro system