The Future City

What would it mean for our cities if equity and resilience were the metrics of success? On this episode of The Future City Podcast we speak with Harvard and MIT-trained Associate Vice President of Economic Development for the New York City Economic Development Corporation Jonathan Lane. Jonathan speaks with us about the power of targeting new industry to tackle equity issues in a city, the need to challenge the status quo and why resilience is the key to urban economics.

What are the likely futures for our cities? On this episode of The Future City Podcast we speak with futurist, urban planner and architect Jonelle Simunich. Jonelle is the Senior Strategist at Arup's Foresight Research and Innovation team. She specialises in sustainability, regenerative urban systems and advanced technologies that will shape the future of the build environment in our cities. Jonelle speaks with us about regeneration, the role of technology and the 2050 scenarios for our society and planetary health.

What would it mean if every citizen was a revolutionary optimist? On this episode of The Future City Podcast, we speak with singer, songwriter, activist and racial justice educator Sonny Singh. Sonny is the original member of the Brooklyn Bhangra outfit Red Baraat and also co-founded the political rock band Outernational and recorded an album produced by Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. Sonny speaks with us about institutional racism, the power of digital spaces for activists and why he is a revolutionary optimist through and through.

How might we discover stillness in the spaces we design? On this episode of The Future City Podcast we speak with architecture professor and Mumbai-based design thought leader Prachi Sharma. Prachi is an Assistant Professor at the Lokmanya Tilak Institute of Architecture & Design Studies. She speaks with us about breaking the silos of architecture, the value of in-between spaces and why you should design so people can discover stillness in a city.

What's an opportunity zone and how do you create one? On this episode of The Future City Podcast we speak with campaigner, lawyer and investment analyst Courtney Cardin about how civic leaders create economic and social opportunities in our neighborhoods. Courtney was Senior Counsel on the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and has gone on to advise and analyze companies working to improve our cities. Courtney shares stories about Tulsa, Oklahoma, how public private partnerships can work and that playing to our urban quirks, not bland corporate and government expectations, is our strategic urban advantage.

Courtney is the Managing Partner of BC Global Partners which works with start-ups, impact investors and venture capital funds to develop targeted impact investing and growth strategies. Prior to this, Courtney was the Director of Entrepreneurship and Independent Business at the American Economic Liberties Project and Director of Partnerships at Power the Polls. Courtney has served as Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs where she spearheaded a series of drug pricing and healthcare investigations, promoted bipartisan legislation to address the opioid crisis, and oversaw matters relating to the U.S. Census.

What would it mean if a city was conscious? On this episode of The Future City Podcast we speak with architect, researcher and founder of the Conscious Cities movement Itai Palti. Itai is Director of Hume, a science-informed architecture and urban design practice and Director of the Centre for Conscious Design, a think tank focused on using design to address urban challenges facing society today and in the future. Itai shares how cities can be healed, how metrics shape what we design and how space can be intentionally designed to include or exclude people in our cities.

How is love and dating changing how we experience our cities? On this episode of The Future City Podcast we speak with dating coach, author and behavioral scientist Logan Ury. Logan is the author of How to Not Die Alone and is the Director of Relationship Science at the dating app Hinge. Logan speaks with us about our relationship tendencies, her favorite city and why the spark is useless and sometimes even destructive.

Logan is a Harvard trained behavioral scientist turned dating coach. She is the author of How To Not Die Alone and is the Director of Relationship Science at the dating app Hinge. In a former life, she ran Google's behavioral science team—the Irrational Lab.

What if children designed our cities?

On this Episode of The Future City Podcast we speak with play consultant, experience designer and creative strategist Leticia Lozano. Leticia is the Co-founder and Director of MACIA Estudio, an applied research studio seeking to enhance human experiences through the practices of architecture and behaviour design. She is also the head of Playful City at LabCDMX, Mexico City's civic innovation lab. Leticia speaks with us about the rules adults play by, a child's first five years and why play-filled moments are the best ones of our lives.

What if we invested in technology for our cities as much as we invest in our search engines? In this episode of The Future City Podast, we speak with investor, political advisor and govtech industry builder Daniel Korski CBE. Daniel was an adviser to UK Prime Minister David Cameron and is the co-founder and CEO of PUBLIC, a venture capital firm focused on technology companies which are transforming public services. He also Chairs and co-founded the GovTech Summit, an event for the government technology sector. Daniel speaks with us about customizing civic technology, transforming government into a curator of public and private datasets and the true cost of the status quo.

What happens when you slow down? You start to care about where you live. On this episode of The Future City Podcast, we speak with Scott Martin, Executive Director of the River Heritage Conservancy, a non-profit organization dedicated to preservation of the Ohio River. Scott is a conservationist and kayaker with a deep understanding of how our connection to place may be the way we create strong community despite our differences. Scott speaks with us about the third largest river in the United States, how the environmental history of a place can speak to a range of communities and why our vocabulary is critical for enrolment.

Scott Martin is the Executive Director of River Heritage Conservancy, a non-profit committed to the establishment of a 500+ acre park along the North Shore of the Falls of the Ohio. Scott has been fortunate to be a part of teams in Idaho, Virginia, and Kentucky that have built some of our nation's largest new public park and urban open space conservation systems over the last twenty years. Scott is the North American Chair for the World Urban Parks Congress.