The Life-Sized City Urbanism Podcast

Mikael has a conversation with Canadian writer and thinker, Carl Honoré, about the Slow Movement, ageing, the COVID19 pandemic and how it all relates to urbanism. You can watch the video of this conversation on the Life-Sized City youtube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUPJzUyEFmo&ab_channel=TheLife-SizedCity

Mikael reads aloud from the Bicycle Urbanism by Design chapter in his book “Copenhagenize - the definitive guide to global bicycle urbanism” - available wherever you buy your books. Using Design Thinking and basic design principles to improve our streets and our cities is paramount - and far more effective than the tired, old-fashioned profession of traffic engineering or even planning. Designing a city for humans should involve the same process as designing a chair or a smartphone. It’s time to go back to the future in urban design.

Music by Phil Creamer from www.hereonout.ca

I’ve never been a fan of tall buildings. On a visit to Vancouver, I needed someone to convince me that they aren’t inherently bad. The most obvious choice is my friend Brent Toderian, urban planner and former Chief Planner for the City of Vancouver. We spoke in the Olympic Village - one of the projects Brent is most proud of - about the urban development in Vancouver. He tells me what Vancouver learned from the world and - more importantly - what the world can learn from Vancouver. I learn why European cities do tall buildings badly, about strategic densification and that at the end of the day, we should just design a good building that lands well, regardless of height.

In the race for property development and profit for the few, Beirut is losing its archaeological legacy. The oligarchy has teamed up with developers, investors and even starchitects like Jean Nouvel, Rafael Moneo and Renzo Piano, to design a future that doesn’t include the past. Without any accountability. Archaeological ruins in one of the oldest cities in the world are not protected and are bulldozed daily as new condos are erected at an alarming rate. History is disappearing off the face of the earth. Part 2 of my interview with journalist Habib Battah.

Part 1 is called Beirut Inc.

Music by Phil Creamer from http://hereonout.ca

When Beirut emerged from a brutal civil war, it was time to rebuild. Instead of rebuilding for the people, the city was, in effect, privatized, allowing rampant capitalism and cronyism to trump urbanism and the citizens. This is an urban tale about Beirut but it’s a cautionary tale about warlords wearing suits, an oligarchy and rampant developers teaming up to exploit a fragmented system after having basically designed it themselves. I interview journalist Habib Battah - one of the strongest voices in Beirut against rampant capitalism, the oligarchy and greedy developers who are intent on designing a non-place for the rich while ignoring the citizens' immediate needs.

Music by Phil Creamer from http://hereonout.ca

The importance of having a rich green canopy in a city is well-documented. Trees are vital to urban living for so many reasons. Copenhagen’s brand as a “green” city is, in many ways, deserved. But you might be surprised to learn that fancy-schmancy Copenhagen lags far behind many other cities in having a modern tree policy and the municipality does little to protect what trees it has left. Don't believe the hype.

I interview the passionate activist, Sandra Høj, who started Save The Urban Trees (Red Byens Træer) and she gives me the dirt on the City of Copenhagen’s disregard for trees. Then it's Natalie Gulsrud, Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen in Landscape Architecture and Planning, who provides some academic insight into the value of trees and some cultural context about the Danes’ “meh” attitude towards them.

Sandra Høj’s blog: http://classiccopenhagen.blogspot.com/

Check out Sandra’s coffee cup disposal idea: http://classiccopenhagen.blogspot.com/2012/03/test-tubes.html

Article: Copenhagen - too smug to learn?: https://medium.com/@colville_andersen/copenhagen-too-smug-to-learn-6869ebf16dc1

Music by Phil Creamer - http://hereonout.ca

Belina Raffy is on a mission to make climate change… funnier. She teaches Sustainable Stand-up, in order to enable people to be able to talk about the serious topic of climate change with humour, in order to more effectively engage our citizens and encourage behaviour change. We’ve been friends for a few year so our conversation about her amazing work is peppered with goofing around. We’ll talk about failed advocacy techniques, angry Australians, making vegans nicer, whataboutism and how to shine bright, giggly light into the dark crevasses of the global climate change narrative.

This episode is, in a way, a continuation of the previous interview with my go-to guy on sustainability, Canadian author Chris Turner. So often when I record these podcasts, there is a knock on effect that leads me to another guest. This time it led me to Berlin to meet with Belina.

- Sustainable Stand-up: https://www.sustainablestandup.com/

- The Book: "Using Improv to Save the World - and Me": https://www.maffick.com/#the-book

- Music by Phil Creamer from www.hereonout.ca

With the global narrative about climate change being so dark and dismal for so long, it is increasingly difficult to call our citizens to action. But what if we looked at it differently and put a positive spin on the importance of fighting it, as well as finally realizing that cities are the key? Canadian author Chris Turner is the person I know who is most well-versed in sustainability, energy transition and climate change adaptation. We had a passionate talk in Copenhagen about the disconnect between national climate change narratives and the potential of cities, density as a tool, using effective ways to influence behaviour change and finally tackling the most serious issue in human history with positivity.

Music by Phil Creamer from www.hereonout.ca

Now called The Life-Sized City podcast.

One of the narratives that fascinates us the most is urban revival. A city seemingly down for the count starts the process of rebuilding, rebooting and healing and we grab the popcorn. The underdog story is universally cherished. Mikael explores this narrative in three different cities: Detroit, Medellin, Colombia and Turin, Italy. You can construct and design an urban revival narrative like in Detroit. You can starve it, like what is happening in Medellin. And you can philosophize over it, like Mikael does about the fate of Italian cities with his friends in Turin. The stories we tell about our cities are important. When done right.

Interviews with Aaron Foley - Chief Storyteller for the City of Detroit, Carlos Cadena Gaitan - professor and researcher in urban sustainability and Giacomo Biraghi and Luca Ballerini - urban strategist and communication designer, respectively.

Music by Phil Creamer from www.hereonout.ca

Now called The Life-Sized City podcast.

The massive gender challenges facing skateboarding are mirrored in many other cultures and sports. How can skateboarding - a traditionally male-dominated culture - diversify to include a strong female presence? What are the hurdles and what would the benefits be? This short, unplugged episode is an extended addendum to the previous episode about skateboard urbanism. I interview Gustav Svanborg Edén - skateboarding coordinator for the City of Malmö. Music by Phil Creamer.