The Smart Community Podcast

Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast I had the pleasure of speaking with both Jonathan Reichental and Brett Hoffstadt, the co-authors of their new book, Exploring Smart Cities Activity Book for Kids.

Jonathan is currently the founder of advisory, investment, and education firm, Human Future, and also creates online education for LinkedIn Learning. He has written two books on the future of cities: Smart Cities for Dummies and of course Exploring Smart Cities Activity Book for Kids.

Brett Hoffstadt has a unique fusion of a technical and creative background with achievements in aeronautical engineering, project management, corporate innovation initiatives, and music composing.

We talk about Brett and Jonathan's backgrounds in aerospace engineering and tech respectively, Brett's passion for encouraging people into STEM careers, Jonathan's passion for Smart Cities and how the two came to meet to co-author their book. Brett and Jonathan tell us what a Smart Community is to them, we discuss the importance of big and bold ideas in the Smart Communities space and how important children are to contribute to driving change in this space. Brett and Jonathan then give us an overview of their book and how children can benefit from it, before sharing some narratives from the book. We then discuss the importance of creating 'active citizens' at an early age by teaching children about cities and communities, how they can contribute to making communities smart and how teachers may benefit from their book as a resource to teach their students.

We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of the use of drones and self-driving cars in our communities and more transparency around product and service development in cities. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community

Connect with Brett via LinkedIn or Twitter

Connect with Jonathan via LinkedIn or Twitter

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital

Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, host Zoe Eather is back in the hot seat! In celebration of this being episode 250, Zoe and producer Ellen Ronalds Keene sat down for a chat where she answers questions from you, the audience of the Smart Community Podcast.

We can't believe we're at 250 episodes and now over 128,000 downloads. It's been just over 3 years of the show and thank you so much for all of you tuning in! Zoe answers 11 questions today from the many that were sent through via LinkedIn. Thank you to those of you who submitted questions! As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital

Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode I have a fascinating talk with Niels Wouters. Niels is a designer and researcher with a particular interest in identifying architectural qualities and engagement opportunities afforded by digital media in public space. Niels is currently Head of Research for Science Gallery Melbourne, and Research Fellow in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne.

Firstly Niels tells us about his varied background in computer science and architecture, his PHD focused on human computer interaction and his current work in the Smart Cities/Smart Digital ethics space. He tells us how he came to work in the space of ethics, technology and interaction in public spaces, the importance of quick and agile responses to ethical issues before sharing with us what a Smart Community is to him. Niels then tells us all about the Biometric Mirror project he has been working on and what is involved, we discuss the potential risk and biases associated with facial recognition systems, before Niels tells us about the project, Decolonising the Urban Screen, he has been working on.

We finish our conversation discussing the emerging trends of less facial recognition systems being used in some countries and more use in other countries and the self governance of data. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community

Connect with Niels via Twitter or LinkedIn

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital

Hello #smartcommunityfriends. I'm back with another bonus episode of the Smart Community Podcast sharing various guests answers to the question, 'Where to next with Smart Cities and Communities?" And this time I'm sharing with you the answers from these guests:

•Jacqueline Nagle from Episode 247

•Dawid Jacobs from Episode 246

•Michael Healy from Episode 244

•And finally Dr. Kelly Turner from Episode 245

Some themes that come through in the guest answers are around the current population shift for regional communities, better collaboration and integration, interconnectedness and more human centric focus in communities.

The opportunities now for our regional communities to embrace the Smart Communities concept is growing and the learnings from Covid have shown us that work is no longer as location dependent and topics are not as geographically constrained. We have more resources available through technology and digital integration which gives us the ability to share knowledge on a global scale and opens many doors for better collaboration. Our interactions now do not have to be either digital or physical, but our interactions should be specific.

As Jacqueline Nagle says, "Wherever you are right now needs to be intentional and deliberate, and that's the one thing I hope we don't lose, we have to get rid of the either or, one or the other. And this is what being smart is all about, wherever we are, we need to be deliberate and intentional about it."

As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.

Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a fabulous chat with Jacqueline Nagle. Jacqueline is a mentor and coach, teaching people how to speak, sell and position themselves strategically for business development, and a very good friend of the podcast. As mentioned in this episode, Jacqueline has played a huge role in creating the Smart Community Podcast and we are thrilled to have her on as a guest.

Jacqueline begins by telling us about her diverse background, her current coaching and mentoring work and her passion for helping people reach their unfulfilled potential. We then discuss the power of language and communication, how to properly communicate and articulate language to be successful in business and navigate change, before Jacqueline shares what a Smart Community is to her. Jacqueline then shares examples of some of the clients she is currently working with and how she believes technology is crucial for seamless business operation and success, she shares her communication tips and how intense curiosity is key to good communication. We then discuss how organisations can set up for change through a good communications plan and the ability to be adaptive, and the importance of understanding the needs of your audience to send an intended message.

We finish our conversation discussing the emerging trends of the digital divide in some Australian communities, the overuse of the word disruptive and viewing language as an asset, or lack thereof. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community

Connect with Jacqueline via LinkedIn or via her Website

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital

Hi #smartcommunity friends. In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a great chat with Dawid Jacobs, a prominent Identity Management Specialist in South Africa. Dawid tells us about his interesting background in the police force being trained in forensics as a fingerprint expert and his passion for identity management. He tells us about his company Dal Global and its focus, what a Smart Community is to him and we discuss the importance of trust and identity in Smart Communities. Dawid then dives a bit deeper into Dal Global and shares more about what they do, as well as the applications their technology offers, before we chat about synthetic identities and the implication of deep fakes. We finish our conversation discussing the emerging trends of a more human element in Smart Communities, the micro and macro working together for communities, and the need for more regulation in the FinTech space. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community

Connect with David via LinkedIn or via email [email protected]

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.

Hi #smartcommunity friends. In this jam-packed episode of the Smart Community Podcast I have a great conversation with Dr. Kelly Turner, an assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA. Kelly begins by telling us about her current role and affiliations, her interesting and diverse background starting in politics, how her passion for research then led her to a PhD in Geography and Kelly tells us what a Smart Community is to her and how her current work fits into the Smart Communities space.

Kelly then dives into the urban heat island effect and discusses some of the factors that contribute to heat retention in cities. She talks about how communities can make 'cooler' decisions and what factors contribute to reducing heat, we talk about the need to flip the script on heat retention issues, have better accountability and better ways to measure these issues to drive change. Kelly then tells us about cool paint and some examples of how it can reduce surface temperatures in cities, before we discuss the pros and cons of technology and the second order impacts associated. Kelly then shares some examples of how communities in the US are working towards more heat resilient cities, how some communities are more vulnerable than others, and shares some examples of the data and technology she uses to measure heat.

We finish our conversation talking about the emerging trends of innovative and inventive ways to deal with and mitigate heat, and make cities more palatable. As always, we hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community

Connect with Kelly via Twitter, Instagram or the UCLA Website

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.

Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have an interesting conversation with Michael Healy, the Smart Cities Programme Manager at Christchurch City Council and Michael tells us all about what Smart Communities are up to in Christchurch. Michael starts by telling us about his diverse background and how this led him into several continuous improvement roles, his passion for making people's lives and communities better through more efficient processes and how he transitioned into his current role with the City of Christchurch.

Michael then shares with us what a Smart Community is to him and the wide range of projects he is currently working on, before sharing with us how the City of Christchurch began its Smart Communities journey. We then discuss the return on investment of Smart Community initiatives, whether they can be measured and how, and should Smart Communities be a core service of governments and councils.

We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of the agritech space in New Zealand and its progression, aerospace and satellite imagery and how these are used to collect data and lastly micropositioning and its locating accuracy, all of which are contributing to improved Smart Communities. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community

Connect with Michael via LinkedIn

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.

Hello #smartcommunityfriends. I'm back with another bonus episode of the Smart Community Podcast sharing various guests answers to the question, 'Where to next with Smart Cities and Communities?" And this time I'm sharing with you the answers from these guests:

•John Carr from Episode 241

•Lior Steinberg from Episode 242

•Edwina Griffin from Episode 238

•Scott Shepard from Episode 239

•And finally Felicity Furey from Episode 240

Some themes that come through in the guest answers are around communication, community engagement, knowledge and information sharing and better use of data and technology in our communities.

We all want better connected communities, which begins with better communication, transparency through knowledge and information sharing and using the data and technology available as enablers to allow communities to build those connections, digitally or physically.

It is important to understand the needs of the community, be able to translate solutions in a relatable way and move forward in Smart Communities with co-creation and co-design. Opening up and facilitating conversations creates better solutions, better connections and more inclusive communities everywhere.

As John Carr says, "The more we can demonstrate that [engineers] can take empirical data, do something with it, and then deliver it back in some way that's still empirical or palatable to the end consumer, that is how we move forward."

As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community

Connect with me via email: [email protected]

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.

Hi #smartcommunity friends! In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have an interesting conversation with Lior Steinberg. Lior is an urban planner currently based in Rotterdam and the co-founder of Humankind City, which is an agency for urban change helping cities, organisations, brands and other change makers tackle the most complex urban challenges. Lior tells us about his multidisciplinary background and how he came to be an urban planner, he talks about his love of technology and finding ways to make life better through technology before discussing the diverse backgrounds he sees in the world of urbanism.

Lior then discusses what a Smart Community is to him and how the concept of a 'stupid city' helps him determine are the cities we live in 'Smart Cities', before we talk about how some technology solutions are not always the most efficient and how more communities can incorporate different modes of transport. Lior then tells us about his company and some of the projects they have been working on, we discuss Lior's smart approach to implementing plans for his clients before discussing the need for communities to identify what is important to them, be able to measure that data and use technology to then improve those communities.

We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of micromobility and how more communities are adopting these modes of transport and the 5G network with more available sensors. As always we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode, as much as we enjoyed making it!