We Who Engage

In our series finale, The Move Podcast reflects on Season 2 with their sound engineer, Dave Lishansky. This season, we focused on new actors in the civic space and discovered some incredible people and organizations working to make a difference in their communities. In this episode, we'll recap some of our favorite moments and takeaways from each interview this past season. How can we think about civic life in a way that encourages meaningful change and participation across communities?

In Episode 9, The Move Podcast interviews Antonio Moya-Latorre, artist, architect and planner. Co-hosts Ceasar and Ayushi join Toni in a piano practice studio at MIT, where he improvises (live!) using some of the emotional themes he felt while facilitating community-centered development in Brazil. Interspersed throughout Toni's improvisations, we talk about how planners can use the arts to inform, enhance, and reflect on the lasting impacts of their work. What does it mean to spark meaningful, sustainable and self-actualizing work in local communities?

In Episode 8, The Move Podcast interviews Nicole Bleuel from Google's Creative Lab. Co-hosts Ceasar and Ayushi discuss the responsibility of technology companies to build for a more representative public, and the opportunity for tech employees to use their platform's reach for good. We learn about how the Emoji keyboard became more inclusive, and about some of the latest technology that makes the world a little more accessible. Can creating digital products for people at the margins benefit both business and society?

In Episode 7, The Move Podcast interviews Candice Springer and Desiree Arevalo, who manage WBUR's new CitySpace arena in Boston. Co-hosts Ceasar and Ayushi explore the complexity and considerations involved in building physical spaces that allow for difficult conversation and mutual engagement – particularly across divided city residents. How can we build critical spaces and opportunities to allow for peaceful struggle, interdependence, and ultimately, understanding in a divided society?

In Episode 6, The Move Podcast interviews Monique Gibbs, Policy Innovation Specalist at MassHousing (The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency). Co-hosts Ceasar and Ayushi discuss the paradigm and racialized history of lending and the trap of homeownership as the primary path to wealth accumulation in the US.

In Episode 5, The Move Podcast interviews Deborah Marton, Executive Director of the New York Restoration Project (NYRP). Co-hosts Ceasar and Ayushi discuss the fraught history of land ownership, the possibility of neigbhors developing their own neighborhood, and the power of public space in bringing together community members with disparate histories and cultures.

In Episode 4, The Move Podcast interviews Lindsay Smalling, CEO of Social Capital Markets (SOCAP). We discuss the relationship between capitalism and civic duty, the problem with venture capital, and forms of thoughtful investing that prioritize relationships instead of unregulated growth. Is it possible for money and markets to create local and meaningful connections?

In Episode 3, The Move Podcast interviews David Wertheimer, the former Gates Foundation Director of Community & Civic Engagement. We discuss what it means to be a relational versus transactional corporation, how capital is taking the place of kinship networks, and how organizations could better promote and support healthy relationships.

In Episode 2, The Move Podcast interviews Eric Gordon, professor and founding director of the Engagement Lab at Emerson College. Co-hosts Ceasar and Ayushi explore the nature of this larger tapestry of civic organizations – including media and industry players – and institutional frameworks to maintain legitimacy and public trust.

In our first season we focused on public spaces of discourse. We met with people in government and civic society organizations, and discussed how governance could be redesigned to improve public engagement processes. Through our conversations we learned that there isn't a clear delineation of where civic life begins and ends? Political and social preferences are perhaps as evident by where we choose to shop, as how we choose to vote. Now, in season 2 we're tackling this bigger question: What are the private spaces of civic discourse? We are focusing on the new players shaping civic space and civic life: retailers, developers, social media firms, coworking spaces and more.