threesixtyCITY: Recent Episodes
NewCities
Each week we sit down with today’s most relevant urban thinkers to discuss the forces and trends molding our modern cities. From planning, policy, and design, to nomad cities, AI and automation, health and wellbeing, architecture, housing and beyond, we cover urbanity from all angles. Shaping better cities for all, one episode at a time.
Brought to you by NewCities.
Modern-day Australia is home to over 250 language groups, each of which belongs to a specific place and people. Through violent histories of dispossession, First Nations groups in Australia were stripped of their land rights, and dispersed across the continent. In today’s episode, our guest host Janet McGaw sits down with multi-clan descendant, Elder, and activist Uncle Gary Murray to discuss notions of spatial justice and equity in placemaking. Tune in to learn of the current calls for Treaty in the country, along with the different strategies that can support Indigenous placemaking through deep forms of collaboration and cultural awareness in architecture and planning.
*The quality of this audio file was affected by minor difficulties during recording. We encourage our listeners to follow along with the written transcript, which can be accessed on the threesixtyCITY webpage.
Cities are commonly perceived as separate from natural systems; great expanses of cement and concrete. However, the latest estimates show we can no longer live in disconnect, with 44% of global GDP in cities at risk of disruption from biodiversity loss. How can we bring nature back into our cities to secure a more livable and resilient future for all? The World Economic Forum has recently launched the BiodiverCities by 2030 initiative to push forward an urban development model in harmony with nature. Over the next two weeks, you'll hear from Cristina Gomez Garcia Reyes, the World Economic Forum's Lead of the Urban Nature Agenda, and George Benson, Co-Founder of the Climate Displacement Planning Initiative, on the reports significance, key takeaways, and concrete steps for urban leaders and decision makers.
More about BiodiverCities by 2030: https://www.weforum.org/biodivercities-by-2030 http://humboldt.org.co/biodivercitiesby2030/
Cities are commonly perceived as separate from natural systems; great expanses of cement and concrete. However, the latest estimates show we can no longer live in disconnect, with 44% of global GDP in cities at risk of disruption from biodiversity loss. How can we bring nature back into our cities to secure a more livable and resilient future for all? The World Economic Forum has recently launched the BiodiverCities by 2030 initiative to push forward an urban development model in harmony with nature. Over the next two weeks, you'll hear from Cristina Gomez Garcia Reyes, the World Economic Forum's Lead of the Urban Nature Agenda, and George Benson, Co-Founder of the Climate Displacement Planning Initiative, on the reports significance, key takeaways, and concrete steps for urban leaders and decision makers.
More about BiodiverCities by 2030: https://www.weforum.org/biodivercities-by-2030 http://humboldt.org.co/biodivercitiesby2030/
Over the last 20 years, the emergence of a field called “Night Studies” has brought together urban planners, scholars, and activists trying to understand how urban governance is applied to the 24-hour cycle. Cities all over the world started appointing night mayors, night ambassadors, and night czars, creating departments dedicated to governing the city after dark. In Amsterdam, the night mayor played an instrumental role reshaping the city's nightlife into one of the most vibrant and economically robust in the world. Today, we're lucky to be joined by the former Night Mayor of Amsterdam, Mirik Milan, to talk about the nighttime economy and how nightlife can shape the identity of a city.
This week we tell you a story. A story of collaboration and trust between members of a community working together towards shared climate goals. At the foundation is a method called "collective impact," used by the Tamarack Institute’s Climate Transitions cohort to spur meaningful and lasting systemic change at the community level. In this episode, we sit down with local leaders from the Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, to learn how they’re weaving climate action throughout all facets of their community to ensure the transition is both equitable and just.
To learn more and to spearhead your community’s own Climate Action Plan:
- Learn about the Tamarack Institute’s Community Climate Transitions program, and apply to join their 2023 cohort
- Read the TransformWR report, and check out the details of their action plan.
- Learn more about each of our speakers’ organizations: Tamarack Institute, Reep Green Solutions , Sustainable Waterloo Region .
In the early 2000s, the newly built New Delhi Metro Rail system was proclaimed a class and social equalizer that would become an image of modernity and progress in the Global South city. But in reality, the metro rail has failed to deliver on many fronts. Access is limited to a subset of the population and excludes many lower class user groups, reflecting the inherent inequalities embedded in the project. Today, we're joined by researcher Sree Ramachandran to discuss the equity implications of designing and planning major infrastructure projects, and which questions need to be raised in order to ensure accessibility for all.
To learn more, Sree recommends reading:
- Roychowdhury, A. et al. (2019). The Cost of Urban Commute: Balancing Affordability and Sustainability of Public Transport. Centre for Science & Environment. New Delhi. https://www.cseindia.org/content/downloadreports/9664
- Sadana, R. (2022). The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure. University of California Press. Oakland, 2022
- Siemiatycki, M. (2006). Message in a Metro: Building Urban Rail Infrastructure and Image in Delhi, India. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 30 (2): 277–92.
Advocates of public private partnerships champion their ability to accelerate innovation and hasten the deployment of technology to provide better public services. The Citi Impact Fund is driving change in the mobility sphere by investing in companies that address some of society’s most pressing challenges. Superpedestrian, is one example of the Fund’s portfolio companies working alongside city governments to improve transportation systems as a whole by providing first-and-last mile micro mobility solutions. This week, we’re speaking with Jeffrey Meyers, Director, Citi Impact Fund and Paul Steely White, President of Superpedestrian, to learn how private capital streams directly support equitable access to safe transportation in cities.
This Sunday, people all over America will be commemorating Juneteenth; a day to celebrate Black culture, but equally a time to reflect on the ways racial inequalities are still entrenched in our cities. The City of St. Louis, defined by its visible economic divide, has one of the worst racial wealth gaps in the country. To address the inequitable economic conditions across racial lines and zip codes, the city has recently launched a Roadmap to Economic Justice. Today, I’m joined by the Executive Director of The St. Louis Development Corporation, Neal Richardson, to discuss the monumental Framework and how the city is empowering communities from within ahead of Juneteenth.
It's a hard time to be a climate optimist. In April, the IPCC reported the world is currently on a path to 3.2 degrees of warming by mid century, well above the 1.5 degrees Celsius target in the Paris Agreement. Last year, 40% of Americans were victims of a climate disaster, and a new report warns of ecological, followed by civilizational collapse, due to warming. Despite that, there are reasons to be hopeful: an astonishing acceleration of renewable energy adoption, for example, and efforts to rewild and regenerate natural landscapes. So here to make the case for a new green urbanism that surpasses the one we already know and love is Chris Turner, winner of the Canadian National Business Book Award, and author of the new book appropriately titled, How To Be A Climate Optimist.
As the suburbs become the dominant living condition for most North Americans, the challenges associated with their low-density, car-centric development pattern prove more problematic. Planners, architects, and developers are starting to reimagine ways of designing and retrofitting the suburban model to increase connectivity and provide a better mix of uses. Today we're joined by the Department Chair at the City College of New York's Spitzer School of Architecture June Williamson and urban geographer Joel Kotkin to explore how history led to the suburbs we know today, and how emerging mobility solutions may ease the transition.
This conversation is part one of a Virtual Learning Series on the next generation of American Suburbs in partnership with the Toyota Mobility Foundation.
Cities face a dual housing crisis, on the one hand, providing equitable housing at an affordable price, and on the other, designing for climate resilience despite often higher upfront costs. The two dominant housing models we see today—urban compression and suburban sprawl—both contribute to an incredible sense of isolation and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Solving both crises in tandem will require alternative models that holistically address the financial, social, and environmental impacts of housing on people and places. Joining us today is Maria Yanez from Nightingale Housing, a Melbourne-based non-profit that is revolutionizing the way we live together through low-cost, high-performance multi-family housing in Australia.
Like many places around the world, housing prices in Canada have skyrocketed over the course of the pandemic—the standard home now costing nearly twice as much as in the US. In an attempt to cool the market, the Canadian government will spend $10B over the next 5 years on a new housing package that includes policies such as a two-year ban on sales to foreign buyers. However, critics argue the measures fail to address the root causes of housing inequity and the realities of the financialization of housing in Canada’s rising housing costs. Today we’re joined by the Global Director of Make the Shift and former UN Special Rapporteur Leilani Farha to discuss the importance of a human rights-based housing strategy and how cities and governments can better ensure adequate and affordable housing for all.
While the narrative has spun around the urban exodus over the course of the pandemic—leaving home for quieter, safer, and usually greener places—we neglect to consider the beauty of the hometown. For many Black and Brown Americans, success is measured by how far you can escape the low-income status of the place you grew up. But for Majora Carter, an Urban Revitalist and MacArthur Fellow, the belief is that nobody should have to move out of their neighborhood to live a better one. Today, she joins us to share her story and discuss how sustainable economic development and mixed-use can be powerful tools for retaining bright homegrown talent in the communities that need it most.
Check out her new book Reclaiming Your Community: http://www.majoracartergroup.com/home.html
How we design the built environment has the unique potential to bring people together and combat one of the biggest issues we face in cities: loneliness. However, there is a lack of evidence-based tools to understand how design directly supports social connections, often leaving it aside for other metrics such as building costs. One architecture studio in Vancouver, BC, has created an AI tool to bring sociability metrics to the building design conversation. This week, we're joined by the Principal of Human Studio, Bruce Haden, to learn more about FLUID sociability and how it's reducing social isolation through design.
More about Human Studio: https://www.humanstudio.ca/
The end of vaccine passports and mask mandates has led to an appearance of pre-pandemic normalcy in most areas of American cultural life, with one notable exception: no one wants to go to the office anymore. Data from Kastle System, the building security specialist, shows that office occupancy is sitting around 40% of pre-pandemic levels. What is to be done with downtowns and central business districts? Should offices be converted into housing, and how can we rethink flexible office space for landlords? Today we’re joined by Tracy Hadden Loh, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Fellow for Transformative Placemaking at Brookings Metro, to get her take on the future of downtown cores and America's walkable urban places.
What should it mean to design affordable housing—beyond providing affordable rent? The Brunson Terrace project, located at the heart of one of Santa Monica’s most vibrant and historically disadvantaged neighborhoods, is reimagining affordable housing to address issues of wellbeing and economic resilience. Today, we are joined by two of the project creators, Julie Rusk, Founder of Civic Wellbeing Partners in Santa Monica, and Tara Barauskas, the Executive Director of the Community Corporation of Santa Monica, to talk about how bringing together housing and businesses can holistically improve community wellbeing.
What will it take to decarbonize the world? That is the $3.5 trillion question — the hypothetical cost per year — on top of what the world already spends on energy, mobility, and the built environment — to achieve net zero. How will we get there? How will we pay for it? And who will reap the benefits are all questions raised in McKinsey Global Institute’s new report on the net-zero transition. Joining us today to discuss the technology and financing necessary to achieve these audacious goals — and, of course, what they mean for cities — is MGI partner Mekala Krishnan.
Read MGI's report "The net-zero transition: What it would cost, what it could bring": https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/the-net-zero-transition-what-it-would-cost-what-it-could-bring
Cities face unprecedented health challenges, from the increased demands on health systems due to rapid urbanization to acute dangers posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Data and digital solutions have the potential to greatly improve population health, but how can we reduce the barriers to the implementation of innovative technologies? This week we speak with AI pioneers from Quebec and Sao Paulo to break down the findings from our AI4HealthyCities Dialogues, an initiative to accelerate collaborations between governments on digital innovations and health, in partnership with the Novartis Foundation.
Learn more about the AI4HealthyCities Dialogues: https://www.ai4healthycities.com/ Find the report here: https://www.datocms-assets.com/57996/1642518870-ai4healthycities.pdf
While self-described climate mayors posture about fighting climate change, much of the transformative action that we see today is originating at the community and grassroots level. How can all segments of society work together towards this common goal—since climate change should matter to all of us? This week, we’re joined by Alison Sant, Co-Founder of Studio for Urban Projects and author of the new book From the Ground Up, to talk about examples on the ground and the unique ways in which cities are working to mitigate and adapt to climate change while creating more livable and especially equitable communities.
NYC’s Economic Development Corporation and Company Ventures recently launched The City Fellowship to support BIPOC and women-led small businesses and startups that are building a more equitable and sustainable future for New Yorkers. The Fellowship is an example of an impact-driven public-private partnership that hopes to promote economic equity in the city. This week we’re joined by Company Venture’s Head of Impact Lindsay Siegel, along with newly announced fellow and growing name in the care landscape, Jaime-Jin Lewis, to talk about the expanding field of technology for social good.
The words we use to describe communities experiencing historical disinvestment can act as self fulfilling prophecies for marginalization. How can we change the language we use to enable people to thrive? This week, we’re joined by community developer and equity facilitator Lauren Hood to talk about the Black Thriving Index she's developing to do exactly that. We also explore the concept of AfroUrbanism, and why it's important to intentionally place culture at the forefront of community development.
Find out more about the Institute for AfroUrbanism: https://afrourbanism.com/
“Care” has become urbanists’ watchword of late, nearly two years after the pandemic exposed a crisis of care for children, seniors, and cities alike. More recently, the urban designer Justin Garrett Moore has called for a “Department of Care” to manage the public realm, while new models of care-based cohousing are among the exhibits on display at the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s new exhibit, “A Section of Now.” But what does it mean to design for care, and is this just the latest buzzword, destined to be hollowed out? For the season finale, we’re joined by Alexandra Lange, author of The Design of Childhood, to discuss what it means to care.
All too often, cities are perceived as the opposite of nature — or at least in need of more “natural” features such as parks and green buildings. But the relationship between cities and their hinterlands is more nuanced and complex — a more urban world is also a greener one, as land preserved from development acts as a cooling force and carbon sink for a warming world. This week, we’re joined by Cities4Forest’s Scott Francisco to talk about the urban-forest continuum, his experience at COP26, and his plan to rewild Brooklyn Bridge.
To learn more about the projects mentioned in the episode, follow @partnerforestprogram on Instagram or visit: partnerforests.org cities4forests.com pilot-projects.org brooklynbridgeforest.com
As the COP26 summit in Glasgow grinds toward the end of hopefully successful negotiations, a draft agreement released this week calls for an end to fossil fuels ahead of the schedule outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Achieving these goals will not only require the creation of a “global carbon market” as originally outlined in Paris, but also rapid and massive changes to the built environment. In the U.S., some of these changes will be financed by the passage of President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, but trillions of dollars in additional investment is needed — a sum beyond the scope of the public sector. This week, we’re joined live from Glasgow by Chante Harris, director of climate investment and partnerships at Secondmuse, to discuss how to make COP26’s commitments a reality.
Early in the pandemic, public officials around the world seized streets from cars to create urgently needed outdoor space for recreation. Cities such as Paris, Milan, and Madrid led the way toward what some hoped would be a “15-minute city” lived locally on foot or by bicycle. But actually implementing this aspiration proved complicated — after all, we can’t all live in the center of Paris. How are cities pursuing this vision grappling with issues of equity and financing? And what does the street of the future look like beyond plywood street furniture and hastily-painted bicycle lanes? We’re joined by Kay Cheng, Spin’s Head of Streets and Equity Team and a former planner in San Francisco and New York, to discuss the micromobility company’s investments in placemaking and how it’s partnering with cities to reimagine the public realm.
One of the perversities of the American housing market is that the cities and regions most vulnerable to climate change, whether fires or floods or heat waves, are also the most popular — a trend fueled by the pandemic-era desire for space. But that’s finally beginning to change. For example, recent surveys by the real estate brokerage Redfin indicate that 75% of potential home buyers will take climate disasters into consideration when purchasing their next home. Meanwhile, changes to the National Flood Insurance Program enacted earlier this month will cause some premiums to rise as much as 1,000%. Are Americans finally waking up to climate change? And if so, where will they move next? I’m joined by Daryl Fairweather, chief economist of Redfin, to discuss how her company is putting climate risk ratings front and center — and whether home buyers will finally start to act on it.
More than a decade after “smart cities” promised to transform cities, it’s clear their killer app is surveillance. For example, last summer the San Diego Police Department obtained footage of Black Lives Matter protestors from “smart streetlights” ostensibly designed for traffic control and air quality monitoring. Following shock and outrage, the Mayor of San Diego ordered the 3,000+ cameras turned off — but they stayed on, no longer collecting footage for the city or police, but for the cameras’ manufacturers. This is just one example of a whole raft of technologies — including cameras, sensors, and facial recognition — that threaten to destroy the anonymity of the public realm.
We’re joined by Rebecca Williams, author of a recent report on smart city surveillance for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project, on steps communities can take to stop harmful surveillance and reassert the public’s right to the city.
Gender bias plays out in city-making all around us. In transportation, women face a wide range of inequalities owing to the fact that spaces were not designed with them in mind. How can we build more inclusive and gender-sensitive mobility systems that meet the travel needs and patterns of women? In this special collaboration with Women Who Move Nations, a podcast by UITP Australia and New Zealand, host Michelle Batsas speaks with Laura Chace, co-founder of Mobility XX, about its pledge to increase the number of women in mobility by 10% over the next 10 years.
With plumes of smoke sweeping over much of the West late summer, glowing orange skies, and heightened smog warnings, we’ve all grown more aware of the precarious state of the air we breathe. Less noticeable are the invisible particles that taint air space, with more than 90% of all cities exceeding safe air limits according to WHO guidelines. As the world shifts away from carbon-heavy industries, how can we simultaneously ensure solutions capture the full range of air pollutants for the health and wellbeing of urban populations. We’re joined by WHO consultant and environmental health expert Jeffery Smith to discuss solutions and how the clean energy transition will not only help fight climate change but also save millions of lives.
Columbus, Indiana is an archetypal “middle city” — a mid-sized, Midwest ‘burg in the middle of the country, albeit one distinguished for its exceptional collection of modernist architecture. The future of middle cities is the theme of the third edition of Exhibit Columbus, a biennial celebration and exploration of the city as a laboratory for design and civic investment. We’re joined by Exhibit Columbus director Anne Surak and co-curator Iker Gil to discuss all things middle metropolis — from demographics to technology, climate change, and of course, the pandemic — and what cities have to learn from Columbus.
Supporting life through social connectedness, play, and creativity, public space is vital to thriving life in cities. When created using participatory and community-centered methods, public spaces have the ability to unlock wellbeing and foster connection among a broad set of individuals. In this podcast, host Jordana Wright speaks with Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart and Happy Cities Founder Charles Montgomery about how the public realm can be created and enjoyed by all, and how it furthers health, sustainability, and equity in our cities.
Bringing to light the foundations of systemic racism and wealth disparities that exist in cities across North America, A Reckoning in Boston is an intimate look at the effect of policy, governance, and planning decisions on a local community. Following the screening, AfroUrbanist Lauren Hood sat down with Producer, urban farmer and community organizer, Kafi Dixon and director James Rutenbeck to discuss what they learned while filming, transformation of communities and individuals, and the meanings of resilience, culture, community, and equity.
Montréal a récemment fait des progrès importants vers un avenir plus durable pour ses résident.e.s grâce à l'adoption d'un plan global pour le climat. Le "Plan climat 2020-2030" a pour objectif de promouvoir une ville plus résiliente, verte, neutre en carbone et inclusive pour tou.te.s. Dans cet épisode, nous nous entretenons avec le maire de l'arrondissement du Plateau-Mont-Royal, Luc Rabouin, pour discuter des plans et des initiatives qui aideront la ville à concrétiser cette vision audacieuse.
Access to affordable housing is a key component of health and wellbeing. Yet, people in cities across the globe struggle to find and secure affordable and safe housing due to lack of available units and speculative behavior in the housing market. We sit down with experts Jonathan Woetzel and Shannon Peloquin to discuss how to reimagine the provision of affordable housing and rethink our cities for all.
We are excited to announce Bogotá, Colombia as the 2021 Wellbeing City. Bogotá’s “District Care System'' aims to close gender inequality gaps, prioritize vulnerable population groups, and accelerate the implementation of the SDGs through centering caregivers. The initiative redistributes caregiving responsibilities more equitably between women and men and reduces women’s unpaid work so they can pursue personal development and self-care. Tomos Lewis sits down with Mayor López Hernández to discuss the initiative and how she’s working to make Bogotá a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable city for all.
Le sport est un langage universel qui permet de connecter des personnes d'horizons différents, tout en promouvant l’amitié et la collaboration interculturelles et en stimulant la santé physique et émotionnelle. Dans cet épisode spécial, la journaliste Flavie Halais discute avec notre ville finaliste, Strasbourg, de la transformation du tissu social, de la santé et du bien-être de la ville grâce à l'exercice participatif et au sport.
With the rise of the 15-minute city concept, there is more discussion than ever before about the benefits of living a more compact life, limiting the distance that residents have to travel to meet their needs, and in doing so, creating more sustainable, social, and happy cities. But in aspiring to create more connected places, how do we know if we are actually getting closer to this future? Today we are speaking with Hrishikesh Ballal about how Geodesign Hub is helping to quantify urban sprawl, helping city governments make more effective decisions regarding land use.
Connect with Hrishi via Geodesignhub Office Hours: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/Geodesignhub@geodesignhub.com/bookings/.
Good data is key to spurring equitable growth and promoting socio-economic vibrancy in cities. Still, cities face a myriad of challenges when it comes to collecting, monitoring, and showcasing specific needs through data that can lead to impactful place-based investment. We sit down with Valla Vakili to discuss the future of data and how cities can leverage it to maximize public good and promote health and equity post-COVID.
In the decades following the Civil War, thousands of freed slaves journeyed north to the plains provinces of Canada to escape the institutional racism of Jim Crow and achieve their own “American Dream.” In doing so, they both paved the way for future Black migrations and entangled themselves in Canada’s own colonialist legacy. CBC journalist Omayra Issa joins us to discuss “Black on the Prairies,” her groundbreaking series exploring the role of Black Canadians in settling the west, as well as their future in a nation (and a world) caught between conflicting desires to welcome migrants and securing the borders at all cost.
For nearly thirty years, Peter Rees steered the unstoppable growth of the City of the London — the historic Square Mile at the heart of both the city and global finance. In his capacity as chief planner, he personally approved such iconic skyscrapers as the Gherkin, the Cheesegrater, and the Walkie-Talkie. But as firms and their employees debate whether and when to return to the office — if ever — has the need for central business districts come and gone? If so, how will cities ever replace them? Rees makes the case for why a center of commerce for nearly two thousand years isn’t finished yet.
First, a call to defund the police that gained traction during the social justice protests of 2020 and now President Biden's proposed investment in the modernization of streets leads us to reimagine how we design our streetscapes.
In her 2019 book, Policing the Open Road: How Cars Transformed American Freedom, Columbia law professor Sarah Seo explores how the rise of the automobile led Americans to accept and expect pervasive police power in the form of traffic stops — power that has disproportionately led to the deaths of Black Americans such as Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, and Daunte Wright, among so many others. It is this power that has led Black activists to broadly criticize the urbanist movement as pointless at best, racist at worst — what good are slow streets and cycling lanes if they lead to more encounters of the kind that murdered George Floyd? Sarah joins us now to explains how a combination of design, decriminalization and disarming police might lead to safer streets for all.
There are now more Americans over the age of 80 than under the age of two. This burgeoning “elder boom” has stretched the nation’s caregivers to their limits, while the spiraling costs of care mean 80% of Americans can no longer afford it. That’s why President Biden has earmarked $400 billion for caregiving as part of his infrastructure plan, arguing care is essential to productivity. But given that 40% of U.S. deaths in the first wave of the pandemic (and 80% of Canadian deaths) were situated in senior care facilities, something in the current model has to give. MIT artist and filmmaker Marisa Morán Jahn is developing an alternative named “Carehaus” in which caregivers and their charges live side-by-side. She joins us to discuss how new models of care can solve the precarity of all involved.
Between President Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan and the new-and-improved $1 trillion Green New Deal for Cities, America is poised to make a once-in-a-generation investment in housing, transportation, and the grid. Blueprint Power CEO Robyn Beavers has worked for everyone from the Department of Energy to America’s largest homebuilder to Google to the largest manufacturer of wind turbines in the world. She joins us to discuss her startup’s plans to trade energy between buildings, what New York City’s carbon tax means for cities, and how best to put a trillion dollars to work.
For more than a decade, Reinier de Graaf has lampooned thirsty starchitects chasing commissions from boomtown to boomtown across the Global North and South — including the ambitions of his own firm, OMA, where he is a partner alongside Rem Koolhaas. In his new novel The Masterplan, de Graaf chronicles the rise and fall of a young architect tasked with designing the capital of a young African republic, and who is instantly caught in a crossfire of colonialism, Chinese ambitions on the continent, and the long arm of late capitalism. Is there a way out for either his protagonist or the profession?
They go by many names: ojeks; boda bodas; trikes; tuktuks; matatus; jeepneys — the two-, three-, and four-wheeled vehicles that ferry millions of people across the Global South daily. A decade ago, they were villainized as a scourged to be stamped out; today, they’re being monetized by billion-dollar startups such as Grab and Ojek. But the larger task remains — elevating so-called “informal” transport to a full-partner in urban mobility, and making these modes clean, safe, and sustainable.
Agile City Partners’ Andrea San Gil Leon joins us to discuss her work advising the government of Costa Rica and others on recognizing the power of pop transport.
Amazon has remade the United States in its image — an American cloud of warehouses, data centers, and urban headquarters controlling the commanding heights of the U.S. economy, reinforced during a pandemic year.
Fulfillment author and ProPublica reporter Alec Macgillis joins us to discuss us how, where, and why Amazon has been able to express such leverage — and what it means for the future of American cities, and the world’s.
The future of cities is the future of sub-Saharan Africa — a broad swath of the world with a bulging youth bracket and the world’s fastest urbanization rates. TRUE Africa’s Claude Grunitzky has been chronicling the region’s rise for two decades through his company’s media arm and now its online education platform, TRUE Africa University, created in conjunction with MIT.
He joins us to discuss how the pandemic has shuttered many of the continent’s best universities, how he hopes to help meet the need of a new generation of students, and how TAU is also an opportunity to teach the world about pan-African achievements as well.
On March 11, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package including cash, child care and health care assistance, and other benefits for the large majority of Americans. Hailed at the largest expansion of the U.S. social safety net since LBJ’s Great Society, the act was not without its critics, with some arguing that its measures are not permanent and do not go far enough, while others warned of the risks of an overheating economy.
Joining us this week to rebut those critics is former Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisors economist Claudia Sahm, who makes the case that even stronger measures are necessary to prevent deepening post-pandemic economic inequality.
Two years ago, Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs launched a pilot program to distribute monthly $500 checks to 125 randomly selected individuals earning less than the city’s median income. Now, the results are in, and while they’re shocking they shouldn’t be surprising: Recipients were healthier, happier, and less anxious than their counterparts in the control group. Today, Tubbs is the founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income — a national coalition including many of America’s most prominent Black mayors.
With these results in hand, and with a new round of stimulus checks on their way to Americans, what would it take to make such programs permanent? Why are mayors best-positioned to oversee such programs? And what does it mean to see guaranteed incomes through the lens of social justice rather than a technocratic solution?
Communities around the United States face the threat of being underwater. This is not only a matter of rising waters reaching the doorstep. It is also the threat of being financially underwater, owning assets worth less than the money borrowed to obtain them. Many areas around the country may become economically uninhabitable before they become physically unlivable. In her new book Underwater, the LSE’s Rebecca Elliott explores how families, communities, and governments confront problems of loss through the lens of flood insurance, which shapes who can live on the waterfront, on what terms, and at what cost.
Law professor Veena Dubal joins us to discuss the implications of Prop. 22, the California ballot measure creating a permanent class of gig workers without the full protections and benefits of full-time employees. The primary backers of the measure — Uber, Lyft, and Doordash — aim to take the law nationwide, while the effects are already being felt throughout California as companies seek to replace staffers with contract workers and press labor unions to embrace the the “Uberization” of work. Dubal will share lessons from her research on the intersections of technology, low-wage work, and organizing and propose alternatives to a future of only gig work.
Andre Alexander, lead pastor at The Tabernacle in St. Louis, exemplifies what it means to rebuild a neighborhood alongside its community, rather than displacing it. The Tabernacle Community Development Corporation works in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood of North St. Louis to purchase and renovate homes for rent as a means of helping residents develop pathways to homeownership. Pastor Andre argues transformation is possible in the neighborhoods many have walked away from — but that it requires creative solutions, local collaboration, and no lack of passion.
17/02/2021
In today's episode, NewCities' Urban Governance Fellow Daffney Moore sits down with networking expert and TEDxHarvard speaker Gisele Marcus to discuss the power of networking for city newcomers.
This discussion is hosted as part of NewCities' New Urban Champions initiative, empowering secondary, small, and medium-sized cities. For its second edition, we teamed up with the St. Louis Development Corporation to amplify the stories of innovation, growth, and collaboration taking place in St. Louis, Missouri.
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This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm
Tech ethnographer Tricia Wang was studying digital communities in Wuhan when COVID-19 appeared. As the city went into lockdown, she noticed the rise of xiao qu (小区), or hyper-local networks of building residents connected through WeChat. Their perseverance inspired her to co-found Last Mile, a New York-based mutual aid organization that has sourced tens of thousands of items of PPE for front-line healthcare workers. Wang joins us to discuss what hers and other mutual aid groups can teach cities about digital governance in the post-pandemic era.
The UAE’s recent decision to grant citizenship to those it deems worthy (or wealthy) enough is only the latest example of how cities and nations are waging a war of all-against-all for global talent in the post-COVID era. Whether it’s the mayor of Miami soliciting VCs and startups to emigrate from Silicon Valley, Helsinki launching a “90-day Finn” campaign to smooth the way for talent, or the proliferation of “nomad visas” by the likes of Estonia, Bermuda, and Barbados, governments are positioning themselves as pandemic destinations. The Cosmopolites author Atossa Araxia Abrahamian joins us on threesixtyCITY to discuss the confluence of quarantines, quality of life, and citizenship-for-sale.
New York Penn Station’s Moynihan Train Hall opened on New Year’s Day nearly thirty years after it was first proposed by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Alexandros Washburn worked closely with the senator to conceive his vision, before later serving as the city’s chief urban designer. He joins us on threesixtyCITY to share his personal history of the struggle to redeem Penn Station, and to discuss the mixed-use “model block” proposed by his current firm, DRAW, as an example of post-pandemic development.
It’s morning in America! Literally, it’s the morning of Inauguration Day in the United States, when Joe Biden will be sworn in as President. In honor of this momentous occasion, we’ve assembled an amazing lineup of speakers to discuss their expectations, recommendations, and maybe even their fears of the incoming Biden administration.
Guest Lineup: Daffney Moore, Chief Opportunity Zone Officer, St. Louis Development Corporation Robert Hockett, Lawyer, Professor of Law, and Policy Advocate Jordan Davis, Director at Smart Columbus Todd McIntyre, Chief Strategy Officer, Metrolink
Welcome to 2021 and threesixtyCITY. While the world eagerly awaits rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and a return to “normal,” authors Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan have taken a panoramic view of the future in their new book The Great Demographic Reversal. Their argument: rapidly aging societies in China and the West will trigger “secular stagflation” market by slow growth and rising inflation. What will be the impact cities, and are there remedies — whether more support for seniors, young families, or both?