What is The Future for Cities?
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765 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Cities that work with natural cycles - Moein Nodehi (478)
4 november 2026 · 49 min
Moein Nodehi, Founder and CEO of Biotonomy, argues that cities have been built in a way that disrupts almost every natural cycle, and that every building decision stays in the city for about a hundred years. Lees meer
Water is his first concern: paving caps the ground, groundwater is taken and never put back, and designers are barely taught what water is. He adds wind, food and green space, then puts the responsibility on every developer, architect and builder rather than waiting for policy, citing a wastewater reuse project the city later turned into standards. He closes on holistic design, grey water reuse, paving the road for the next generation, and doing what is needed.
(00:00) Cities against natural cycles
(05:00) Why cities exist
(08:30) Growing constructively
(10:15) Water, the cycle we don't understand
(13:19) Wind and food cycles
(16:02) Green is how water gets back
(17:40) Whose responsibility?
(20:53) Build it, then the policy follows
(22:35) Fears: water and heat
(25:38) Human wellbeing and nature
(29:01) The solutions are easier
(33:18) Holistic design and the greenhouse
(36:33) Water recycling within reach
(41:03) Paving the road
(44:32) Be bold, do what is needed
Show notes
Pairs with episode 477
What is The Future for Cities?
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Don't save the world. Do what is needed. - Moein Nodehi (478)
3 november 2026 · 2 min
Moein Nodehi tells people they will not save the world on their own, but their contribution matters. There will be broken pipes and hard days, and the advice is not to give up: do what you love, but if you want to contribute, do what is needed. Lees meer
From the interview with Moein Nodehi in episode 478, on natural cycles and water recycling.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Nature-based solutions and the water-energy-food nexus (477)
2 november 2026 · 18 min
Carvalho and colleagues' review of 19 urban case studies asks whether nature-based solutions can manage a city's water, energy and food together. This debate tests whether living infrastructure is a system or a set of single-purpose pilots. Lees meer
One side points to Brooklyn Grange's rooftop farm, Singapore's vertical gardens, constructed wetlands that turn biomass into energy, and Seoul's Cheonggyecheon River restoration, and argues that a mosaic of small projects adds up to a citywide nexus. The other points to the missing food-energy data at large scales, the lack of grey water guidelines and the cost of retrofitting, and calls citywide reliance premature. Both agree the field needs standardised, multipurpose indicators that measure water, energy and food together. The research transcript is on the site.
(00:00) Living infrastructure or grey pipes
(03:03) The water-energy-food nexus
(04:27) The central question
(05:11) Brooklyn Grange and the Treehouse
(07:20) Micro success, macro silence
(08:23) The roof mosaic
(09:06) Missing food-energy data
(10:37) Constructed wetlands
(11:40) Grey water and technical barriers
(12:52) Cheonggyecheon River
(14:16) Costs and retrofitting
(16:03) Closing positions
(16:49) Where both sides meet
Research article: Nature-based solutions addressing the water-energy-food nexus: Review of theoretical concepts and urban case studies
Shownotes
Pairs with episode 478
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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One greenhouse ties water, food, and heat - Moein Nodehi (478)
1 november 2026 · 2 min
Moein Nodehi designs every project holistically. Shower water is treated by plants in a greenhouse that also grows food and works as a buffer space, so water recycling, food production, heating and cooling are designed together. Lees meer
From the interview with Moein Nodehi in episode 478, on natural cycles and water recycling.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Do the right project, then the policy follows - Moein Nodehi (478)
31 oktober 2026 · 2 min
Moein Nodehi says it is the responsibility of every developer, architect and home builder to do the right thing. His team reused a building's wastewater for its green walls and roofs without any policy, and the city then came asking for standards. Lees meer
From the interview with Moein Nodehi in episode 478, on natural cycles and water recycling.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Public space as the product - Howard Kozloff (476)
28 oktober 2026 · 57 min
Howard Kozloff, founder of Agora Partners, argues that public space is the product and buildings are the walls around it. Projects, in his practice, have to be financially viable and civically valuable together. Lees meer
He calls the method entrepreneurial planning: developer discipline and risk tolerance applied to problems usually left to policy, so a plan shapes what gets built. Cities, he says, absorb shocks and still gather, and public space is what makes density livable. Government's useful role is a rule the land market can price on day one, and someone still has to own the operating costs or the welcome fails. He closes on people in the street, and on the claim that the demise of the city is greatly overstated.
(00:00) Cities absorb every shock
(02:11) Entrepreneurial planning
(06:40) Capital, design, and policy
(09:55) Why cities still gather
(12:47) Public space, not just density
(16:04) Capital misses the public realm
(18:48) Affordability is structural
(23:14) The developer's social contract
(27:36) Fears for the future of cities
(32:01) Government and predictable rules
(35:47) Innovation and building risk
(44:45) Reuse, stewardship, and labs
(52:11) People on the street
Show notes
Pairs with episode 475
What is The Future for Cities?
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Who pays to run a public space - Howard Kozloff (476)
27 oktober 2026 · 2 min
Howard Kozloff says someone has to own the operating costs of a public space, and that this is a design and financing question if the welcome is going to last. Stewardship, for him, belongs in the capital structure. Lees meer
From the interview with Howard Kozloff in episode 476, on public space as the product.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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How much are public spaces worth? (475)
26 oktober 2026 · 13 min
Jagoda Adamus's 2023 paper asks what public spaces are worth when the market will not name a price. This debate tests whether total economic value can hold a plaza's cultural worth. Lees meer
One side of the conversation treats culture, bequest, and the joy of a bench as human utility already inside the economic account, and points to hedonic prices and contingent valuation as the tools. The other treats David Throsby's cultural capital as a separate category, and argues that genius loci cannot be transferred to a shopping mall that only copies the functions. Both agree that floor area and commercial income miss what public space does for wellbeing, and that a city negotiates better when it can speak about worth in more than one language. The research transcript is on the site.
(00:00) What a plaza is worth
(03:17) Total economic value
(04:16) Cultural capital apart
(05:02) Pricing the unpriceable
(06:03) Urban squares resist the tools
(07:37) Scarcity and free riders
(09:28) Replacement and the mall
(10:18) Genius loci
(11:10) The language of capital
(12:28) Where both sides meet
https://doi.org/10.33119/GN/163105
Shownotes
Pairs with episode 476
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link)
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Zoning gets priced into the land - Howard Kozloff (476)
25 oktober 2026 · 2 min
Howard Kozloff argues that land markets price a zoning rule as soon as a city approves it, sometimes overnight. A late demand for a park can stop a building that an early rule would have allowed. Lees meer
From the interview with Howard Kozloff in episode 476, on public space as the product.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Entrepreneurial planning for public space - Howard Kozloff (476)
24 oktober 2026 · 2 min
Howard Kozloff calls entrepreneurial planning the habit of using developer discipline on problems usually left to policy, so a plan shapes what gets built. He treats the park and the sidewalk as the product. Lees meer
From the interview with Howard Kozloff in episode 476, on public space as the product.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Urban logistics in large cities - Laetitia Dablanc (474)
22 oktober 2026 · 43 min
Laetitia Dablanc, professor at the University Gustave Eiffel, says urban logistics in large cities already delivers the goods. The gap she names is planner skill, not a missing technology. Lees meer
She places the most sophisticated logistics in large cities, defines a megacity as a connection of up to about 40 million people, and splits the field into warehousing and transportation. E-commerce, in her account, can be better for CO2 than store retail and worse for the quality of the jobs.
Robots already do the worst warehouse work. Transport models are about 20 years behind the city they describe. She is hopeful because solar panels, new vegetation, and a swimmable Seine are already here, and because she educates about 10 people a year to use that kind of tool.
(00:00) Cities are the future
(02:50) What a city is
(06:29) Mega-regions as one connection
(07:56) Warehousing and transport
(10:36) The goods system already works
(12:59) Air, noise, and the jobs
(15:16) E-commerce, carbon, and work
(17:08) Automation and warehouse robots
(20:45) Planner skills are the concern
(24:12) Transport models left behind
(27:35) Where skills still concentrate
(31:08) Hope, because the tools exist
(33:44) Engineering that is already here
(37:57) Educating ten experts a year
Show notes
What is The Future for Cities?
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Engineering cities can use now - Laetitia Dablanc (474)
21 oktober 2026 · 2 min
Laetitia Dablanc points to solar panels, new vegetation, and two years of swimming in the Seine as engineering cities already have, and still do not use enough. Lees meer
From the interview with Laetitia Dablanc in episode 474, on urban logistics in large cities.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Last-mile urban logistics in Portuguese cities (473)
20 oktober 2026 · 11 min
Diogo Correia, Cristiano Vagos, João Lourenço Marques, and Leonor Teixeira test last-mile logistics in Portuguese cities. Over 76% of municipalities lack real-time tools, so a 15-minute city-led network is elegant on paper and hard to run. Lees meer
The debate is whether a municipality should orchestrate shared hubs, cargo bikes, and a predictive map, or whether missing data and thin coordination make that role impractical. Proprietary vans account for up to 21% of CO2 in residential areas, and only about 2% of municipalities said they would not struggle to mobilise a 15-minute response.
Lisbon is the worked example: DBSCAN inside 1.5 kilometres, Uber's H3 grid, and Valhalla 15-minute bike isochrones. GDPR, hills, cold storage, and private operators who compete on routing are the constraints. The research transcript is on the show site.
(00:00) The last-mile free-for-all
(02:41) A 15-minute logistics question
(03:41) Logistics 4.0 and shared hubs
(04:40) Lisbon's tools and algorithm
(06:05) Data, privacy, and radar
(07:08) Sharing work with operators
(08:26) Hills, storage, and bikes
(09:46) What both sides still share
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13675567.2022.2130211
Shownotes
Pairs with episode 474
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link)
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Why skills gather in big cities - Laetitia Dablanc (474)
19 oktober 2026 · 2 min
Laetitia Dablanc argues that innovations come from a concentration of different people, and that a campus, a hospital, or a city hall still needs a big city to become real. Lees meer
From the interview with Laetitia Dablanc in episode 474, on urban logistics in large cities.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Robots and better warehouse jobs - Laetitia Dablanc (474)
18 oktober 2026 · 2 min
Laetitia Dablanc says automated warehouses make the work less miserable, because robots take the worst jobs, and that training today's workers into the new ones will not be easy. Lees meer
From the interview with Laetitia Dablanc in episode 474, on urban logistics in large cities.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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V. Kelly Turner: Thermal literacy and which heat (472)
15 oktober 2026 · 42 min
V. Kelly Turner, associate director and professor of urban planning and geography at UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation, on treating extreme heat as a daily planning problem: which heat, whose body, and what a city can still redesign. Lees meer
She argues that heat, in the American Meteorological Society's definition, is a process, and that a temperature is only a snapshot of it. Thermal literacy is the working knowledge of why you feel hot, why a city heats up, and how to cool down. The urban heat island, she says, is a useful caricature and a poor guide to a person standing in sun or shade.
Her concerns are unequal access to cooling, streets designed without shade, and a spectacle of record temperatures that does not change practice. Her hopes sit with thermophysiology, cooling that changes what a body has to do, public water, and heat governance that is still young enough to build with equity in mind. She frames what a household can do as agency, and she keeps the problem collective.Cities, she says, are mutable: if we built them, we can retrofit them.
(00:00) Heat is a verb
(01:54) Futures we plan for
(04:10) What thermal literacy means
(06:58) What counts as a city
(07:58) The heat island straw man
(13:04) Inequity, shade, spectacle
(16:21) Heat in ordinary days
(19:47) The three Ps of heat
(23:36) Water as a cooling tool
(26:57) Building heat governance
(31:40) Agency, not blame
(33:40) Heat exposure settings
(35:56) Cities can be redesigned
(39:17) Bridging research and policy
Pairs with episode 471
Show notes: https://wtf4cities.com/2026/10/15/472i_kelly-turner-associate-director-and-professor-of-urban-planning-and-geography-at-uclas-luskin-center-for-innovation/
What is The Future for Cities?
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link…
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Passive cooling as agency, not blame - V. Kelly Turner (472)
14 oktober 2026 · 2 min
V. Kelly Turner would cool a home by night ventilation and covered windows, and she refuses to call that a private duty. Agency, she says, still sits inside a collective challenge. Lees meer
The skill reduces strain on the grid and on a household bill. The responsibility for safe heat, in her framing, does not stop at the front door.
Full conversation in episode 472: https://wtf4cities.com/2026/10/15/472i_kelly-turner-associate-director-and-professor-of-urban-planning-and-geography-at-uclas-luskin-center-for-innovation/
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Hyper-local heat beyond surface temperature (471)
13 oktober 2026 · 14 min
V. Kelly Turner and colleagues find that a satellite map of land surface temperature is a poor guide to theheat a person feels in Civano, Tucson. Painting a street white can cool the pixel and heat the pedestrian. Lees meer
The debate is on their 2022 paper in the Journal of Land Use Science. One side keeps 30 metre Landsat maps as the tool cities can actually use. The other shows how a morning snapshot, and a coat of reflective paint, can miss or worsen mean radiant temperature for the person on the street. Shade cools that person and keeps the asphalt from charging overnight, with a night-time catch when a dense canopy holds heat in.
(00:00) White streets and pedestrians
(02:46) Civano as a laboratory
(03:39) Mean radiant temperature
(06:00) A 10am satellite pass
(07:03) Walking with MaRTy
(08:46) The cool-street trap
(10:57) Shade and stored heat
(11:37) Trees that warm the night
(12:40) Which heat problem
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1747423X.2021.2015003
Shownotes: https://wtf4cities.com/2026/10/13/471r_more-than-surface-temperature-mitigating-thermal-exposure-inhyper-local-land-system/
Pairs with episode 472, V. Kelly Turner: https://wtf4cities.com/2026/10/15/472i_kelly-turner-associate-director-and-professor-of-urban-planning-and-geography-at-uclas-luskin-center-for-innovation/
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link)
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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If we built it, we can cool it - V. Kelly Turner (472)
12 oktober 2026 · 2 min
V. Kelly Turner finds optimism in a simple fact: cities are mutable. If people built a hot street, they canretrofit it, and local staff writing heat plans already know their cities. She points to the City of LA andLos Angeles County, where the people on heat action plans now know heat as well as they know their streets.Full conversation in episode 472: https://wtf4cities.com/2026/10/15/472i_kelly-turner-associate-director-and-professor-of-urban-planning-and-geography-at-uclas-luskin-center-for-innovation/ Lees meer
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Heat is a verb, so ask which heat - V. Kelly Turner (472)
11 oktober 2026 · 2 min
V. Kelly Turner says heat is a verb. A weather-app temperature is one snapshot of an energy exchange, and a city that plans to manage heat still has to say which heat. Lees meer
Air temperature, a surface, and sunlight on skin are different. She wants that distinction in everyday language and in local government.
Full conversation in episode 472: https://wtf4cities.com/2026/10/15/472i_kelly-turner-associate-director-and-professor-of-urban-planning-and-geography-at-uclas-luskin-center-for-innovation/
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Geoffrey West: Urban Scaling Laws and the Future of Cities (470)
8 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 15 min
Geoffrey West, theoretical physicist and distinguished professor at the Santa Fe Institute, on urban scaling laws,cities that grow faster than exponential, and what happens when populations start to shrink. He treats the future of cities as the future of the planet. Cities drive resource use and climate change because that is where the people are. Without immigration, much of Europe and the United States would already be shrinking, even while other places cannot build housing fast enough. Lees meer
A city, for him, is a machine for social interaction: A talks to B talks to C. Globalization widens that loop and also risks sanding off the diversity of thought cities need. He wants the rise in living standards kept, and energy returned to the sun. A science of cities would predict the rough baseline for roads, police, crime, and patents from city size alone, then ask why a particular city beats or misses that line. The same scaling laws show up from Cleveland to cities in Chile, China, and Sweden.Episode 469 is the debate on the 2007 paper he co-authored.
(00:00) Cities need science
(00:58) Who Geoffrey West is
(02:06) Cities and the planet
(07:39) Immigration and the singularity
(17:39) A machine for interaction
(23:30) Globalization and diversity
(27:43) What to sustain
(36:13) Three concerns
(42:23) Why cities outlast companies
(50:42) A science of cities
(01:02:41) How scaling laws work
(01:13:02) A precarious planet
Show notes and transcript:https://wtf4cities.com/2026/10/08/470i_geoffrey-west-theoretical-physicist-and-distinguished-professor-at-the-santa-fe-institute/
What is The Future for Cities? podcast
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm …
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Scaling Laws from Cells to Cities | Geoffrey West
7 oktober 2026 · 2 min
Geoffrey West on urban populations growing faster than exponential, and the strange present in which some cities cannot build housing fast enough while others are already contracting. Lees meer
He calls the far side of that growth a singularity: depopulation, contraction, and possibly collapse. The short-term future of cities is both problems at once.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Growth, Innovation, and the Pace of Life in Cities (469)
6 oktober 2026 · 14 min
A research debate on the 2007 paper Growth, innovation, scaling, and the pace of life in cities, by Luís M. A. Bettencourt, José Lobo, Dirk Helbing, Christian Kühnert, and Geoffrey B. West. Lees meer
When a city doubles in population, wealth and invention grow by more than double. Biology does the opposite: a larger animal uses energy more efficiently and lives more slowly. The paper's growth equations say a superlinear city has to produce major innovations at a continually faster rate, or growth stalls and can collapse. One reading treats the city as an engine that makes solutions faster than problems, because people share a common store of knowledge. The other says shrinking innovation cycles run into fixed human limits: walking speed, the nervous system, and the roughly twenty years it takes to reach productive maturity. In the figures discussed, patents sit near 1.27, inventors near 1.25, wages near 1.12, and serious crime near 1.16. The argument is whether that thin gap is a surplus, or a system already at the wall.
(00:00) Scaling and the pace of life
(01:57) An engine, or a collision course
(03:56) Sublinear biology, superlinear cities
(05:15) The finite-time singularity
(06:44) Walking speed is not infinite
(08:27) The twenty-year limit
(09:46) Crime, disease, and energy waste
(11:11) A surplus, or a wall
(12:40) Read your city against the laws
Paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0610172104
Show notes: https://wtf4cities.com/2026/10/06/469r_growth-innovation-scaling-and-the-pace-of-life-in-cities/
What is The Future for Cities? podcast
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link)
Music by Lesfm …
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A City Is a Machine for Social Interaction | Geoffrey West
5 oktober 2026 · 2 min
Geoffrey West on urban populations growing faster than exponential, and the strange present in which some cities cannot build housing fast enough while others are already contracting. Lees meer
He calls the far side of that growth a singularity: depopulation, contraction, and possibly collapse. The short-term future of cities is both problems at once.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Cities Growing Faster Than Exponential | Geoffrey West
4 oktober 2026 · 2 min
Geoffrey West on urban populations growing faster than exponential, and the strange present in which some cities cannot build housing fast enough while others are already contracting. Lees meer
He calls the far side of that growth a singularity: depopulation, contraction, and possibly collapse. The short-term future of cities is both problems at once.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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468I_Shawn Meyers, Middle East Masterplanning Director
1 oktober 2026 · 43 min
“We’ve been optimizing what’s familiar rather than asking what’s possible.” Lees meer
Are you interested in the Middle East as a testing ground for urban solutions? What do you think about mistaking innovation for progress? How can we improve our from-design-to-implementation ratio?
Interview with Shawn Meyers, Middle East Masterplanning Director. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, urban progress, desert architecture, urban participation and civic ownership, the expectations of upcoming generations, and many more.
Shawn Meyers is an Urban Designer with a global perspective, shaped by experience across New York City, London, and Dubai. At DLR Group, he leads the masterplanning studio, focusing on urban residential projects and intensification strategies. His dual training enables him to explore innovative relationships between urban morphology and building typologies, evolving global best practices for the Middle East. Passionate about redefining 21st-century cities, Shawn believes urban design is fundamentally about designing the relationship between you and me.
Find out more about Shawn through these links:
Shawn Meyers on LinkedIn
DLR Group website
DLR Group on LinkedIn
DLR Group on Youtube
@DLRGroup as DLR Group on X
@dlr_group as DLR Group on Instagram
Shawn Meyers: Crossroads - DLR Group Youtube channel
Connected episodes you might be interested in:
No.104R - The story of NEOM city: opportunities and challenges
No.105 - Interview with Richard Morrison about project NEOM
No.444 - Interview with Markus Appenzeller about the opportunities in the Middle East
No.467R - A systematic review of passive cooling strategies integrating traditional wisdom and modern innovations for sustainable development in arid urban environments
What was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter @WTF4Cities or on the …
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The next generation expects more for the future - Shawn Meyers (468I trailer 3)
30 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in the Middle East as a testing ground for urban solutions? What do you think about mistaking innovation for progress? How can we improve our from-design-to-implementation ratio? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 468 - interview with Shawn Meyers, Middle East Masterplanning Director. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, urban progress, desert architecture, urban participation and civic ownership, the expectations of upcoming generations, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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467R_A systematic review of passive cooling strategies integrating traditional wisdom and modern innovations for sustainable development in arid urban environments (research debate)
29 september 2026 · 18 min
Are you interested in what we can learn from the Middle East regarding urban cooling? Lees meer
Our debate today works with the article titled A systematic review of passive cooling strategies integrating traditional wisdom and modern innovations for sustainable development in arid urban environments from 2026, by Shiva Manshour and Steffen Lehmann, published in the Discover Cities journal.
This is a great preparation to our next interview with Shawn Meyers in episode 468 talking about the Middle East as a testing ground to find climate-resilient solutions.
Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how we can utilise passive cooling strategies to enhance urban thermal comfort. This article provides a practical roadmap for architects and policymakers to reduce energy dependency and mitigate rising temperature through climate-adaptive urban planning.
Find the article through this link.
Connected episodes you might be interested in:
No.104R - The story of NEOM city: opportunities and challenges
No.105 - Interview with Richard Morrison about project NEOM
No.444 - Interview with Markus Appenzeller about the opportunities in the Middle East
You can find the transcript through this link.
What was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter @WTF4Cities or on the wtf4cities.com website where the shownotes are also available
I hope this was an interesting episode for you and than…
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Moving from design to implementation - Shawn Meyers (468I trailer 2)
28 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in the Middle East as a testing ground for urban solutions? What do you think about mistaking innovation for progress? How can we improve our from-design-to-implementation ratio? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 468 - interview with Shawn Meyers, Middle East Masterplanning Director. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, urban progress, desert architecture, urban participation and civic ownership, the expectations of upcoming generations, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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What is possible if you are willing to change approaches? Shawn Meyers (468I trailer 1)
27 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in the Middle East as a testing ground for urban solutions? What do you think about mistaking innovation for progress? How can we improve our from-design-to-implementation ratio? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 468 - interview with Shawn Meyers, Middle East Masterplanning Director. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, urban progress, desert architecture, urban participation and civic ownership, the expectations of upcoming generations, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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466I_Dr Anne Goodchild, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington and Founding Director at Urban Freight Lab
24 september 2026 · 56 min
"I’ve really been trying to make the case that last mile delivery is a public good that the government should be investing in. You can only exist in a city because of this transport system. It’s bringing you the food you need to eat. You would die without it." Lees meer
Are you interested in urban freight as the movement of gods across scales? What do you think about the trust needed for expert vision creation? How can we accommodate for more people through infrastructure efficiency?
Interview with Dr Anne Goodchild, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington and Founding Director at Urban Freight Lab. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, urban freight, vision creation, the role of engineers, travel as a choice, and many more.
Dr. Anne Goodchild is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington and an internationally recognized expert in freight logistics and sustainable supply chains. She is the founder of the Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics online Master’s degree program and the Urban Freight Lab (UFL), a pioneering public-private-academic partnership that established the concept of the “Final 50 Feet” of delivery. Anne has published more than 100 academic papers and earned multiple prestigious awards for her contributions to research, education, and industry integration.
Find out more about Anne through these links:
Anne Goodchild on LinkedIn
Anne Goodchild on Google Scholar
Anne Goodchild at the University of Washington
Urban Freight Lab website
Urban Freight Lab on LinkedIn
Anne Goodchild at Urban Freight Lab
Connected episodes you might be interested in:
No.451R - Defining the interface between city logistics and urban design: a systematic literature review
No.452 - Interview with Ron van Duin about urban freight
465R - The state of sustainable urban last-mile freight planning in the United States
What was the most interesting part for you? What questions…
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Cities providing opportunities for sustainability - Anne Goodchild (466I trailer 3)
23 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in urban freight as the movement of gods across scales? What do you think about the trust needed for expert vision creation? How can we accommodate for more people through infrastructure efficiency? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 466 - interview with Dr Anne Goodchild, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington and Founding Director at Urban Freight Lab. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, urban freight, vision creation, the role of engineers, travel as a choice, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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465R_The state of sustainable urban last-mile freight planning in the United States (research)
22 september 2026 · 12 min
Are you interested in last-mile freight planning? Lees meer
Debate of the article titled The state of sustainable urban last-mile freight planning in the United States from 2024, by Thomas Maxner, Giacomo Dalla Chiara, and Anne Goodchild, published in the Journal of American Planning Association.
This is a great preparation to our next interview with Anne Goodchild in episode 466 talking about urban freight and last-mile delivery opportunities and challenges.
Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how we can improve urban freight despite the vague urban guidelines. This article argues for better data collection and private-sector collaboration to effectively decarbonise the urban delivery sector.
Find the article through this link.
Connected episodes you might be interested in:
No.451R - Defining the interface between city logistics and urban design: a systematic literature review
No.452 - Interview with Ron van Duin about urban freight
You can find the transcript through this link.
What was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter @WTF4Cities or on the wtf4cities.com website where the shownotes are also available
I hope this was an interesting episode for you and thanks for tuning in.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript…
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Urban freight designed to leave space for people - Anne Goodchild (466I trailer 2)
21 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in urban freight as the movement of gods across scales? What do you think about the trust needed for expert vision creation? How can we accommodate for more people through infrastructure efficiency? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 466 - interview with Dr Anne Goodchild, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington and Founding Director at Urban Freight Lab. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, urban freight, vision creation, the role of engineers, travel as a choice, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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The importance of leaders setting the urban vision - Anne Goodchild (466I trailer 1)
20 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in urban freight as the movement of gods across scales? What do you think about the trust needed for expert vision creation? How can we accommodate for more people through infrastructure efficiency? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 466 - interview with Dr Anne Goodchild, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington and Founding Director at Urban Freight Lab. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, urban freight, vision creation, the role of engineers, travel as a choice, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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464I_Laura Reupke, CEO of BABLE
17 september 2026 · 47 min
"We do have solutions already today. We do see already what works today. We do know what is causing the problem. We do have it all." Lees meer
Are you interested in liveable cities designed for everyone? What do you think about having conversations about the future of cities with strangers? How can we design the future of our cities with everyone in mind?
Interview with Laura Reupke, CEO of BABLE. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, the superblock model, 15-minute cities, bottom-up initiatives, and many more.
Laura Reupke is CEO of BABLE, leading a mission-driven company that empowers cities worldwide to thrive in the digital era while tackling urgent sustainability challenges. With experience from McKinsey strategy consulting and ioki’s sustainable mobility solutions across Europe, she champions smarter, greener, and more human-centered urban futures. A Superblock creator in her own neighbourhood, Laura focuses on scaling innovation, building partnerships, and enabling transformative change.
Find out more about Laura through these links:
Laura Reupke on LinkedIn
BABLE website
BABLE on LinkedIn
BABLE on Youtube
BABLE Smart Cities podcast on Spotify
Connected episodes you might be interested in:
No.069 - Interview with Éva Kereszty about urban health
No.434 - Interview with Keith Cooke about affordable housing
No.456 - Interview with Caroline Howell about healthy local living
No.463R - Environmental and health effects of the Barcelona superblocks
What was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter @WTF4Cities or on the wtf4cities.com website where the shownotes are also available.
I hope this was an interesting episode for you and thanks for tuning in.
If you would like to support the podcas…
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Why do we still need to be optimistic? Laura Reupke (464I trailer 3)
16 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in liveable cities designed for everyone? What do you think about having conversations about the future of cities with strangers? How can we design the future of our cities with everyone in mind? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 464 - interview with Laura Reupke, CEO of BABLE. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, the superblock model, 15-minute cities, bottom-up initiatives, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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463R_Environmental and health effects of the Barcelona superblocks
15 september 2026 · 12 min
Are you interested in the superblock model’s effects of health and the environment? Lees meer
Our debate today works with the article titled Environmental and health effects of the Barcelona superblocks from 2025, by Katherine Perez, Laia Palencia, Maria Jose Lopez, Brenda Biaani Leon‑Gomez, Anna Puig‑Ribera, Anna Gomez‑Gutierrez, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Gloria Carrasco‑Turigas, and Carme Borrell, published in the BMC Public Health journal.
This is a great preparation to our next interview with Laura Reupke in episode 464 talking about the opportunities within the Superblock model.
Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how the Barcelona superblock model actually impacts urban life. This article suggests that this urban design could be a vital strategy for mitigating climate change impacts and improving public health.
Find the article through this link.
Abstract: The superblocks model of Barcelona (Spain) seeks to reorganize the city based on reversing the distribution of public space between vehicles and people by prioritizing citizens, thus improving their environmental conditions and quality of life. The objective of this paper was to describe the effects on environmental, health and quality of life of the first three superblocks implemented, discuss the lessons learned, and provide recommendations for the future. The evaluation included different approaches depending on the superblock analyzed: A pre-post-intervention health survey, environmental measures of air quality, the Microscale Audit of Urban Landscapes for Pedestrians (MAPS), an observational study on target areas of physical activity (SOPARC), ethnographic guerrilla studies, and focus groups. Residents and workers in all three of the evaluated superblocks reported a perceived improvement in well-being, tranquillity and quality of sleep, some reduction in noise and pollution and an increase in social interaction. The built environment of the superblocks clearl…
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We do have solutions today for the urban challenges - Laura Reupke (464I trailer 2)
14 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in liveable cities designed for everyone? What do you think about having conversations about the future of cities with strangers? How can we design the future of our cities with everyone in mind? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 464 - interview with Laura Reupke, CEO of BABLE. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, the superblock model, 15-minute cities, bottom-up initiatives, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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What healthy liveability means - Laura Reupke (464I trailer 1)
13 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in liveable cities designed for everyone? What do you think about having conversations about the future of cities with strangers? How can we design the future of our cities with everyone in mind? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 464 - interview with Laura Reupke, CEO of BABLE. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, the superblock model, 15-minute cities, bottom-up initiatives, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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462B_Reflections with Ben Vass and Fanni Melles
10 september 2026 · 39 min
"The future is here, just not evenly distributed." Lees meer
Are you interested in urban conscious evolution and a hopeful future? What do you think about the saying: the future is here just not evenly distributed? How can we move towards better urban futures?
Special reflective episode with Ben Vass, senior research engineer and yours truly, Fanni Melles, future of cities researcher, discussing what the last five years of the podcast and the world have taught us. We will talk about energy abundance, not evenly distributed but already present futures, antifragility and residuality theory, human progress and hope, and many more.
Ben Vass is a senior research engineer, graph shaman and data magician who wants to build a Dyson swarm, explore the stars and understand consciousness. Standing between two worlds, he sees everything as a network of networks. He works on upgrading the world’s financial infrastructure for transparency and verifiability. And his voice might be familiar because he voiced the podcast intro. Ben is also my partner in crime in every sense.
My name is Fanni Melles, PhD and I am an architect, future of cities researcher and creator of the What is The Future for Cities? podcast. Hungarian-born and Melbourne-based, my PhD argued that generic solutions fail because every city is unique. I see cities as emergent properties of their people and want to help people shape places more consciously, creating urban conscious evolution.
And with Ben, we are expecting 2 new urban agents, thus, this seemed a good time to stop and reflect on the last five years of the podcast and look into the future before a major paradigm shift in our thinking.
Check out the Building Better Cities book which synthesises the last five years of the podcast, written by Fanni Melles.
Find out more about Ben through these links:
Ben Vass on LinkedIn
TokCast by Brett Hall
The beginning of infinity by David Deutsch
Find out more about Fanni through these links:
Fanni Melles on Li…
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Human progress is something to be proud of - Ben Vass and Fanni Melles (462B trailer 3)
9 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in urban conscious evolution and a hopeful future? What do you think about the saying: the future is here just not evenly distributed? How can we move towards better urban futures? Lees meer
Trailer for special reflective episode (462B) with Ben Vass, senior research engineer and yours truly, Fanni Melles, future of cities researcher, discussing what the last five years of the podcast and the world have taught us. We will talk about energy abundance, not evenly distributed but already present futures, antifragility and residuality theory, human progress and hope, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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461B_Building Better Cities (book summary)
8 september 2026 · 10 min
Are you interested in how to build better cities based on 5 years of conversations? Lees meer
Summary of the book titled Building Better Cities from 2026, by yours truly, Fanni Melles.
This is a great summary of what we have learned during the first five years of the What is The Future for Cities? Podcast.
Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how we can create better outcomes for us and upcoming generations. This book describes the dangerous memes to be aware of and the foundational pieces which we discussed on the podcast with multiple guests.
Find the book through this link.
Book description: A city is not something that happens to us. It is the emergent result of the choices, interactions, and relationships of the people who live within it. Which means we are not its victims – we are its architects, if we choose to be conscious of it. In this grounded synthesis of five years of conversations, Fanni Melles examines the dangerous ideas quietly shaping our urban futures and offers a clearer, more hopeful alternative. Drawing on research and real-world practice, she shows how we can move beyond limiting narratives and instead strengthen the conditions for cities that are more adaptable, humane, and regenerative. The future of our cities is still ours to decide. This book shows us how to participate more consciously in shaping it.
Connected episodes you might be interested in:
No.154R - Smart city, smarter city, smarter approaches
No.156 - Interview with Fanni Melles about urban evolution
No.462 - Reflections on the last five years with Fanni Melles and Ben Vass
You can find the transcript through this link.
What was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter @WTF4Cities…
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Energy abundance through human ingenuity - Ben Vass and Fanni Melles (462B trailer 2)
7 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in urban conscious evolution and a hopeful future? What do you think about the saying: the future is here just not evenly distributed? How can we move towards better urban futures? Lees meer
Trailer for special reflective episode (462B) with Ben Vass, senior research engineer and yours truly, Fanni Melles, future of cities researcher, discussing what the last five years of the podcast and the world have taught us. We will talk about energy abundance, not evenly distributed but already present futures, antifragility and residuality theory, human progress and hope, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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The future is here just not evenly distributed - Ben Vass and Fanni Melles (462B trailer 1)
6 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in urban conscious evolution and a hopeful future? What do you think about the saying: the future is here just not evenly distributed? How can we move towards better urban futures? Lees meer
Trailer for special reflective episode (462B) with Ben Vass, senior research engineer and yours truly, Fanni Melles, future of cities researcher, discussing what the last five years of the podcast and the world have taught us. We will talk about energy abundance, not evenly distributed but already present futures, antifragility and residuality theory, human progress and hope, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
If you would like to support the podcast, check out the Building Better Cities book or our Patreon!
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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460I_Karl R Rábago, the Principal of Rábago Energy LLC
3 september 2026 · 1 uur 4 min
“When we rightsize and right site our energy like nature does, not wasting it, using what’s really necessary, we can actually enjoy the benefits of ubiquitous low-cost energy availability.” Lees meer
Are you interested in distributed energy systems? What do you think about energy as one of the crucial layers for urban anatomy? How can we leverage economies of energy for better urban futures?
Interview with Karl R Rábago, the Principal of Rábago Energy LLC. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, distributed energy systems, sustainability history, cheap vs low cost, energy and cost savings, economies of energy, and many more.
Karl R. Rábago is Principal of Rábago Energy LLC, based in Denver. With over 35 years of experience in clean energy, utility regulation, and sustainability, he has served as Texas PUC Commissioner, DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary, Vice President at Austin Energy, and attorney. A recognized innovator and expert in performance-based regulation and distributed energy resources, he has worked with RMI, EDF, and other NGOs, and chairs the Board of the Center for Resource Solutions and has provided more than 190 expert witness testimonies.
Find out more about Karl through these links:
Karl R. Rábago on LinkedIn
The Grid Doesn't Need More Power Plants (It Needs This) - Karl R. Rábago on Undecided with Matt Ferrell
Karl Rábago and the Internet of Electricity on the TBD podcast
Center for Resource Solutions website
Connected episodes you might be interested in:
No.222 - Interview with Adam Dorr about disruptive technologies
No.425R - Energy Foundation (book summary)
No.426 - Interview with AJ Perkins about how energy is the foundation of everything
No.459R - National Standard Practice Manual - For benefit-cost analysis of distributed energy resources - Summary
What was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter @WTF4Cities…
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What are distributed energy systems? Karl R. Rábago (460I trailer 3)
2 september 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in distributed energy systems? What do you think about energy as one of the crucial layers for urban anatomy? How can we leverage economies of energy for better urban futures? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 460 - interview with Karl R Rábago, the Principal of Rábago Energy LLC. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, distributed energy systems, sustainability history, cheap vs low cost, energy and cost savings, economies of energy, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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459R_National Standard Practice Manual: For benefit-cost analysis of distributed energy resources
1 september 2026 · 19 min
Are you interested in how distributed energy systems can work in practice? Lees meer
Our debate today works with the report titled National Standard Practice Manual: For benefit-cost analysis of distributed energy resources from 2020, by Tim Woolf, Courtney Lane, Melissa Whited, Chris Neme, Mike Alter, Steve Fine, Karl Rábago, Steven R. Schiller, Kate Strickland and Brenda Chew, published on the National Association of State Energy Officials website.
This is a great preparation to our next interview with Karl R. Rábago in episode 460 talking about the opportunities within the distribute energy system model.
Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how local energy investments value against traditional utility alternatives. This report provides a comprehensive framework for conducting benefit-cost analyses of diverse distributed energy resources.
Find the report through this link.
Connected episodes you might be interested in:
No.222 - Interview with Adam Dorr about disruptive technologies
No.425R - Energy Foundation (book summary)
No.426 - Interview with AJ Perkins about how energy is the foundation of everything
You can find the transcript through this link.
What was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter @WTF4Cities or on the wtf4cities.com website where the shownotes are also available
I hope this was an interesting episode for you and thanks for tuning in
Episode generated w…
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Societal benefits of distributed energy systems - Karl R. Rábago (460I trailer 2)
31 augustus 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in distributed energy systems? What do you think about energy as one of the crucial layers for urban anatomy? How can we leverage economies of energy for better urban futures? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 460 - interview with Karl R Rábago, the Principal of Rábago Energy LLC. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, distributed energy systems, sustainability history, cheap vs low cost, energy and cost savings, economies of energy, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
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Why aiming for singularity in distributed energy systems is crucial? Karl R. Rábago (460I trailer 1)
30 augustus 2026 · 2 min
Are you interested in distributed energy systems? What do you think about energy as one of the crucial layers for urban anatomy? How can we leverage economies of energy for better urban futures? Lees meer
Trailer for episode 460 - interview with Karl R Rábago, the Principal of Rábago Energy LLC. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, distributed energy systems, sustainability history, cheap vs low cost, energy and cost savings, economies of energy, and many more.
Find out more in the episode.
Episode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link).
Music by Lesfm from Pixabay