Challenger Cities

Iain Montgomery
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Iain Montgomery of Now or Never Ventures interviews urbanists, creatives, transit and development types to explore how cities can punch above their weight and create distinctive new futures outside of the tired playbooks.

  1. Challenger Cities EP61: Sweat and the City with Glenn Auerbach

    6D AGO

    Challenger Cities EP61: Sweat and the City with Glenn Auerbach

    Iain Montgomery talks with Glenn Auerbach about why sauna, bathing and cold-water culture has suddenly gone mainstream in cities around the world, and why the reasons go far beyond health trends or wellness hype. From floating saunas and mobile heat rooms to dawn swims in urban rivers and harbours, we explore how shared rituals of heat, cold and recovery are reintroducing forms of social connection that cities have quietly lost. Glenn traces sauna’s roots as everyday civic infrastructure rather than luxury amenity, reflects on the risks of gatekeeping and elitism as the scene grows, and explains why inclusive, well-held sauna culture can strengthen community, public trust and even environmental stewardship. The conversation reframes sauna not as a fad, but as a clue to how cities might better balance pressure, release, togetherness and solitude.

    51 min
  2. Challenger Cities EP60: Designing Cities in Pencil, Not Pen with Jasmine Palardy (again)

    JAN 19

    Challenger Cities EP60: Designing Cities in Pencil, Not Pen with Jasmine Palardy (again)

    We reconnect with Jasmine Palardy almost eighteen months after our very first conversation to reflect on what has changed in how we think and talk about cities, and what hasn’t. Exploring why real progress in cities comes not from imposing control but from embracing uncertainty, loosening the grip of over-planning and letting “accidental urbanists” and informal city builders shape change on the ground. Jasmine reframes urbanism as a messy, lived practice rather than a rigid discipline, and highlights how everyday friction and irritation are often the beginning of meaningful change. This episode reframes control, imagination and experimentation in the design of cities.

    50 min
  3. Challenger Cities EP59: Building Faster Than Memory with Ruchita Bansal

    JAN 19

    Challenger Cities EP59: Building Faster Than Memory with Ruchita Bansal

    Ruchita Bansal discusses what happens when modern infrastructure projects are built at speed but don’t connect with the deep, informal systems that make cities work. Drawing on her experience across Indian urban planning and large-scale delivery, we explore how cities in India are being transformed rapidly with metros, highways and ambitious timelines, yet often miss the connective tissue of everyday life such as first-mile/last-mile walking, informal transport, street life and safety. We dig into whether building faster actually deepens resilience or erodes memory, how imported models can misfit local context, and what it means to design infrastructure that truly serves people rather than object-centric headlines.

    54 min
  4. Challenger Cities EP58: The World's Best Cities with Chris Fair

    JAN 19

    Challenger Cities EP58: The World's Best Cities with Chris Fair

    Chris Fair, CEO of Resonance and publisher of "World's Best Cities" talks about what really separates the world’s cities. As Chris explains, obsessively measured performance isn’t enough to explain why some cities feel magnetic and others feel interchangeable. We unpack the World’s Best Cities framework and how liveability, prosperity, and a often-overlooked dimension of lovability shape both the experience of place and its global perception. We explore the gap between performance and perception, why most cities lack resonance on the world stage, and how the interplay between infrastructure and experience may determine the future of urban success https://www.worldsbestcities.com/

    53 min
  5. Challenger Cities EP57: Young People and the New Rules of Money with David Akermanis

    JAN 19

    Challenger Cities EP57: Young People and the New Rules of Money with David Akermanis

    Researcher and strategist David Akermanis talks about how young people are navigating a world where traditional financial stability has eroded and cities themselves shape economic life. We explore why the familiar narratives about youth finance, savvy versus reckless, miss the deeper tension underneath. Across stories of early career precarity, the blending of gambling and investing, the limitations of traditional banking advice, and how mobility and access matter as much as income, we dig into how young people are improvising within a system that no longer feels trustworthy. The conversation reframes stability, money, and the urban experience, and challenges cities and institutions to rethink how they build opportunity and trust for future generations. https://www.fasterhorses.ca/blog/young-people-amp-money

    56 min
  6. Challenger Cities EP56: Why Empty Space Is Never Neutral with Evan Snow

    JAN 19

    Challenger Cities EP56: Why Empty Space Is Never Neutral with Evan Snow

    Evan Snow, co-founder of Zero Empty Spaces talks about why vacancy in cities isn’t a neutral pause but an active force shaping how we feel, move and connect in urban places. We explore how empty storefronts, abandoned commercial spaces and obsolete interiors drain confidence and disrupt movement, and how creative, low-risk activation can turn them into meaningful places without waiting for the “perfect tenant” or a grant. Evan’s work reframes empty space as opportunity, showing how activation builds momentum, restores “muscle memory” on streets, and creates social and economic life where there was none. This episode reframes how we think about vacancy, placemaking and the everyday infrastructure of cities.

    50 min
  7. Challenger Cities EP55: Impossible City - Paris in the 21st Century with Simon Kuper

    JAN 19

    Challenger Cities EP55: Impossible City - Paris in the 21st Century with Simon Kuper

    In this episode of Challenger Cities, Iain Montgomery talks with journalist and author Simon Kuper about his book Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century and what modern Paris really is beneath its postcard reputation. We start with Simon’s accidental arrival in the city and the surprising affordability and vibrancy Paris once had, and then explore how it has changed into a global powerhouse of luxury and culture while still maintaining a remarkable commitment to social housing and dense urban life. Paris’s paradoxes become a lens for thinking about cities more broadly: its suburbs are Europe’s largest urban agglomeration, massive infrastructure projects like the Grand Paris Express shape new futures, and everyday urban rituals, from playgrounds to meals, reveal a collective culture that defies typical Anglo planning assumptions. Along the way we touch on politics, identity and what it means to belong to a city that so many outsiders try to perform as insiders.

    48 min
  8. Challenger Cities EP54: Rethinking Ireland, the Too Often Misunderstood Challenger Country with Peter Ryan

    JAN 19

    Challenger Cities EP54: Rethinking Ireland, the Too Often Misunderstood Challenger Country with Peter Ryan

    In this episode of Challenger Cities, Iain Montgomery is joined by economist and commentator Peter Ryan for a wide-ranging conversation about Ireland, a country that is often talked about but rarely understood. We dig into why Ireland’s global reputation, from tax haven clichés to headline GDP figures, obscures the lived reality on the ground. Peter unpacks how the country’s early post-independence history shaped a cautious institutional culture, why Ireland’s real constraints are political and regulatory rather than natural or financial, and how GDP growth has failed to translate into housing, infrastructure, and everyday quality of life. The conversation ranges across energy, industry, transport, housing finance, and party politics, exploring how Ireland became wealthy without becoming fully equipped, and what that tells us about the gap between economic success and civic capacity. It’s a discussion about national myths, institutional inertia, and the challenge of turning prosperity into places that actually work for people.

    1h 8m
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About

Iain Montgomery of Now or Never Ventures interviews urbanists, creatives, transit and development types to explore how cities can punch above their weight and create distinctive new futures outside of the tired playbooks.

Information

  • Creator
    Iain Montgomery
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    63
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Challenger Cities 2024
  • Show Website
    Challenger Cities

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