What is The Future for Cities‪?‬ Fanni Melles

Are you interested in the future of cities as Pandora’s box? What do you think about environmentally responsible design instead of sustainable design? How can we mine cities to gather resources?

Trailer for episode 232 - interview with Katie Skillington, lecturer in Architectural Design at the University of Melbourne. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, architects’ role of communication, accelerating material use, sustainability versus environmental responsibility, and many more.

Find out more in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠episode⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lesfm ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

"We are becoming more and more e-centric."

Are you interested in telecommunication technologies changing basically everything? What do you include in the term infrastructure? How can we serve people’s needs better?

Interview with Ryan Jeffery, Director at Passionate About OSS. We talk about his vision for the future of cities, opportunities with telecommunication technologies, human progress, balance in regulations, and many more.

Ryan Jeffery is the founder and director at PassionateAboutOSS as a seasoned telecommunications and IT executive with over 15 years of global experience, particularly in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions. His expertise spans various technologies, making him a sought-after professional for both governmental and private sector projects. Ryan has led design teams and managed projects for prestigious organizations like Telstra, SingTel-Optus, Alcatel-Lucent, and Motorola, among others. Known for his excellent communication and a blend of interpersonal, technical, and strategic skills, he specializes in Network Management Systems / Operational Support Systems (NMS / OSS) and the architecture of converged networks.

Find out more about Ryan through these links:


Ryan Jeffery on LinkedIn;
Passionate About OSS website;
Passionate About OSS blog by Ryan Jeffery;
Passionate About OSS podcast by Ryan Jeffery;
Passionate About OSS Youtube channel;
Mastering your OSS - book by Ryan Jeffery;
Digital transformation: Simplified - book by Ryan Jeffery

Connecting episodes you might be interested in:


No.138 - Interview with Luis Natera about consciously choosing where to live;
No.188 - Interview with Rod Matthew about microgrids;
No.222 - Interview with Adam Dorr about technological progress and disruptions;
No.229R - Beyond smart: How ICT is enabling sustainability cities of the future;

What wast 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.

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lesfm ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠

Are you interested in how information systems help sustainability?

Our summary today works with the article titled Beyond smart: How ICT is enabling sustainable cities of the future from 2023 by Hanifa Shah, published in Sustainability journal.

This is a great preparation to our next interview with Ryan Jeffery in episode 230 talking about the information and communication technologies’ effects on urban development.

Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how ICT can help the creation of smart sustainable cities. This article presents information and communication technologies, also known as ICTs, in a role supporting sustainability in smart cities, promoting effective collaboration and avoiding self-serving outcomes.

As the most important things, I would like to highlight 3 aspects:


ICT can support sustainability in smart cities, but it must be integrated across all sectors and aligned with clear sustainability goals.
Effective alignment of ICT and sustainability requires shared understanding and collaboration between local government, ICT firms, and citizens.
Smart city initiatives should prioritize clarity, strong leadership, embedding sustainability in contracts, and enabling citizen participation to ensure ICT genuinely promotes sustainability rather than self-interests.

You can find the article through this link.

Abstract: Cities around the world face pressing sustainability challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity, and unsustainable growth. Smart cities have emerged as a response to these challenges, leveraging information and communication technologies (ICTs) to create more efficient and liveable urban environments. However, the concept of smart cities is often defined in vague and ideologically driven terms that lack clear guidelines for promoting sustainability. In this study, we use qualitative methods to examine how the use of ICTs can support the goals of sustainability in smart city development, resulting in what we call a ‘smart sustainable city’. Drawing on a case study involving stakeholder analysis, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis, we investigate the key roles of local government, ICT firms, and citizens in shaping sustainable urban development through smart city initiatives. Our findings shed light on the potential of ICTs to promote sustainability in smart cities and provide insights for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars working towards creating more sustainable urban environments. The findings of this research showed that ICT’s role in supporting sustainability in smart cities relies on understanding the interests and priorities of civic, ICT firms, and citizens, promoting effective collaboration and avoiding self-serving outcomes.

Connecting episodes you might be interested in:


No.002R - Intelligent cities;
No.032R - Smart city implementation and discourses;
No.070R - Citizen-centred big data analysis-driven governance intelligence framework for smart cities;

You can find the transcript through ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this link⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

What wast 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.

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lesfm ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Are you interested in telecommunication technologies changing basically everything? What do you include in the term infrastructure? How can we serve people’s needs better?

Trailer for episode 230 - interview with Ryan Jeffery, Director at Passionate About OSS. We talk about his vision for the future of cities, opportunities with telecommunication technologies, human progress, balance in regulations, and many more.

Find out more in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠episode⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lesfm ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

"Everyone and everything has a contribution to make"

Are you interested in the city as a social construct? What do you think about the magic of the city? How can we use emotional intelligence for better urban futures?

Interview with Dr Dominique Hes, regenerative development thinker, educator, author and researcher. We talk about her vision for the future of cities, cities capturing people, social constructs, truth, fragility and many more.

Dr Dominique Hes has 25 years experience in green building and development innovation, she is chair of the board at Greenfleet and Zero Carbon Buildings Lead at the City of Melbourne which controls property assets valued at over $4.1 billion. She is also on the Circular Economy Ministerial Advisory Committee and previously helped found the board of the Living Futures Institute of Australia. Dominique mixes theory and thinking, with a demonstrated history of working in the building industries in the fields of sustainability, regenerative development, systems thinking, environmental issues, place-making, industrial ecology, LCA, Eco-Design and project management. She holds degrees in science, engineering and a Phd in architecture and is an author and editor of 6 books and over 100 papers and reports. Her main contribution is to think about how we can contribute to the well-being and thriving of place, people and planet.

In case you would like to hear about the Internal Family System from Tim Ferriss, please, check out this link.

Find out more about Dominique through these links:


Dr Dominique Hes on LinkedIn;
@Dominique_Hes as Dr Dominique Hes on X;
Dr Dominique Hes at The University of Melbourne;
Dr Dominique Hes at Future of Cities;
Dr Dominique Hes on Google Scholar;

Connecting episodes you might be interested in:


No.020R - Antifragile;
No.171 - Interview with Nicole Garofano about circular economy;
No.210 - Interview with Pearl Ng about regenerative economy;
No.227R - Regenerative development and transition thinking;


What was your answer to her exercise in imagining yourself in the
forest?


What wast 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.

Music by ⁠⁠Lesfm ⁠⁠from ⁠⁠Pixabay⁠

Are you interested in regenerative development?

Our summary today works with the chapter titled Regenerative development and transitions thinking from 2018 by Dominique Hes and Lars Coenen, part of the Enabling Eco-cities book, published by Springer.

This is a great preparation to our next interview with Dominique Hes in episode 228 talking about regenerative urban development and thinking.

Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see what regenerative development is. This chapter presents regenerative development as a whole systems approach to make both people and nature stronger, more vibrant and more resilient.

As the most important things, I would like to highlight 3 aspects:


Regenerative development is a holistic approach that aims to enhance the resilience and vitality of both people and their environments by understanding the unique essence and needs of a place.
Smart Specialisation is a strategy that can operationalize regenerative development by focusing on place-based, participatory, and experimental approaches to foster innovation and economic development.
Successful regenerative development and Smart Specialisation initiatives demonstrate the importance of engaging local stakeholders, building on regional strengths, and adapting to changing circumstances.

Find the article through this link.

Abstract: Regenerative development is a whole systems approach that partners people and their places, working to make both people and nature stronger, more vibrant and more resilient. It aims to increase the vitality, viability and adaptability of a place through understanding its story, its flows and how developing positive relationships enhance the potential of all stakeholders. Key to working regeneratively in an eco-city is understanding the essence of place and what needs to be strengthened to enable adaptation through future change. Smart specialisation is a process through which understandings of the socio-technical potential of the system can seed entrepreneurial opportunities and new positive relationships. When this is broadened to the social-ecological perspective underpinned by regenerative development, it can guide our transition to a thriving eco-city.

Connecting episodes you might be interested in:


No.043R - Shifting from sustainability to regeneration;
No. 150P - What is academia's role in establishing the future of cities? Panel conversation on regeneration, among others;
No.195R - How can urban regeneration reduce carbon emissions?;

You can find the transcript through ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this link⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

What wast 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.

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lesfm ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠