THE GRIMSHAW PODCAST

Joel Kotkin, a fellow in urban studies at Chapman University in California, is the author of the best-selling book The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class. He is widely recognised as a leading international commentator on the future of cities and suburbs.In this episode, Joel joins Tim Williams for a passionate and insightful conversation about key urban trends. They explore Joel's concern that declining home ownership and growing inequality are leading to a concentration of wealth and power reminiscent of pre-modern Europe. An important and thought-provoking discussion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode features Dr. Caroline Butler-Bowden, State Librarian for the State Library of New South Wales, alongside Dr. Tim Williams and Grimshaw Principal, Eduard Ross. Together, they explore the role of libraries and museums in shaping cities and their significance as dynamic public spaces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today's episode, Dr. Tim Williams examines how America's largest city has grappled with the tensions between cars and public transit since the 1960s, with Nicole Gelinas, author of 'Movement: New York's Long War to Take Back Its Streets from the Car' and Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. As a key part of this conversation, we also have Grimshaw Deputy Chairman and Partner, Vincent Chang sharing his insights. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Hila Oren has an international reputation as a city-making and branding expert. In her work in Tel Aviv over decades she has helped make that ‘smart-city' a recognised global leader in tech start-ups and innovation. In conversation with our host Tim Williams, Head of Cities at Grimshaw, Dr Oren shares that journey with us and her insights into what other cities can learn from it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are excited to share this unique episode to begin the fifth series of the Grimshaw Cities Podcast, The Resurgent City. Today we speak with our very own Jorrin ten Have, Associate Principal and Graham Gibbon, Principal about how Grimshaw, collaborators and clients collectively designed and delivered the Elizabeth Line – and won one of the world's most prestigious architectural awards. Featuring special guest Howard Smith, Transport for London Elizabeth Line Director. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Making sure that cities provide enough social and affordable housing has become a global priority. Rebecca Pinkstone, head of new government agency Homes NSW with its $6b budget and 130,000 homes in ownership, leads the charge in Australia's global city. Joining Tim Williams in this episode is housing specialist Leigh Hanekom, Associate Principal at Grimshaw. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cities are in flux in the wake of the pandemic with further disruption imminent in the era of Urban AI. On today's episode of the Grimshaw Cities Podcast Series, Carlo Ratti, Director of MIT Senseable City Lab & Curator of the 2025 Venice Biennale asks, "What role for architects in the future city?" Also joining the conversation is Keith Brewis, Partner at Grimshaw. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode's guest is Beck Dawson, who has an international reputation in her crucial role as Chief Resilience Officer for Australia's global city, Sydney. In this conversation, Beck shares her acute insights into the international innovation and best practice for promoting the resilience of our cities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is Todd Litman, Executive Director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, based in Canada. Todd is recognised internationally as a thought leader in transport and city-planning. This episode discusses everything from congestion charging through Transit Oriented Development, to EVs and AVs, so don't miss it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest is Gail Connolly, urban planner and now CEO of one of the most important councils in Australia, Parramatta, at the fast-growing heart of the nation's global city, Sydney. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Tim talks with Andrew Chappell, the Head of Origination at international developer, LendLease about his current, broad real estate, place-making and ESG portfolio. Andrew also discusses LendLease's recent development work in Silicon Valley, and his early and continuing involvement in innovation districts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Riordan CBE is the Chief Executive at Leeds City Council, one of the biggest and most important councils in the UK. In this episode Tim does a deep dive into Leeds City Council's various initiatives into urban planning in the post-pandemic era. They are also joined by Mark Middleton, Grimshaw's Group Managing Partner, who discusses his experience in transport projects in the Leeds area such as HS2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Wright, President of the storied and influential Regional Plan Association of New York talks about their impact, current campaigns – and the future of the tri-state area. Tim is also joined by Niharika Shekhawat, an Urban Designer at Grimshaw's New York studio, to discuss how she interacts with the RPA's legacy in her own work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Architects Gustavo Maldonado-Gil and Christina Lenart, both Masters in Space Syntax from the Bartlett School, do a deep dive into data analytics, housing and urbanism, with acute insights into success factors for social housing design and location. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, the Grimshaw Cities podcast is pleased to launch the first episode of our new, fourth series: The Intelligent City. Dr Tim Williams welcomes Dr. Sarah Barns, founder and director of ESEM Projects, a leading expert in experiential art, design and digital storytelling for urban precincts. Sarah Barnes was recently awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellowship from RMIT to further her work as an urban strategist. She is known for her facilitation of community, creative and digital programs that connect people, places and habitat. Grimshaw's Head of Design Technology, Andy Watts, joins Tim and Sarah in this conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Oxford University's Professor Michael Keith talks about his unique experience as someone who has combined analysing cities across the globe with leadership of a major London council. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Professor Billie Giles-Corti of RMIT is a global expert on the links between how cities are structured and public health and climate outcomes. In this podcast we discuss her research but also the strategies she identifies to improve cities - and public health. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this edition, Tim Williams interviews Professor Alex Krieger of the influential Harvard School of Design about his recent book City on a Hill: Urban Idealism in America from the Puritans to the Present. Visions drive city-making and in this podcast we learn about the diverse visions that have shaped US cities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Building the City series, Julie Wagner, President of The Global Institute on Innovation Districts, discusses her new report on the seven key factors in designing effective governance of innovation districts – crucial new foundations of the next stage of the urban economy. Listen to Episode 9 Governing Innovation with your host, Tim Williams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of the Building the City series for the Grimshaw Cities podcast, Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas, a global leader in green finance tells us "Box-ticking and greenwashing won't achieve the scale of the transformation required to meet the challenges of the climate emergency. Cross-sector collaboration and the focused application of the creativity, innovation and skills of the financial services industry to finance the global transition will". Listen to Episode 8: Financing the Green City with your host Tim Williams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the seventh episode in the Building the City podcast series. Hear from your host Tim Williams in conversation with Kate Davies CBE who ran one of the largest and most dynamic Community Housing Providers in Europe, with over 60,000 properties in its portfolio by 2022. In this podcast, she describes the impact of Notting Hill Genesis Housing Association and how to deliver ‘homes for all in the city for all'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Net Zero City is the sixth episode in the Building the City podcast series. In this episode, your host Tim Williams interviews Peter Newman AO, Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia. Peter has written 20 books and 300 papers on sustainable cities and is well known for creating the term "automobile dependence". As a key author on transport on the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Peter is a global leader at the interface of urban policy and transport on the journey to the net zero city. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Asia and the Urban Future is the fifth episode in the Building the City podcast series. In this episode, Professor Richard Hu of Canberra University and author of Reinventing the Chinese City (2023) and Smart Design (2021) gives us an impressive overview of key city trends in Asia and indeed across the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cities by Design is the fourth episode in the Building the City podcast series. In this episode, your host Tim Williams interviews David Hutton, Group Head of Development with global firm Lendlease. Based in Singapore David has worked on major city-shaping projects all over the world and oversees the company's Urbanisation Practice, focused on sharing best practice in design and development across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Regenerating Cities is the third episode in the Building the City podcast series. Your Grimshaw host, Tim Williams, discusses urban regeneration and planning with Dame Alison Nimmo DBE who has a distinguished career in the field of UK cities and urbanism. She spent eight years helping to win and subsequently deliver the London 2012 Summer Olympics as a Director in the Olympic Delivery Authority and has led major city centre regeneration projects in Manchester and Sheffield. Listen to Tim Williams and Alison Nimmo DBE's conversation on regenerating cities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As cities grow, affordable housing options need to be made available for all communities. In Episode 2 of the Building the City podcast series, Grimshaw talks to an internationally acknowledged expert in social and affordable housing who is the former Group Chief Executive of Places for People Group, one of the largest social and affordable housing providers in the world. If anyone knows the way forward for affordable housing, it's David Cowans. Listen to David and Grimshaw's Tim Williams, himself a former UK government advisor on housing, discussing the future of building more inclusive and affordable cities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Building Cities is the third Grimshaw podcast series about our cities. In this series we interview leaders from around the globe about their role in our built environment from architects, urban designers, and developers to infrastructure providers or indeed builders. We kick off our first episode with a special guest–a leader working from behind the scenes as a key advisor to the city builders who reshaped London in the last 25 years: Richard Brown, former advisor to the London Mayor on urban design and Olympic planning and former Deputy Director at the Centre for London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 10th episode in the Culture and the City series of the Grimshaw podcast finds Tim Williams, Practice Lead of our Cities Group in conversation with Kate Meyrick, a director with major planning consultancy Urbis. Kate is the former CEO of the Hornery Institute, and a passionate urbanist and place maker with more than 25 years of international experience across Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States. She is a respected expert in visioning and positioning city scale precincts, working sensitively with stakeholders and the community to co-create powerful new futures for well-loved places. The podcast reviews international examples of cultural precincts and Transit Oriented Developments as well as the exciting prospects for Brisbane arising from the city being the location for the 2032 Olympics. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Davy is the founder of Futurecity, a global cultural placemaking agency. Futurecity create cultural strategies for public and private sector organisations, broker cultural partnerships and deliver major art projects. Recent projects include the development of a prospectus for the new Arts Quarter in London's famous West End; a new program called ‘Preview' consisting of ‘Living Labs' in property developments across the UK to encourage creative incubation in spaces designed to attract young and emerging talent; and the curation of a landmark cultural partnership between the Centre Pompidou and leading international developer Beulah International as part of ‘STH BNK By Beulah' – an ambitious vertical city development in the heart of the Arts Precinct of Melbourne. Mark, who has a long term relationship with Grimshaw, talks about these and other great cultural placemaking projects. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Montgomery is an internationally renowned planner and urbanist who has published four books on cities and urban policy, with perhaps his best known one being The New Wealth of Cities. Currently based in Brisbane, Dr Montgomery began his career in the UK where he directly influenced government policy on town and city centre revitalisation, night time economies, the 24 Hour City, and the role of the ‘creative class' and culture in city dynamics. John has helped design cultural and innovation precincts internationally, including Dublin, Manchester, Birmingham, Brisbane and Sydney. John speaks with passion, deep insight and humour about the challenges facing cities today. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this latest episode of our Grimshaw podcast, Culture and the City series, Tim Williams interviews Rose Hiscock, Director of Museums and Collections at The University of Melbourne. Prior to this, Rose was Director of Science Gallery Melbourne and Director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (Powerhouse Museum), Australia's contemporary museum for excellence and innovation in applied arts and sciences. Rose is recognised as a national leader in her field with an international reputation. The discussion focuses on her role and the amazing collections she curates; her passion for the arts and for her city Melbourne; her innovative engagement with First Nations' communities and cultures; and her great work in enabling young people, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, to access the city's key galleries and collections. Rose is a city-shaper combining expertise and soul, which is why this interview is called: The Art of the City. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Architecture can embody and project power. But it can also, especially in our cities, be a tool in the hands of those who resist, expressing the creativity and resilience of their cultures. In Episode 6 of our Culture and the City Series, Tim Williams speaks about this and much more with Sumayya Vally, Johannesburg-born founder of Counterspace. In 2021 Sumayya designed the Serpentine Pavilion and in 2022-23, she will curate the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah. In this powerful and compelling conversation, Sumayya traces the paths of her career trajectory and sources of inspiration, revealing why the city is the place where diverse peoples gather and co-create. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Episode 5 in the Culture and the City podcast series finds our host Dr Tim Williams in conversation with Andrew Burmeister, Assistant Commissioner for Capital Projects in New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA). DCLA is the largest municipal funder of culture in the United States and is “committed to providing access to art and culture for all New Yorkers”. It supports world famous cultural assets which attract visitors from across the globe. In this discussion, Andrew talks engagingly and insightfully about the strategy behind the investments in cultural infrastructure, and also of the delights and challenges of his work before, during and in the wake of the pandemic. We love New York and the cultural institutions that are core to its brand. This podcast provides special insights into the work which Andrew and his department undertake, ensuring that New York's cultural institutions thrive. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michael Rodrigues is the inaugural 24 Hour Economy Commissioner for New South Wales. As the former Chair of the Night Time Industries Association and Managing Director of Time Out Australia, Michael is both passionate about arts, culture and cities – and Sydney in particular - deeply knowledgeable and highly engaging. His post-Covid strategy is to unlock Sydney's cultural and economic potential. It includes a 24-hour Economy Acceleration Program, where the Government will work with councils and industry to activate unique and thriving hubs across this global city of 5 million. It envisages a ‘Neon Grid' of vibrant hubs across the city to represent Sydney's diverse and active night economies, from its CBD to its suburban centres. Michael sees the opportunity not only to restore Sydney's cultural life but to improve on delivering a nightlife that'll sit alongside New York, London and Tokyo. While Michael is a passionate Sydneysider – born in its diverse and fast growing West – what he has to say is of international relevance. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tim Jones leads the London Culture Mile, an initiative of international significance. This is the UK capitol's most advanced cultural precinct, at the heart of the city's financial district, connecting world class institutions such as the famous performance space, the Barbican Centre, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London Museum and the London Symphony Orchestra. Hosted by the City of London Corporation, the unique council whose history includes once having Dick Whittington as Mayor, the Culture Mile initiative has under Tim Jones been working to create a vibrant area of inner London where whether in the public or private sectors or in the local community the value of creativity is shared by all. In this podcast Tim Jones talks about the main focus of the Mile and how COVID actually galvanised their engagement with the local community and business, taking collaboration to a higher level. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this series we explore a foundational theme of interest across the world and to diverse communities: Culture and the City. Although cities are crucial in providing the material basis and audiences for institutions such as museums, galleries and theatres – and the series interviews architects and curators who design and run key ones – cities are also where peoples from different cultures meet, mix and co-create culture, from the bottom up. In this podcast Tim Williams interviews Sara M Hamka, one of the founders of the Bankstown Poetry Slam in Sydney, Australia - a cultural and civic initiative of international interest which has drawn a large number of young people from the migrant communities in Sydney's West together to express themselves as artists and performers but also as shapers of their city. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cities have been at the heart of cultural innovation. They are where peoples from different cultures meet, mix and co-create but also where the material basis exists to fund key cultural institutions such as museums, galleries and theatres. These are the themes we explore in our new series – and where better to start than in Arter in Istanbul, where all this comes together. An amazing building, with a mission to promote contemporary world class art of all kind in a regenerating neighbourhood close to the centre of one of the great cities of the world, that is also a bridge between East and West at a crucial time. We explore all this with the founding director of Arter, Melih Fereli OBE and Kirsten Lees, Grimshaw's managing partner for London , the architect who delivered on the vision of Arter's patrons, the Koc Foundation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the Grimshaw Podcast Cities series we have interviewed city-shapers of all kind: architects and urban designers, transport specialists, cultural entrepreneurs, developers, and city leaders. Our series ends the year with that cornerstone of urban development – masterplanning. And who better to discuss this with than Selina Mason? Selina is a masterplanner and architect with extensive experience of delivering complex urban masterplans. She is responsible for driving high quality design and masterplanning across the UK and Europe in the urban regeneration portfolio of major international developer Lendlease, amounting to £30bn end value. Selina is a recognised leader in urban spatial planning and design leadership. She is a UK Design Council Ambassador and has recently been appointed by the Government to the Urban Centre Recovery Task Force. She is the Chair of the Quality Review Panel of Havering Council, a fast growing part of the Thames Gateway on the east side of London, and is a member of several other Design Review panels. She also represents the Royal Institute of British Architects on the Highways England's Strategic Design Panel where she champions investment in better quality infrastructure. Before joining Lendlease in 2017, Selina led a range of city-shaping regeneration masterplans including the new UCL campus at Stratford, a prime legacy of the 2012 Olympics in the area. Until 2014 she was indeed responsible for the delivery of the London 2012 Masterplan and the design and delivery of the post-Games Transformation Masterplan for the Olympic Delivery Authority and subsequently the London Legacy Development Corporation. And before all this, she was Director of Architecture and Design Review at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) until 2007: CABE's work and approach has been hugely influential internationally. Selina is currently leading on one of the most important urban regeneration projects in Europe, the 50-50 joint venture with London's oldest housing charity Peabody to deliver more than 11,000 homes in Thamesmead in south-east London.With this last podcast of 2021, we encourage you to join us in 2022 for the next podcast series: The Culture Series. We look forward to a new year of remarkable and sometimes provocative conversations with those shaping the culture, both high and low, of our cities across the globe. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Episode 9 of The Grimshaw Podcast ‘The City Series' features Lance Jay Brown, distinguished architect, urban designer and President of The Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization in New York City.Lance was a key member of the innovative ‘New Housing New York Legacy Project' competi[1]tion which appointed Grimshaw to design the award-winning affordable housing project, Via Verde, in the South Bronx, for the ethical developer Jonathan Rose, who featured in the very first podcast of this Cities series. Lance is passionate about public realm and resilience and talks to Tim about his role in Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development. They discuss cities now and post COVID-19 and the trajectory at which cities are now moving as a result of the pandemic.Tim and Lance reflect on the amazing capacity that cities have to replenish themselves, hypothesizing about how cities will be redesigned to attract people back into CBDs through the use of vibrant streetscapes, integrated transport options and the possibility of repurposed commercial spaces into residential dwellings. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Episode 8 is a fascinating conversation with Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, CEO of one of Australia's most significant developers Mirvac. She is also Chair of the Green Building Council of Australia and is passionate about sustainability and social inclusion – running her company accordingly. Susan discusses the way in which Mirvac was able to pivot their business operations as a result of the pandemic and how remarkably resilient her team and the wider business was in the face of this unforeseen challenge. She is an advocate for innovation within the real estate sector, and voices her belief that work is what you do, not where you are.Susan and Tim also dissect how people will use their workspaces moving forward and the concept that cities are very much in the process of remaking themselves, with CBDs perhaps reframing to a more mixed use, 24/7 city or even, as some think, a ‘central experience district'. They also touch on the housing affordability crisis of such significance in most cities today.At the same time this episode launches, one of Mirvac's buildings, Olderfleet, designed by Grimshaw, has been selected as the winner of the Office – Completed Buildings category at the World Architecture Festival 2021 Awards. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Episode 7 of The Grimshaw Podcast ‘The City Series' launches today with Dr. Wei Yang, President of the prestigious Royal Town Planning Institute in the UK. Hosted by Grimshaw's Cities Initiative Lead, Dr. Tim Williams, Episode 7 explores Dr. Yang's passion for garden cities and garden villages and her commitment to promoting design excellence by creating truly sustainable environments and liveable cities. Dr. Yang is unique in many ways. She is the first foreign-born President of the RTPI, a role she clearly enjoys, particularly as it has allowed her to engage with planners across the UK and internationally: her enthusiasm for the profession is infectious and she is especially keen to inspire young people to enter it. Impressively, she also practices as a planner and an urban designer in both the UK and China and is pursuing her professional interest in garden cities in both countries. Dr. Yang is the founder of Wei Yang & Partners in London, which was founded in response to the diverse challenges of sustainable development worldwide. This is a very engaging conversation with a real planning expert, able to give us deep insights into city planning in a global context. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our guest this time is Dan Labbad CEO of the Crown Estate. The Crown Estate's unique portfolio includes major property interests in London - such as Regent Street - and a broad range of urban and rural assets across the UK such as Windsor Great Park and a number of regional shopping centres. It also manages the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland and plays a major role in the UK's world leading offshore wind sector. Established by an Act of Parliament, it has generated £3bn in profits to HM Treasury over the last ten years.Prior to The Crown Estate, Dan held a number of senior positions at the global property and infrastructure group Lendlease, including Group Chief Operating Officer and the dual roles of Chief Executive Officer, International Operations and Chief Executive Officer, Europe to oversee the disciplined expansion of Lendlease's businesses in Europe, Americas and Asia.Dan has actively championed sustainability throughout his professional life, having previously served as a director of the Green Building Council of Australia and more recently as Chairman of the UK Green Building Council.In addition to his role at The Crown Estate, Dan is currently a Trustee of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a Trustee of Ark Schools and a Director of The Hornery Institute.Dan is passionate about two themes which have run through all his work and come out really strongly in the Podcast: sustainability and social inclusion: The Progressive City. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Episode 5 of The Grimshaw Podcast ‘The City Series' features Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney, Jess Scully. Hosted by Grimshaw's Cities Initiative Lead, Dr. Tim Williams, Episode 5 explores Jess's motivation to move Australia from an extraction economy to a knowledge and creative economy, and her senior leadership role in Australia's largest city during a time of crisis.Prior to entering politics, Jess was a curator of Sydney's VIVID Festival which rapidly became the most important event in the winter calendar with its associated program of cultural and thought leadership talks which explored the context of Sydney's urban situation. So, who better to be elected in 2019 as Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney?Having changed the face of civic politics by advocating for and empowering those who were previously not involved, encouraging them to have a say and to participate in the life of their city, Jess is connecting people with creativity, and preparing communities to take advantage of opportunities. Jess focuses on several key issues in the community including the revitalisation and growth of Sydney's night-time economy, exploring new models to address the housing crisis, nurturing a transition to the workforces and workplaces of the future, and protecting our digital rights in the public realm.Committed to opening up local politics to younger and diverse individuals to expand who plays a role in shaping the life of the city, Jess is also an author of Glimpses of Utopia which dissects how society is rising up to confront our challenges in the world with creativity, resilience and compassion and how harnessing technology and imagination can reshape our world to be fair and sustainable.Join Tim and Jess for a critical conversation on the future of Sydney's creative industries and what this means for Sydney's CBD in the context of a pandemic. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rob Stokes has shown leadership of a kind which many internationally will look to around two key initiatives. One is the fact that he deliberately added ‘and public spaces' to his title as Planning Minister because of his own passion to ensure that the communities he serves have access to sufficient high quality public space – with streets also seen as shared spaces for walkers not just as conduits for cars - and because he knows that having such access was already becoming a key part of the social license to grow our cities before Covid: Covid has added to the importance of public space because of its obvious role in promoting public health and liveability. Minister Stokes other initiative may be even more important: his department and indeed the government has placed a focus on ‘place' as a key organising principle for all public agencies of in a way that might be unique on the international stage. Join Rob and Tim for an important conversation on life post Covid. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Greg Clark is the doyen of international urbanists. He has over 30 years built up a reputation as a go-to thought-leader and analyst on cities, having by now worked in and for more than 300 of them world-wide. Professor Clark is Group Advisor, Future Cities & New Industries at HSBC, one of the world's leading banks, with his advice sought by governments at all levels and leaders of industry and commerce across 67 countries and 400 cities. He is Chair of the Connected Places Catapult, the UK's innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership and he is on the Board of Transport for London and chairs its Investment Committee. In this deeply insightful talk on cities and Covid, Greg sets out the evidence – his reasoned optimism – that though some cities have been deeply challenged by Covid, they will, as they always have done, reinvent themselves. The future is still urban and indeed as Greg points out, some parts of the world have not seen any slowdown in their urbanisation, with China firmly on a path to 65% of its population being urban by 2025 and with Africa now having many of the fastest-growing cities on the planet. Cities remain central to our human future and the core drivers of creativity and innovation. But they are changing and COVID has accelerated that evolution. Join Greg Clark and Tim Williams for a fascinating discussion on what this means for us all. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lisa Havilah is the powerhouse behind The Powerhouse in Sydney, or as it is officially known, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. Were it not for the fact that she is completely unique, she would be the model for the cultural entrepreneur as force of nature. Cities are where not only wealth is generated but also cultural innovation. This role was always crucial but never more so as we collectively attempt to restore momentum and life to our cities in the wake of Covid. Who better to offer their insights on – and passion for – this than someone leading not just one culture-led precinct renewal of international significance but two: for Lisa is transforming the Museum's historic site in the centre of Sydney and creating a new museum and cultural innovation district at the Sydney metropolitan region's second central business district, Parramatta. And while she is telling us all about this exciting stuff she slips in her 10 Principles for regenerating our city centres after the pandemic. A star turn. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Visionary American developer Jonathan Rose, author of The Well-Tempered City, offers us his vision for the ‘City of Opportunity' in the wake of Covid-19 and the practical approach he applies to creating developments which embody that vision. Full of wit and wisdom, Jonathan describes the inclusive values he seeks to promote in the affordable housing communities from The Rose Companies, where good homes are located near to mass transit and close to jobs – often comprising educational and health facilities. One such project is Via Verde, his first collaboration with Grimshaw, on a brownfield site in the Bronx. When it opened, NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg described it as “one of the most environmentally advanced affordable housing developments in the nation”. The famous architectural critic, Michael Kimmelman chose Via Verde as the subject of his front page New York Times debut, writing that the development “makes as good an argument as any new building in the City for the cultural and civic value of architecture”. Jonathan's enlightening conversation with Tim Williams ends with an excerpt from “Summertime” by Jog Blues, Rose's excellent band that fuses Jazz, Blues and Indian Classical Music, a rare treat. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.