City of the Future

About City of the Future

We explore the innovations and ideas that will transform our cities.

Publisher

Sidewalk Labs

Category

technology

Language

aa

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Mar 2018

Latest episode

19 Dec 2022

Latest episodes

28 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   19 Dec 2022

   An Update from Vanessa

   As you might have heard, Sidewalk Labs (https://www.sidewalklabs.com/) became a part of Google at the beginning of 2022. So City of the Future has been on hiatus...BUT I’m still creating podcasts that I think CotF listeners would like. And I’d like to share them with you all! Urban Roots (https://anchor.fm/urbanrootspodcast). If you enjoyed City of the Future season 4, which was all about equitable development, then you should definitely check out Urban Roots (https://anchor.fm/urbanrootspodcast). We not only tell the histories of women and people of color that you probably don’t know, we also draw the throughline from the past to the present, and talk to folks who are doing equitable, preservation-based development that takes those histories into account. Our two-part series on Indianapolis (https://anchor.fm/urbanrootspodcast/episodes/Black-Indy-Part-1-Madam-C-J--Walker-and-the-Rise-and-Fall-of-Indiana-Avenue-e1lt6dg) is a great place to start, but we have episodes on Brooklyn (https://anchor.fm/urbanrootspodcast/episodes/Unearthing-Black-History-in-Brooklyn-Green-Wood-Cemeterys-Freedom-Lots-e1k54oo/a-a84oph1), Cincinnati (https://anchor.fm/urbanrootspodcast/episodes/Cincinnati-History-is-Black-History-e122uuv), and Los Angeles (https://anchor.fm/urbanrootspodcast/episodes/Remembering-Biddy-Mason-Part-1-Long-Road-to-Freedom-e1knbvr/a-a86qq9v), too. Learn more about it by visiting urbanistmedia.org (https://urbanistmedia.org/) or emailing urbanrootspodcast@gmail.com (mailto:urbanrootspodcast@gmail.com). Uncertain things (https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/uncertain-things/id1529979654). Less for the urbanist than for the person who is seeking to pop their media bubble, my journalist roommate and I created this interview show back in 2020. We purposely seek out academics, writers, journalists, thinkers across the political spectrum — people who actually want to enter into conversation and debate and leave their silos behind. The nice thing about Uncertain things (https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/uncertain-things/id1529979654) is that I get to talk with whomever I find interesting and insightful, like evolutionary biologist Nicholas Christakis (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/genes-germs-justice-w-nicholas-christakis/id1529979654?i=1000538273737), historian Niall Ferguson (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-apocalypse-we-deserve-w-niall-ferguson/id1529979654?i=1000523202837), and journalist Caitlin Flanagan (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sex-feminism-and-the-madding-crowd-w-caitlin-flanagan/id1529979654?i=1000513261725). We do sometimes talk to urbanists, too — like Vishaan Chakrabarti (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-progressives-ruin-cities-w-vishaan-chakrabarti/id1529979654?i=1000580808640), Justin Davidson (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/our-temples-of-tragedy-w-justin-davidson/id1529979654?i=1000520715559), and Michael Kimmelman (coming soon). You can subscribe to it at uncertain.substack.com (https://uncertain.substack.com/) and email us theuncertaintimes@gmail.com (mailto:theuncertaintimes@gmail.com). Last two things — I’d love to hear from City of the Future fans! Reach me via vanessaquirk.com (https://vanessaquirk.com/). And if you're an urbanism company who would like to hire me for my podcasting/comms expertise, reach out! Again, at vanessaquirk.com (https://vanessaquirk.com/) I hope you all have a very happy, safe holiday season. Hopefully I’ll be seeing you — in the future!

2. 

   14 Dec 2021

   Episode 20: The ”S” in ESG

   E-S-G. If you haven’t heard that term before, it stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It’s a framework that investors use to help them decide whether or not to put money into a company. Over the last 20 years, investors have increasingly embraced the “E” in ESG, and ESG funds are now consistently driving strong returns. In fact, 2020 was the biggest year for ESG-investing yet. With the events of 2020, the “S” of ESG — which includes some of society’s toughest problems, like economic opportunity and racial inequity — has come to the forefront. Investors are, more and more, pursuing socially-minded ESG investments. And this pivot has huge implications for real estate, as investors are now ready and willing to lend capital to real estate companies that are pursuing projects with real social and racial impact. But what do those projects look like, and how can real estate transform the development process to achieve them? As we’ve explored throughout this season of City of the Future, developing socially-minded projects is a complex undertaking. Our season finale explores ways developers can begin to figure out what this “S” piece of ESG means. And if they can, it’s not just real estate that will benefit — our cities will, too. In this episode: [00:00 - 05:34] The founder and CEO of Green Generation (https://www.greengen.com/), Brad Dockser (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-dockser-83467018/), describes investors’ embrace of the “E” of ESG. [05:35 - 8:29] Associate director of inclusive development at Sidewalk Labs (https://www.sidewalklabs.com/), Chrystal Dean, explains why it’s time for development to tackle the “S” of ESG. [08:30 - 15:07] The principal and CEO of Direct Invest Development (https://www.directinvestdevelopment.com/), Carlton Brown (https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlton-brown-678108/), talks about the kinds of long-term, socially-minded metrics developers need to track. [15:08 - 19:22] Director of development and external affairs for Farpoint Development (https://www.farpointdev.com/), Morgan Malone (https://www.linkedin.com/in/morganmalone/), explains how to create social metrics in collaboration with communities. [19:23 - 27:07] The hosts, Vanessa Quirk and Eric Jaffe, discuss the development business case for socially-minded projects with associate director of inclusive development at Sidewalk Labs (https://www.sidewalklabs.com/), Chrystal Dean. To see images and videos of topics discussed in this episode, read the link-rich transcript on our Sidewalk Talk Medium page (https://medium.com/sidewalk-talk) at https://bit.ly/3GB3zoU (https://bit.ly/3GB3zoU). City of the Future is hosted by Eric Jaffe and Vanessa Quirk, and produced by Guglielmo Mattioli. Story editing by Rough Cut Collective and Benjamin Walker. Mix is by Andrew Callaway. Art is by Tim Kau. Our music is composed by Adaam James Levin-Areddy of Lost Amsterdam (https://www.amsterdamlost.com/). Special thanks to Brad Dockser, Carlton Brown, Chrystal Dean, and Morgan Malone.

3. 

   10 Dec 2021

   Episode 19: Next-Gen Manufacturing

   In the early 20th century, many U.S. factories were located in urban cores, where workers could easily access their jobs. But the benefit of proximity also meant workers lived near loud, polluting factories. And as we know from the history of zoning in the U.S., low-income people frequently had no option but to live in neighborhoods built around intense industrial use. The consequences of those land use decisions are felt most severely today by communities of color, who continue to suffer from higher rates of health issues like asthma and cancer. So bringing manufacturing back to urban neighborhoods — especially neighborhoods that may have been exposed to the harms of the industry — may seem fraught. But it also offers an opportunity to right some of these historic wrongs. In this week’s episode of City of the Future, we explore the idea of bringing a new generation of cleaner, greener manufacturing facilities back into our urban cores. We talk to folks at Buffalo’s Northland Workforce Training Center (https://northlandwtc.org/about/), the Brooklyn Navy Yard (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/03/nyregion/supply-chain-crisis-nyc.html), and the Boston-based development Indigo Block (https://www.liveindigoblock.com/). We also consider the potential for next-gen manufacturing to create wealth-generating opportunities for people who need it, jumpstart development in disinvested communities — and even provide a new, more resilient economic model for our cities. In this episode: [00:00 - 1:33] A brief history of urban manufacturing in the U.S. from World War II to present. [1:34-5:32] We interview an expert in workforce development, Stephen Tucker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-tucker-mba-b094979/), in Buffalo, New York about Northland Workforce Training Center (https://northlandwtc.org/), an organization with a mission to prepare local residents for careers in advanced manufacturing and clean energy. [6:44 - 8:56] Hosts Vanessa Quirk and Eric Jaffe discuss how the 20th-century history of zoning and land-use decisions around manufacturing negatively impacted low-income and Black neighborhoods. [8:57 - 16:24] The Brooklyn Navy Yard (https://brooklynnavyyard.org/)’s chief development officer Johanna Greenbaum (https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannagreenbaum/) introduces us to different folks who work at the Yard’s next-gen manufacturing companies, including Nanotronics (https://nanotronics.co/)’ chief operating officer, James Williams (https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-j-williams-iii-53b69a126/). [16:25 - 25:50] We talk to Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation (https://www.dbedc.org/)’s director of real estate, Beth O’Donnell (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbethodonnell/), and director of strategy and development, Kimberly Lyle (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlyrlyle/) who show us around one of their most recent projects, Indigo Block (https://www.liveindigoblock.com/) — a real live next-gen manufacturing ecosystem! To see images and videos of topics discussed in this episode, read the link-rich transcript on our Sidewalk Talk Medium page (https://medium.com/sidewalk-talk) at https://bit.ly/3rSbrys (https://bit.ly/3rSbrys). City of the Future is hosted by Eric Jaffe and Vanessa Quirk, and produced by Guglielmo Mattioli. Story editing by Rough Cut Collective and Benjamin Walker. Mix is by Andrew Callaway. Art is by Tim Kau. Our music is composed by Adaam James Levin-Areddy of Lost Amsterdam (https://www.amsterdamlost.com/). Special thanks to Stephen Tucker, Johanna Greenbaum, James Williams, Beth O’Donnell, Kimberly Lyle, Alison Novak, Jesse Shapins, and Chrystal Dean.

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Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.6 / 5

243 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.