1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:22,640 Hi and welcome to this first published piece of the Cities Reimagine Podcast. 2 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:26,200 You might call it a teaser because this is not a full show just yet. 3 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:30,200 This is just a little warm-up exercise if you will. 4 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:31,480 My name is Johannes Riegler. 5 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:33,800 I'm your host for Cities Reimagined. 6 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:39,200 And today I'm going to tell you a little bit about my motivation of starting a podcast 7 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:46,640 called Cities Reimagine and who I am, what my background is and what I want to achieve 8 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:59,360 with this podcast or what you can expect from it. 9 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,440 So I'm an urbanist based in Vienna, Austria. 10 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:09,320 And over more than 10 years I have been working in a European research innovation program 11 00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:13,080 on transforming urban areas. 12 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:19,840 And it was also this job where I had the privilege to do things I like best and that is, you 13 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:30,040 know, working with a super messy and complex and oftentimes confusing things we call cities, 14 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:38,040 which bring together people, the building environment, mobility, architecture, economy, 15 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:39,040 and so on. 16 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:47,320 And what really fascinates me is that cities are so hyper complex that they are impossible 17 00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:49,640 to fully understand. 18 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:56,640 This job also allowed me to meet and talk to people, make friends with people who really 19 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:02,680 push the boundaries of urbanism and shape discourses. 20 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,840 It allowed me to learn about urbanism on different continents. 21 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:11,440 It allowed me to get to know local cultures across the world. 22 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:17,200 And it made me recognize that non-European perspectives on what cities are, how they 23 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:24,440 should be and what the challenges are to transform them are very different across the world, 24 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:30,600 but also within countries, within cities, and also within neighborhoods. 25 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:37,360 I have to say that these last 10 years really shaped me and these experiences really build 26 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:44,560 up who I am today and how I view the world and its cities. 27 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:52,920 I had the chance to make all these amazing experiences, be it, for example, being invited 28 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:59,080 into a tiny apartment in a working class neighborhood of Beijing or hearing stories about how life 29 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:06,360 in the favelas in Rio de Janeiro changed after the Olympics, or also witnessing power outages 30 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:12,760 and the smell of coal being burned in the informal settlements of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, 31 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:20,360 and also spending endless hours in traffic and transit over the last 10 years being stranded 32 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:24,040 because of missed connections. 33 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:30,240 That really does change the way you go about your life. 34 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:39,440 In this time, I also had the chance to speak and work with hundreds of people working on 35 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:45,840 urban transformation, ranging from neighborhoods to European and UN level. 36 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:50,920 You know, this experience really stuck with me and changed the way I perceive the world 37 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:53,120 around me. 38 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:59,920 But although I really like my job and what I've been doing, it was time for me to take 39 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:05,080 a step back from the work on the EU and global level, partly for personal reasons, because 40 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:10,840 I saw the need to spend more time with my loved ones and friends. 41 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:15,880 Also I wanted to spend more time in the outdoors, you know, climbing those nice mountains we 42 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:22,360 have here in Austria, but also professionally, it was time for me to take a step back. 43 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:29,320 It was time to reflect on what has happened over the last decade and reflect on a very 44 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,400 busy and very fast life also. 45 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:39,320 So I decided to take a year off from my job and the motivation for that was to, yeah, 46 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:46,440 I wanted to learn new things, see different perspectives related to urbanism and changing 47 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:47,440 cities. 48 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:53,200 And you might have guessed it already, travel again and work with people throughout Europe 49 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:59,120 on making their environments and cities better places. 50 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:04,360 So if you know me personally, you might know that I'm a kind of, yeah, one of those restless 51 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:08,080 characters and I love to explore new things and taking up new challenges. 52 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,680 And it's five months now since I'm gone from my job. 53 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:16,640 And I have to say life didn't didn't slow down much. 54 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:23,680 And that is a good thing because, you know, living the life to its fullest, it's it's 55 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,400 kind of rewarding. 56 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:33,200 So one day during that period, I had a conversation with my partner, Maria, on podcasts, what 57 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:39,760 we like about podcasts, those things we absolutely do not like about podcasts. 58 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:46,960 During our talk, it became quite evident that there were not many shows on urbanism and 59 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,520 cities as such. 60 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:57,180 And those who are out there did not show too much of a focus on alternative urban futures 61 00:05:57,180 --> 00:06:05,100 and challenging the status quo, especially not who told the stories and the experiences 62 00:06:05,100 --> 00:06:12,320 of people who do amazing things in their city to do things differently and contribute to 63 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:17,040 shaping a discourse and highlighting alternatives. 64 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:25,600 Yeah, so at first, I was very reluctant to even consider taking up another project and 65 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,520 starting a podcast due to the fact that they still only have 24 hours. 66 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:36,120 And I have to say, I like to use at least seven to eight hours of those for sleeping. 67 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:43,960 So but at the end of the evening, I somehow worked persuasive magic and you know, because 68 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:50,820 of a very strong do it yourself ethic, which I still somehow have in me from my punk and 69 00:06:50,820 --> 00:07:00,480 hardcore days, I decided to give it a shot with no experience whatsoever of recording 70 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:07,840 stuff on a computer and making a podcast and cutting things and so on. 71 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:16,160 So so I started listening to tons of podcasts and podcasts on making podcasts and how to 72 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,720 get the tech right and so on. 73 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:24,240 I developed the concept for the show and a lot of other things, which, yeah, to be honest, 74 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:25,960 took me quite long. 75 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:32,440 And on the other hand, because I was traveling and only spent a handful of weeks in Vienna 76 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:39,340 over the last five months and found out that, you know, in that time being a way that recording 77 00:07:39,340 --> 00:07:49,600 audio tracks in heated hotels rooms without a C in July is not a very pleasant experience. 78 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:56,960 But also because it all is new to me and I'm learning on the go here. 79 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:01,600 So I really hope you stick with me on this journey. 80 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:05,720 But enough about myself and how this podcast idea came about. 81 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,760 Let's talk a little bit about what the podcast is aimed at. 82 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:14,880 Cities Reimagined is a podcast exploring the crucial role of urban areas in creating more 83 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,740 sustainable and regenerative futures. 84 00:08:17,740 --> 00:08:23,000 So the world faces the human-made challenges and crisis we are in at the moment, including 85 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:29,440 climate change and biodiversity loss and other evolving conditions. 86 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:36,740 And in this crisis, cities are central to adapt and to transform to meet these new realities. 87 00:08:36,740 --> 00:08:45,120 So the urgency to change how we as humans do things, how human practices are organized 88 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:47,040 is tremendous. 89 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:54,040 And we get reminded of that fact every day, be it by new reports published by the United 90 00:08:54,040 --> 00:09:01,280 Nations, headlines about wildfires, floods, changing weather conditions, the loss of biodiversity 91 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:02,280 and so on. 92 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:04,120 You all know of them. 93 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:10,480 But while all of that is really important and scary stuff, it also runs the risk of 94 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:17,400 paralyzing people, leaving them overwhelmed with climate anxieties and feeling hopeless 95 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:18,400 as well. 96 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,440 And this is exactly what I do not want to do with this podcast. 97 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,400 Because we really have it in our hands. 98 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:29,320 And of course, it is messy and super complex. 99 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:32,860 And it would be boring if it wouldn't be that way. 100 00:09:32,860 --> 00:09:43,200 But Cities Reimagined aims to be one of these empowering puzzle pieces to reignite the imagination 101 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:48,920 of how urban life could be if we really want to change it. 102 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:54,720 So in the Cities Reimagined podcast, we will uncover the stories, both grand and small, 103 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,840 that challenge the status quo of doing urbanism. 104 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:05,160 And we will also talk to people providing ideas, hear from their experiences and also 105 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:07,400 failures for shaping our cities. 106 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:14,560 So we will delve into the minds of all kinds of people who are driving and are concerned 107 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:17,320 about positive change in our cities and beyond. 108 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:23,760 The Cities Reimagined podcast will bring you the insights and trends that aim to make our 109 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:29,000 cities and the planet a better place for humans and nature to thrive. 110 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:35,360 So my aim is that it becomes a platform for inspiration and exchange. 111 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:43,240 And I would love to make this show contribute to unfolding the complexity of urbanism by 112 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:47,240 talking to people who are playing a part in it. 113 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:53,880 And this will not be only academics or local public administration who work on the big 114 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:57,040 questions and our cities every day. 115 00:10:57,040 --> 00:11:02,400 But there are so many people, so many other people playing a role and contributing to 116 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:03,400 change. 117 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:09,720 And at times, they don't even recognize that they do. 118 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:19,680 So my aim is to set up a well-created show which aims for quality and depth instead of 119 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:21,660 quantity. 120 00:11:21,660 --> 00:11:29,840 That means there will most likely not be hundreds of episodes of Cities Reimagined, but various 121 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:38,080 seasons with 10 to 15 episodes each. 122 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:43,280 So much for myself and the background of the Cities Reimagined podcast. 123 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:48,620 I hope this little teaser created some appetite in you to find out more. 124 00:11:48,620 --> 00:11:53,240 If it did, so please consider subscribing to the podcast or find Cities Reimagined on 125 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:55,060 social media. 126 00:11:55,060 --> 00:12:02,040 Or even better, send me an email at johannes at antropocene.city. 127 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:04,480 I would really like to hear from you. 128 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:10,560 I would also love to hear your expectations to a podcast and where you see the need or 129 00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:17,600 a niche to put this podcast in and what would you like to learn and hear in this podcast. 130 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:23,200 I really hope that I can provide you an interesting platform to learn and get inspired. 131 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:29,200 If you're an early listener, so the first episode should be uploaded next week. 132 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:36,080 And that will be a talk I had with Luisa Bravo from Citiescape-based architecture based in 133 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:37,520 Bologna. 134 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:43,640 So we talk all kinds of things public space related. 135 00:12:43,640 --> 00:13:11,160 So thank you so much for tuning in to this teaser and I hope to catch you soon.