Show Notes
This episode explores Medellín beyond the familiar “miracle city” narrative. Through the perspective of Alejandro Echeverri, who was a driving force behind many of the city’s foundational projects, we examine the deeper ambitions and tensions behind Medellín’s transformation: dignity, trust, equity, mobility, public investment, and the long-term evolution of social urbanism.
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Few downtowns have had their post-pandemic struggles examined as closely — or declared dead as confidently — as San Francisco. The city was particularly exposed to the structural changes reshaping downtowns everywhere: remote and hybrid work, high office vacancy, declining transit ridership, housing affordability, public safety and visible vulnerability on the street. Now, San Francisco is doubling down on its comeback. In this episode, we hear from Shola Olatoye, CEO, San Francisco Downtown Development Corp about the big bets, private sector and philanthropic engagement and where results are being seen.
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In 2018, Cape Town came within months of Day Zero; the potential of running out of water. What followed was one of the most remarkable collective responses to an urban crisis: water use was cut by almost half, the taps stayed on, and the experience permanently changed how the City thinks about risk, trust and preparedness. It turned Cape Town into a city with Futures-Thinking at its core.
In this episode of the WRLDCTY Podcast, we explore Tokyo through the work of PYNT, Nikken Sekkei's collective innovation platform - a social space where designers, researchers, and community builders are experimenting with new ways of bringing people together and rethinking the city. To do so, we are honoured to welcome Junko Iwaya and Yuki Tatano of Nikken Sekkei.
In this episode, we sit down with Paul van Zyl, co-founder and CEO of The Conduit: a purpose-driven members' community bringing together leaders tackling the world's biggest challenges. Together, we explore how cities create the conditions for collaboration, why physical gathering spaces matter more than ever, and how London continues to reinvent itself through bold leadership on air quality, climate, AI, and culture.