The DNA of Cities

Professor Tim Stonor is an architect and urban planner. He is the Managing Director of Space Syntax, a renowned architecture and urban planning practice that uses science-based techniques to analyse, model and design human behaviour patterns at different scales. Tim is a founding member and former director of The Academy of Urbanism, a Visiting Professor at The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, and a Harvard Loeb Fellow. In this delightful Keynote conversation with Tim, we ask: what is Space Syntax? Can the syntax of cities be lost? How does the Space Syntax team help cities to recover their syntax? How do we as individuals and communities know if we are in cities with good or bad spatial syntax? – Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462 – Sound design by Tom Harrington and Dainius Kacinskas.

One of the key ideas that we have been developing in this podcast series is that it is possible to decode, unlock and optimise the distinctive ingredients and traits in any city; their DNA. In this episode, we are going to discover how this DNA is helping leaders in the investment, tourism, convention and destination industries in cities to tell the authentic stories of their cities. We’ll also reveal why this is becoming more important for both attracting visitors and building strong local civic support for the visitor economy.   We are delighted to be joined today by  Barbara Jamison-Woods, Jurgen Moors and Flavie de Bueil from the City Destinations Alliance, a European knowledge sharing alliance for cities and urban regions.  Barbara is the Head of Business Development and Tourism Partner Engagement at London & Partners and she is the President of CityDNA. Jurgen is the Managing Director of the Maastricht Convention Bureau and he is a Board member at CityDNA. Flavie is the Chief Operating Officer of CityDNA. – Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462 – Sound design by Tom Harrington and Dainius Kacinskas.  

We are very honoured to be joined by Dyfed Aubrey in today's Keynote episode. Dyfed is the Chief of Office at UN-Habitat’s Office for the European Union based in Brussels. Across his career, Dyfed’s work has focused on the challenges faced in fragile urban settings, particularly forced displacement in the context of conflict.  – Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462 – Sound design by Tom Harrington and Dainius Kacinskas.  

We are delighted to be joined by Chris Choa. Chris is the Founder and Director of OUTCOMIST which provides Strategy and leadership for complex urban projects. Previously, Chris led AECOM’s Cities Consulting practice out of London for almost 15 years.  Chris is an urban strategist, and he is currently writing a book on ‘sociality’ in cities. We took this opportunity to learn more about this work.  – Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462 – Sound design by Tom Harrington and Dainius Kacinskas.

What kinds of cities do we find in the Amazon rainforest in the 21st Century? What are their relationships to one another and to their powerful environment? – We were honoured to be invited by the Inter-American Development Bank (the IDB) to work with them on a series of The DNA of Cities episodes about Amazonian cities. This is the first time that we have taken the idea of The DNA of Cities to look at a group of cities and we were really excited to do this in such an important part of our world. Over three episodes, we convene seven experts on Amazonian cities, archaeology, anthropology, indigeneity, history, political economy and political ecology. We are incredibly grateful to Dr Adrian Lerner Patron, Professor Eduardo Góes Neves, Ana María Durán Calisto, Dr Tatiana Shor, Professor Felipe Correa, Isabel Peñaranda Currie and Professor Saint Clair Trindade Jr for joining us to decode The DNA of Amazonian Cities.  – Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462 – Sound design by Dainius Kacinskas.

We are delighted to have Dr Sadhana Manthapuri as our Keynote guest. If you are a long-time listener, you may remember Sadhana as a guest in Our Listener episodes, where she told us about The DNA of Varanasi. Congratulations are in order because since we last spoke, Sadhana has completed her PhD at Virginia Tech on the topic of Urban DNA! – Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462 – Sound design by Tom Harrington and Dainius Kacinskas.

We have the great privilege of welcoming Sir Richard Leese as today’s Leader Keynote guest. Richard was the Leader of Manchester City Council from 1996 to 2021. He is now the Chair of NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care and he is the co-Chair of the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership. We heard from Richard in our three-part exploration into The DNA of Manchester but he has generously given us permission to share the full interview with our listeners.  – Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462 – Sound design by Tom Harrington and Dainius Kacinskas.

We warmly welcome Andy Burnham – Mayor of Greater Manchester – as today's Leader Keynote. Andy shares how he celebrates The DNA of Greater Manchester in his role as Mayor.  – Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462 – Sound design by Tom Harrington and Dainius Kacinskas.

In the first of our Leader Keynotes in Manchester, we meet Councillor Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council. We were delighted to spend some time learning about her perspectives on The DNA of Manchester.  – Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462 – Sound design by Tom Harrington and Dainius Kacinskas.

Did you know that over 70% of the 50 million people living in the Amazon live in cities?  We were honoured to be invited by the Amazonia Forever team at the Inter-American Development Bank (the IDB) to work with them on a series of The DNA of Cities episodes about Amazonian cities. This is the first time that we have taken the idea of The DNA of Cities to look at a group of cities and we were really excited to do this in such an important part of our world. Over three episodes, we convene seven experts on Amazonian cities, archaeology, anthropology, indigeneity, history, political economy and political ecology. We are incredibly grateful to Dr Adrián Lerner Patrón, Professor Eduardo Góes Neves, Ana María Durán Calisto, Dr Tatiana Schor, Professor Felipe Correa, Isabel Peñaranda Currie and Professor Saint-Clair Trindade Jr for joining us to decode The DNA of Amazonian Cities.  In this episode, we turn to the dark soils of the forest to unearth the ancient traits and characteristics of cities in the Amazon: The cities of the world’s largest tropical rainforest and the world’s longest and most powerful rivers.  – Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462 – Sound design by Dainius Kacinskas.