The DNA of Cities

At the turn of the 20th Century, Mexico City had a population of around 500,000 people and there are now over 21 million people who call the megacity home. It is the largest city in the Americas, it is the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world and it is the world’s oldest capital city.  We begin this episode by asking, what are the planetary characteristics of this location and how have they shaped the city that has emerged here?  As we will discover, this is probably one of the most unusual places to find a city. We are hugely grateful to the esteemed experts who joined us in this episode to unpack the survival of Mexico City. Thank you to Gabriela Jauregui, Tatiana Bilbao, Onésimo Flores-Dewey, Matthew Vitz, Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo, Juan Villoro, Ana Elena Mallet Cárdenas and Felipe Correa. We also wish to thank Gabriela Gómez-Mont for all of her support in connecting us with many of these inspiring and experienced experts.  – 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.

Professor Philip Sheldrake shares his perspectives on spirituality and cities, how spirituality has been shaped by urbanisation, and how a sense of place enriches our human experiences. Philip is a historian of theology and spirituality. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Cambridge Theological Federation at the University of Cambridge and he is Professor and Director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality at Oblate School of Theology. – What are the Keynotes? These are the episodes where we zoom out from our city-to-city voyage to meet global expert voices from a range of different disciplinary vantage points (e.g. from history, to theology, to genetics, to archaeology, to design) to understand the place of cities in their work. We want to know how they would approach and investigate the relationship between cities and human experience and evolution.  – 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 Josh Latham. 

Anna Cambell-Jones tells us how she brings a sense of place, neighbourhood and location into the homes that she interior designs. Anna is an interior designer, broadcaster and educator. She is the founder of residential interior design practice Habitus and she is the founder of her eponymous retail store, annacampbelljones.com. You will also recognise Anna as a judge on BBC Scotland’s Home of The Year. – What are the Keynotes? These are the episodes where we zoom out from our city-to-city voyage to meet global expert voices from a range of different disciplinary vantage points (e.g. from history, to theology, to genetics, to archaeology, to design) to understand the place of cities in their work. We want to know how they would approach and investigate the relationship between cities and human experience and evolution.  – 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 Josh Latham. 

We speak to Gonzalo about how he decodes the uniqueness of cities and how a sense of place shapes branding strategy and activation. He also reveals how city branding compares to national branding or corporate branding.  Gonzalo is Global CEO at Interbrand where he leads the day-to-day operations of the global brand consultancy, spearheading the growth agenda and supporting marketing and consulting efforts in all regions.  – What are the Keynotes? These are the episodes where we zoom out from our city-to-city voyage to meet global expert voices from a range of different disciplinary vantage points (e.g. from history, to theology, to genetics, to archaeology, to design) to understand the place of cities in their work. We want to know how they would approach and investigate the relationship between cities and human experience and evolution.  – 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 Josh Latham. 

We meet the wonderful Dr Wangui Kimari. Wangui is Assistant Director at the American University Nairobi Abroad Program and she is an Honorary Research Associate at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. We had a fantastic time learning from Wangui about The DNA of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, and she also enlightened us about her starting points for understanding the uniqueness of cities as an urban anthropologist. – Here are a selection of Wangui's recent publications: Kimari, W. (2024) On the police as infrastructure and managers in the African city. (Link) Pfingst, A. and Kimari, W. (2021) Carcerality and the legacies of settler colonial punishment in Nairobi. (Link) Kimari, W. (2020) War-talk: an urban youth language of siege in Nairobi. (Link) Kimari, W., Melchiorre, L. & Rasmussen, J. (2020) Youth, the Kenyan state and a politics of contestation. (Link) – What are the Keynotes? These are the episodes where we zoom out from our city-to-city voyage to meet global expert voices from a range of different disciplinary vantage points (e.g. from history, to theology, to genetics, to archaeology, to design) to understand the place of cities in their work. We want to know how they would approach and investigate the relationship between cities and human experience and evolution.  – 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 Josh Latham. 

This is the episode where we attempt to understand identity, mindsets and social behaviours in Sydney and where we might look in the city’s history and evolution to find earliest signs of these traits or characteristics and how they became continuous. Although this is the final part of our mini-series, we know that there is so much more that we could attempt to decode in Sydney’s complex psyche – and we also know that there is no single truth waiting to be discovered. These conversations represent a contribution to discussions that have long been underway in Sydney about identity, character, perception and evolution. This mini-series has been almost five years in the making and was really only possible because of the generousity of our local experts. We wish to thank Monica Barone, Dr Sarah Hill, Dr Danièle Hromek, Lyn Lewis-Smith, Alex O’Mara, Professor Peter Read AM, Michael Rose AM, Rob Stokes and Eamon Waterford for joining us to decode The DNA of Sydney over these three episodes.  – 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 ask ‘how many Sydneys are there?’ and uncover several distinguishing characteristics that layer together to produce a sense of pride and identity. We explore the geographies of its deep, diverse and continuous Aboriginal lifestyles and how waves of global migration have produced its contemporary cosmopolitanism. To do this, our local experts take us far beyond the Sydney we can all imagine and admire – the harbour icons and the beautiful eastern beaches – to the culturally rich suburbs that make up this vast city of villages. We are hugely grateful to the wonderful experts who joined us in this episode to decode what makes Sydney, Sydney. Thank you to Monica Barone, Lyn Lewis-Smith, Alex O’Mara, Professor Peter Read, Michael Rose AM, Rob Stokes and Eamon Waterford. You can read our full interviews with each of our local experts on our website.  – 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.

The beauty and appeal of Sydney’s dramatic, dreamy, and diverse scenery have always been, and are still, an inspiration for people. Today, the Sydney metropolitan region is home to over five million people in a region whose spatial boundaries are defined by the Pacific Ocean on the eastern coast, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north and the swampy Woronora Plateau to the south. It's a place of abundance, where an environment of immense lushness and attractiveness combine with a temperate climate that has been very conducive to human flourishing.  It’s an obvious point to make, but the mountains, the sea, the rivers, the climate and wider geography of this location are really quite important in shaping the way people have lived and congregated here. As we learn in this episode, that is true of the diverse Aboriginal communities that have always called this place home, to the relatively more recent urban story of Sydney. We are hugely grateful to the wonderful experts who joined us in this episode to decode what makes Sydney, Sydney. Thank you to Monica Barone, Dr Danièle Hromek, Dr Sarah Hill, Alex O’Mara, Michael Rose AM, Rob Stokes and Eamon Waterford. You can read our full interviews with each of our local experts on our website.  – 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 honoured to have Dr Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani as our second Keynote. Gabrielle is the founder of interdisciplinary design studio Buscada and she is the author of The Cities We Need (MIT Press, 2024).   Drawing from over two decades of research and practice in New York, Oakland, London and Buenos Aires, Gabrielle reveals that the:  Everyday places in our neighbourhoods and cities are essential for discovering our sense of self People that manage and operate everyday places play a significant but often overlooked role in fostering community and belonging  Building of social capital in multi-cultural, multi-faith, multi-lingual, hyper-diverse cities depends on the ability of different people to have frequent opportunities for low-stakes interactions – What are the Keynotes? These are the episodes where we zoom out from our city-to-city voyage to meet global expert voices from a range of different disciplinary vantage points (e.g. from history, to theology, to genetics, to archaeology, to design) to understand the place of cities in their work. We want to know how they would approach and investigate the relationship between cities and human experience and evolution.  – 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.

In our second episode on São Paulo, we explore the rich and irreducibly plural social and cultural fabrics and the unique scales of its global diaspora communities. Through the lenses of various infrastructural fragments (e.g. water and public transportation) and spatial patterning (e.g. the location of homes vs jobs and critical services), we discuss the politics and pervasiveness of inequalities in São Paulo. We also learn about the city’s distinctive roles in Brazil, South America and the world, and we ask how well São Paulo is understood and misunderstood.  We are very grateful to our esteemed local experts Mariana Barros, Claudio Bernardes, Professor Miguel Bucalem, Professor Felipe Correa, Elisabete França and Professor Regina Meyer for revealing São Paulo's acquired traits.  To continue exploring São Paulo, check out these resources: Felipe Correa – São Paulo: A Graphic Biography Regina Meyer – São Paulo Metrópole Edison Veiga – 'O que foi o Cerco de Piratininga, o 9 de julho há 462 anos que permitiu São Paulo existir' [BBC News Brazil] – To learn more about The DNA of Cities and sign up for our latest updates visit www.thednaofcities.com. – 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.