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PODCAST

What is The Future for Cities?

WTF for Cities? is a platform to introduce and connect people who are actively and consciously working on the future of cities and to introduce research about the future of cities.

science social sciences

All Episodes

00:13:41

Growth, Innovation, and the Pace of Life in Cities (469)

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/10/05

A research debate on the 2007 paper Growth, innovation, scaling, and the pace of life in cities, by Luís M. A. Bettencourt, José Lobo, Dirk Helbing, Christian Kühnert, and Geoffrey B. West.When a city doubles in population, wealth and invention grow by more than double. Biology does the opposite: a larger animal uses energy more efficiently and lives more slowly. The paper's growth equations say a superlinear city has to produce major innovations at a continually faster rate, or growth stalls

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00:02:15

A City Is a Machine for Social Interaction | Geoffrey...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/10/04

Geoffrey West on urban populations growing faster than exponential, and the strange present in which some cities cannot build housing fast enough while others are already contracting. He calls the far side of that growth a singularity: depopulation, contraction, and possibly collapse. The short-term future of cities is both problems at once.Find out more in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠episode⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.If you would

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00:02:14

Cities Growing Faster Than Exponential | Geoffrey West

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/10/03

Geoffrey West on urban populations growing faster than exponential, and the strange present in which some cities cannot build housing fast enough while others are already contracting. He calls the far side of that growth a singularity: depopulation, contraction, and possibly collapse. The short-term future of cities is both problems at once.Find out more in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠episode⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.If you would like

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00:43:09

468I_Shawn Meyers, Middle East Masterplanning Director

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/30

“We’ve been optimizing what’s familiar rather than asking what’s possible.”Are you interested in the Middle East as a testing ground for urban solutions? What do you think about mistaking innovation for progress? How can we improve our from-design-to-implementation ratio? Interview with Shawn Meyers, Middle East Masterplanning Director. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, urban progress, desert architecture, urban participation and civic ownership, the expectations of upcoming

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00:01:44

The next generation expects more for the future -...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/29

Are you interested in the Middle East as a testing ground for urban solutions? What do you think about mistaking innovation for progress? How can we improve our from-design-to-implementation ratio? Trailer for episode 468 - interview with Shawn Meyers, Middle East Masterplanning Director. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, urban progress, desert architecture, urban participation and civic ownership, the expectations of upcoming generations, and many more.Find out more in

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00:17:48

467R_A systematic review of passive cooling...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/28

Are you interested in what we can learn from the Middle East regarding urban cooling? Our debate today works with the article titled A systematic review of passive cooling strategies integrating traditional wisdom and modern innovations for sustainable development in arid urban environments from 2026, by Shiva Manshour and Steffen Lehmann, published in the Discover Cities journal. This is a great preparation to our next interview with Shawn Meyers in episode 468 talking about the Middle East as a

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00:01:46

Moving from design to implementation - Shawn Meyers...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/27

Are you interested in the Middle East as a testing ground for urban solutions? What do you think about mistaking innovation for progress? How can we improve our from-design-to-implementation ratio? Trailer for episode 468 - interview with Shawn Meyers, Middle East Masterplanning Director. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, urban progress, desert architecture, urban participation and civic ownership, the expectations of upcoming generations, and many more.Find out more in

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00:01:44

What is possible if you are willing to change...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/26

Are you interested in the Middle East as a testing ground for urban solutions? What do you think about mistaking innovation for progress? How can we improve our from-design-to-implementation ratio? Trailer for episode 468 - interview with Shawn Meyers, Middle East Masterplanning Director. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, urban progress, desert architecture, urban participation and civic ownership, the expectations of upcoming generations, and many more.Find out more in

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00:55:50

466I_Dr Anne Goodchild, Professor of Civil and...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/23

"I’ve really been trying to make the case that last mile delivery is a public good that the government should be investing in. You can only exist in a city because of this transport system. It’s bringing you the food you need to eat. You would die without it."Are you interested in urban freight as the movement of gods across scales? What do you think about the trust needed for expert vision creation? How can we accommodate for more people through infrastructure efficiency? Interview with

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00:01:54

Cities providing opportunities for sustainability -...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/22

Are you interested in urban freight as the movement of gods across scales? What do you think about the trust needed for expert vision creation? How can we accommodate for more people through infrastructure efficiency? Trailer for episode 466 - interview with Dr Anne Goodchild, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington and Founding Director at Urban Freight Lab. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, urban freight, vision creation, the role of

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00:11:43

465R_The state of sustainable urban last-mile freight...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/21

Are you interested in last-mile freight planning? Debate of the article titled The state of sustainable urban last-mile freight planning in the United States from 2024, by Thomas Maxner, Giacomo Dalla Chiara, and Anne Goodchild, published in the Journal of American Planning Association.This is a great preparation to our next interview with Anne Goodchild in episode 466 talking about urban freight and last-mile delivery opportunities and challenges. Since we are investigating the future of cities, I

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00:01:40

Urban freight designed to leave space for people -...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/20

Are you interested in urban freight as the movement of gods across scales? What do you think about the trust needed for expert vision creation? How can we accommodate for more people through infrastructure efficiency? Trailer for episode 466 - interview with Dr Anne Goodchild, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington and Founding Director at Urban Freight Lab. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, urban freight, vision creation, the role of

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00:02:11

The importance of leaders setting the urban vision -...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/19

Are you interested in urban freight as the movement of gods across scales? What do you think about the trust needed for expert vision creation? How can we accommodate for more people through infrastructure efficiency? Trailer for episode 466 - interview with Dr Anne Goodchild, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington and Founding Director at Urban Freight Lab. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, urban freight, vision creation, the role of

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00:46:35

464I_Laura Reupke, CEO of BABLE

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/16

"We do have solutions already today. We do see already what works today. We do know what is causing the problem. We do have it all."Are you interested in liveable cities designed for everyone? What do you think about having conversations about the future of cities with strangers? How can we design the future of our cities with everyone in mind? Interview with Laura Reupke, CEO of BABLE. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, the superblock model, 15-minute cities,

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00:01:33

Why do we still need to be optimistic? Laura Reupke...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/15

Are you interested in liveable cities designed for everyone? What do you think about having conversations about the future of cities with strangers? How can we design the future of our cities with everyone in mind? Trailer for episode 464 - interview with Laura Reupke, CEO of BABLE. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, the superblock model, 15-minute cities, bottom-up initiatives, and many more.Find out more in

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00:11:36

463R_Environmental and health effects of the...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/14

Are you interested in the superblock model’s effects of health and the environment? Our debate today works with the article titled Environmental and health effects of the Barcelona superblocks from 2025, by Katherine Perez, Laia Palencia, Maria Jose Lopez, Brenda Biaani Leon‑Gomez, Anna Puig‑Ribera, Anna Gomez‑Gutierrez, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Gloria Carrasco‑Turigas, and Carme Borrell, published in the BMC Public Health journal. This is a great preparation to our next interview with Laura Reupke in

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00:01:44

We do have solutions today for the urban challenges -...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/13

Are you interested in liveable cities designed for everyone? What do you think about having conversations about the future of cities with strangers? How can we design the future of our cities with everyone in mind? Trailer for episode 464 - interview with Laura Reupke, CEO of BABLE. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, the superblock model, 15-minute cities, bottom-up initiatives, and many more.Find out more in

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00:02:08

What healthy liveability means - Laura Reupke (464I...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/12

Are you interested in liveable cities designed for everyone? What do you think about having conversations about the future of cities with strangers? How can we design the future of our cities with everyone in mind? Trailer for episode 464 - interview with Laura Reupke, CEO of BABLE. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, the superblock model, 15-minute cities, bottom-up initiatives, and many more.Find out more in

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00:38:50

462B_Reflections with Ben Vass and Fanni Melles

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/09

"The future is here, just not evenly distributed."Are you interested in urban conscious evolution and a hopeful future? What do you think about the saying: the future is here just not evenly distributed? How can we move towards better urban futures? Special reflective episode with Ben Vass, senior research engineer and yours truly, Fanni Melles, future of cities researcher, discussing what the last five years of the podcast and the world have taught us. We will talk about energy abundance,

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00:02:05

Human progress is something to be proud of - Ben Vass...

What is The Future for Cities? ·

2026/09/08

Are you interested in urban conscious evolution and a hopeful future? What do you think about the saying: the future is here just not evenly distributed? How can we move towards better urban futures? Trailer for special reflective episode (462B) with Ben Vass, senior research engineer and yours truly, Fanni Melles, future of cities researcher, discussing what the last five years of the podcast and the world have taught us. We will talk about energy abundance, not evenly distributed but already

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