The DNA of Cities

After 30 episodes, 60 guests, 16 Keynotes, 5 cities and 1 unforgettable opportunity to explore Amazonian cities, Greg and Caitlin sit down to celebrate the whirlwind that was Season 2 of The DNA of Cities podcast and look ahead at what's coming next.  Thank you for listening! – Mentioned in this episode: IDB report on Cities in Amazonia (2025) – 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.

The future of the Amazon Rainforest depends on the health of its cities. In this episode, released as Belém, Brazil prepares to host COP30, we convene several experts on Amazonian cities and urbanisation to explore what needs to stop, change or begin to ensure that the Amazon, including its cities, will thrive forever.  There is no single policy, solution or fix that can be deployed to secure or safe-guard the health of the cities, the forest and the rivers. An urgent mindset shift is needed to first acknowledge the existence of the rainforest's cities and then to embrace original Amazonian ways of city-making, allowing contemporary cities to be redefined and remade as champions of the forest.  – 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.

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.