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- [00:12]
A
Hello and welcome to the Urbanist Monocles program, all about the built environment. I'm your host, Andrew Tuck.
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Coming up, for us as leaders, it's so important that we're making sure that both the places and organizations that we create are ready for this generation and the next generations that are coming.
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We stopped by the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona to hear how innovation is proving the lifeblood of our neighbourhoods with technology being woven into the fabric of urban living. We also hear from the mayor of Kuala Lumpur, check in with a futurist and what to expect from Cities of Tomorrow. Find out about the next steps for transportation in Los Angeles and catch up with the director of the congress to find out why they chose Barcelona to to host this edition. That's all ahead in the next 30 minutes right here on the Urbanist. With me, Andrew Tuck. Last week saw the Smart City Expo World Congress touchdown in Barcelona, where speakers, exhibitors and attendees came together for the world's biggest event for smart cities. We dispatched our reporter Alex de Royere to the event to gather conversations with some of the most exciting names in urbanism and to get an overview of the event, he first sat down with Ugo Valenti, managing director of the Smart City Expo. Ugo spoke to Alex about why Barcelona was the perfect stage for these conversations and how to foster a global ecosystem where mayors, offices, town technology companies and regulators come together to share challenges and shape solutions.
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Barcelona is a wonderful smart city and it's a wonderful showcase to the rest of the world. There are plenty of different implementations that have been happening here in Barcelona throughout the years and Barcelona is a wonderful city in the sense that it has the right size to be an example for both bigger size cities and also to smaller sized cities. So if I were to do, I don't know, an event, maybe in the Nordics or we would have some awesome examples on sustainability and energy efficiency, etc. But it's not that translatable to a city like, I don't know, Medellin, for instance, right here in Barcelona, this is very translatable. So whatever you do in Barcelona, it's easier to translate it to a city like New York or Shanghai, or also to another city like Delhi or Medellin. So Barcelona has the right mix of potential to showcase things basically to the whole world. What we try to be as a platform is to bring them all together, bring all these mayors together, bring all the cities together to exchange the different initiatives that they are applying towards understanding what has been working well and what hasn't worked Very well, so that they can share it with each other and they can learn from each other. What we try to do is to give voice to all the different cultures around the different cities all over the world. This is one important side. So, for instance, when we're talking about AI, you need to understand that the implementation of AI in China is completely different than the implementation of AI in Europe, for instance. But we want to give this voice to everybody to showcase what they're doing. But it is also true that we believe that cities need to be a motor of change to the rest of the world. So there is this underlying narrative towards putting the citizens at the center. So we are pushing cities to use technology as a tool and not just as an end on itself. So we pushed that storytelling very hard so that mayors, and let's say city leaders understand that their decisions are not their decisions. They need to make decisions based on what the citizens really need. And this is something that from a creating perspective, we are pushing very hard here at the event. What we try to do is to bridge the gap between, let's say, the language that the public uses and the language that the private uses. Because sometimes they do not speak very well with each other, they do not understand each other. So we try to soften that gap from a regulation standpoint. And that's also very important. We try to help with the best practices and exchange of knowledge between cities so that they can change or their elicitations process so that they can get ready for the implementation of innovation. Because sometimes technology runs faster than regulation. Right. So it's not that easy to implement because of regulation in some areas. And then there are other countries in which the decision making is very top down from the government down below. So you have cases of change, China or the cases of the Middle east, for instance, in which there is a very strong government positioning and it goes down to the city level. This also works very well. It's really depending on the culture in relation to connection between cities themselves. I remember plenty of times here in Barcelona there is one showcase that I love, what we call the superillas, the superblocks on the streets. On some streets of Barcelona, plenty of streets actually, of Barcelona, we have these grids of three by three streets in which the cars can go through the outskirts and. But in the center of the streets, it is for pedestrian use or bicycle use, et cetera.
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Right.
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This is a design of the city that plenty of other mayors from all over the world have come and visit and then they have applied on their own city so if you think about it, take a look at Times Square in New York City right now. That is a superblock. It didn't exist before and today that is a superblock. Also parts of Broadway as well, right? This has been inspired by what happened in Barcelona and the other way around. Plenty of cities, for instance from China have showcased what they're doing in relation to security, safety and artificial intelligence. And plenty of cities from the Middle east are taking inspiration from that and applying to their own cities. So these experiences have happened here at the event. Competition has always raised the level of anything, basically. So when companies are competing, they raise the level. When a football team is competing against another, they need to raise the level. When a city needs to compete against another, it needs to raise the level. But it is possible to collaborate on one hand and to compete on another hand. Barcelona, Madrid are competing of course from a talent perspective and from a, let's say citizenship perspective. But on another hand they have very strong collaborations from a technology perspective, they are sharing good practices between both, they are sharing different initiatives, they learn from each other, understand what has worked well and what hasn't worked well. So it's completely possible to compete and at the same time to collaborate. But competition usually raises the bar. So it's always good. In my opinion, if you are into urban innovation, this is a must attend event because here we are a platform and together we are creating the future of our cities. Here it's where decisions are being made and business is being done and here we're creating the future of the world, basically. So I truly believe in that.
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Ugo Valenti Managing Director of the Smart City Expo Next up we heard from Maimouna Binti Mode Sharif, former Executive Director of UN Habitat and the first female Mayor of Kuala Lumpur. She spoke about how repurposing buildings can help bring back young people into the urban fold, why food is so important to the city and how to go further than livable cities to the point where we are creating lovable cities too.
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In KO, we are now having a policy or master plan for the heritage KO and bringing back the activities into the cities because when the areas outside are booming, there is like following out on the inner city, you know, it's follow. So what we are doing now in Colombo that we have the plan to bring back all this old building or the heritage building we have just completed, endorse a guidelines on repurpose. How can we repurpose the building for other activities which maybe last time is suitable for that era in the 60s, in the 70s but not in the 21st century. So we have studied the area and we came up with the new guideline on repurposing. So planning is very dynamic, it's not static. So we see that this how innovation and digitalization coming in and how can we bring in the youth into the city area because the young people they have a different needs and different way of having their work in the city. So I think when we do the planning we put in the element of balance growth as part of the criteria or maybe the principle behind preparing the local plan preparation. We have one in mind where it was an office, around 70 storey office which was vacant. And we turn it into micro housing for the young people of the newly married, maybe it's not a big family and for the single who can come in because for those young people they just need a place to stay and we have all the facilities. And then the young graduates and the newly married they don't need so big. So we repurpose it. We turn this area, this 17 storey building into a house. Second is there is a one heritage building now under conservation and empty all this work and hopefully by next year you'll be ready. You come to Kuala Lumpur National, I can bring you there. And we are trying to bring back the glory, the history of this building by having in the there is a cafe, you know, and then a gallery and we turn it into boutique hotel. We at the local council, the city hall, we create the enabling factor, the enabling environment for them, the private sector to come in and invest in their own city. We identified around 139 locations for urban renewal. These are the areas where all industrial area or even all residential area which was built in the 60s and the 70s is only one room, for example. Then now we are working together with the government. So we be committees to see how we can do urban renewal without shifting the people out from the area. That's very important, not uproot them, but to give them a good quality of life. There are two things here. One is that we introduce the principle of 4P public private people partnership. So when we talk about the urban renewal or repurpose, I set up one committee. We call it SPEED S P E A D Surveyors, planners, engineers, architect, developers. Meaning that I work together with this five group, the surveyors, planners, indigenous architect, developers and also the committee to come up the best solution and also the workable. Sometimes maybe we cannot get the best solution, but in a workable solution we have a win win give all of us. So we only discuss we have a discussion, we have a monthly meeting. That is where I believe in public engagement. So we work together with private sector, with the people and also with the community. And when we want to do certain projects, for example, like when I mentioned to you about this Kuala Lumpur, we met many, many, many times, at least 50, 60 engagement with different group to discuss what it's really that you want us to do for the city. So they ask for the seamless connectivity, they ask for the cleanliness, they ask for the young people space and they also for the elderly. Because now Kahupu is also cannot deny about the aging society. So all these needs, multiple needs. But I think we need to really discuss and so that we come up with a good solution. I believe in bottom up. And I also believe in top, bottom, bottom up alone. Without the visionary leaders evolve and then the convergence of ideas in the middle. Bottom up, top, bottom and convergence of ideas. So to me, in some of the communication, whether it succeed or fail, that you have to be sincere, the sincerity. There are many cases that just the public participation just to fulfill the process is in the act. But we have to be really sincere. Yes, we go to the ground, we really listen to them. Not just to fulfill the legality of the process, planning process. So that is one second is re institutionalize these ideas to go to the ground through a town hall session. Food is one of the areas that we are really promoting. Because food in Malaysia is very unique. Because Malaysia we are very diverse. We have a Chinese nation, Malay, Indian and also the indigenous. And each of them have their traditional food. And even the Malay like for me from different states, we have also different types of food. So I think food bring us together. But I think this is one way that because we also celebrate Chinese New Year, celebrate Diwali, celebrate Christmas. So diversity to us is a unique move. So food actually blend us together. So I'd say food is also one of the areas that we are really, really looking and I would like to share with you. Kualungu has been designated listed by UNESCO on 31 October as a creative city on design. To me the quality of life is that the facilities that giving the individual a dignity as a person is proper home. Proper home with very basic amenities, water, electricity, education, the very basic human being that is quality of life. And then as we move on now we are talking about innovation and thinking about this. So I think we shouldn't forget about the dignity. It's the human right. So I think that good quality of life. Some people have a different definition. But to me, what do we need? Work, live and play. It is the needs of human beings. But when you want to have extra, that is bonus to me. That is where the quality of life. Kualopo is a city for all. City for all. Meaning that not only for human city for all, is also for fauna and flora in livability. And we are now going towards lovable cities. We already achieved livability, but I want to go to another level lovable. Because when you love someone, when you love your city, you will do everything to protect your city. The cleanliness, the safety and to take care of the city as if that is like your own home.
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That was Maimouna Binti Mode Sharif Mayor of Kuala Lumpur. Our next guest was Nikki Greenberg, a futurist and strategic advisor of on emerging technologies shaping the architecture and real estate worlds to come. Among the talk of flying cars, we heard from Nikki which cities she thinks are navigating the smart city revolution best and why public private collaboration is so important.
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Every era has different emerging technologies that weren't around before and people had to navigate it and plan for tomorrow. So I love talking about the example of Frank Lloyd Wright, the greatest architect there ever was, ever will be when he designed the master plan for Broadacre City. What he actually did, he designed this in the 1930s. And what a lot of people don't know about him is that he was a technologist. He loved technology. He owned 100 cars, like in the 1930s. He knew that that was the emerging technology. So when he designed broader acre city, he actually designed it for cars. But he didn't stop. He understood that there'd be new technologies after that. And when you look at the master plan or the drawings that he created, he actually created it with flying cars in the drawings because he knew that at some point in the future, this incredible, unimaginable future, he knew that we'd have flying cars. So that's what it means to be a futurist, is understanding that the technologies of today are going to change the way that the built environment operates and also understanding that new technologies are going to come out and we can't even fathom what they're going to mean or do or contribute to a city, but keeping them in mind and designing for it. The keynote that I did Yesterday was about 2050 designing cities of the future. And the key message there really is that the world is changing around us and for us as industry professionals, we have to adapt and evolve with these changes. And one of the key messages, messages that I open up by talking about is actually this generational change and looking at not just Gen Z, but Gen Alpha and then Gen Beta, who started in 2025 and understanding that the world that they're born into is a world that already has these kind of out there technologies. Gen Alpha, they've never known a world without iPads. They've come into this world with, you know, Siri and Alexa and autonomous cars and flying taxis like this. This is actually their world. So for us as leaders, it's so important that we're making sure that both the places and organizations that we create are ready for this generation and the next generations that are coming. This is a bit of a generalization, but there's a tendency for younger constituents to be more comfortable with technology. And you know, partly it's because it's been part of their lives, their entire lives. Whereas for all the constituents, for some of them it's a little bit more difficult. They might be computer literate, but for them to use an iPhone or apps can be somewhat difficult. Having said that, I think that from my experience and my conversations with people, that there is, even across all generations, there is a desire for more technology and more of a seamless experience. So even though there may be this perception of top down versus bottom up in the world that I live in, I, I actually see more bottom up and a demand for saying, hey, it's so easy for me to buy something on Amazon. Why isn't it that easy for me to be able to do other things in all aspects of my life? I'm seeing a lot of great smart city solutions all around the world, whether it's in the private sector or the public sector. Some cities that I love looking at, what they're doing include cities like Riyadh, you know, Saudi Arabia. With their Vision 2030 strategy, they're not just looking at the technology of today, but they're also investing in the technology of tomorrow to bring their Vision 2030 strategy to life, especially around considerations like mobility, smart mobility, sustainability, etc. In the U.S. dallas, Fort Worth, they're doing amazing things because they have a very strong presence with the military, the Air Force, and also Dallas Fort Worth airport, which by the way is massive. And they're talking about it being autonomous, but fully autonomous by 2040, which is quite incredible. So they're doing a lot in terms of aerial mobility, drones deliveries, they're testing out some Amazon package delivery technology that I haven't seen anywhere else. So it's a lot of like point solutions by different states and countries. Around the world who are doing super interesting things. So the incredible thing is that I talk to leaders from Australia, the US, Europe, etc. And everyone says the exact same thing, which is that everyone feels like they're so far behind and everyone else is so far ahead. And the reality is that wherever you are in the world, we're all navigating this change together. And some countries might be further along in some aspects, but the best thing that we can do is come to conferences like the Smart City Expo and meet people who are working on the same kind of problems and learn from the things that they're doing, because they've tried it, they've done it, and that kind of collaboration is what's going to get us there faster. I honestly think that there's a high level of collaboration in both the public sector and the private sector. And I'll give you an example. I love talking about flying taxis. Let's just be honest, I love talking about it. One of the reasons why the uptake has been so quick in Europe and the US recently is because what they're doing is they're using training data that's come out of places like the Middle east, where they've been testing out these UAVs for quite some time to be able to train their local technology and get that head start. And it's true, the collaboration, such as sharing data such as that, and through a multitude of different agencies, that there's able to be a faster acceleration of adoption of emerging technologies in a really meaningful way. One of my favorite European cities is Helsinki. And somebody asked me yesterday, they said, what is your favorite city? Noise. And I said, helsinki at night, it is so quiet. It's an absolute pleasure. And I think it's really that contrast between cities around the world that people appreciate. When I'm in Helsinki, it's so well organized, it's so quiet, it's so peaceful, it's so beautiful. But when someone from the Nordics is in the U.S. they find it, you know, or New York, they're like, oh, my God, this is so vibrant and chaotic and creative, et cetera. So it's that beauty of the differences that really make cities great. I mean, there's hardly a place in the world that's more vibrant than Barcelona. You know, there is that beautiful culture of, you know, fashion and design and food and, you know, beautiful people and energy. I love Barcelona. But it's these differences between places. I think one of the big things with, you know, American cities, New York in particular, is that you're actually encouraged to be different. And the more you stand out, the more you self promote, the more that you're okay to just kind of be, hey, look at me. You know, this is a huge city with a lot of people, but I'm okay to be the loudest, most fashionable, the brightest, the smartest, the boldest. I think that's something that makes a city like New York pretty unique and special compared to other places in the world.
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My thanks to, to Nicky Greenberg there. And finally on the program, we heard from Tina Backstrom, Los Angeles Director of Transportation from the Mayor's Office of Infrastructure. We heard about how bike infrastructure was evolving, how autonomous vehicle companies have entered the transport ecosystem, and how AI is helping the permitting process post wildfires.
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I used to be, I was a bikeways engineer, and so I was able to design bike infrastructure, you know, from larger bike construction projects as far as, like bike paths to bike lanes to that type of thing. Right. And you know, over the years, we've been very deliberate on putting in bicycle infrastructure to give people choices. Right. It's about giving people choices on how they want to move around the city, how they choose to move around the city, not how I tell you to move around the city, but how you choose to move around the city. And so, you know, that bike infrastructure, some places we were able to put in bike traffic signals, protected bike lanes, I mean, you name it. So it gave people more options of being able to travel to downtown or if they want to take their bike with them on the train and then get off and then use the bike as the last mile. So first, last mile, they maybe ride their bike to the train station or to the bus stop and then get on the bus. You know, they have their bike and then they get off, and then they ride their bike the last mile to their office space. And then we also have, within our building code, a lot of the newer office buildings are required to put in showers so that people who are biking to work, they can take a shower. We have a working group, autonomous vehicle working group. So we meet with them regularly, and in those particular meetings, they may express some of the issues that they are having. We pride ourselves on trying to work with all companies that, that come to us. And there's about 36 or 39 autonomous vehicle companies out there. I have not met with all 39 of them. Right. Like some people maybe within the Department of Transportation have met with a lot of them. But, you know, as far as at the mayor's office level, the big ones tend to come to us because they want to let us know that they're coming to town. Initially, we had an issue of them coming and they were only coming in certain neighborhoods, they were coming to, to certain parts of the city. That was not necessarily equitable. Now they're throughout the city. Transportation gives you access to opportunity. If you have access to opportunity, you can go fulfill your dreams. But if you have no way to get there, then you, you're just sitting there dreaming, right? You're sitting there dreaming because you have no ability to get to that point. So having access to transportation, access to job center, access to housing, transportation is the nexus of everything. It's all a learning experience for everyone. How we can better use AI. And so one of the ways that we're using AI is in the permitting system after the fires and really being able to embrace the technology and how to help the city run while still understanding the needs of the people. So finding that balance between innovation as well as the human factor in there as well. Right. So just making sure we keep both in our eyesights so that we make the right decisions, you know, because everything has unintended consequences. So you just have to be able to think things through to make that better decision.
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Tina Backstrom, Los Angeles Director of Transportation from the Mayor's Office of Infrastructure there. And my thanks to Alex Doriere for reporting and to all of our guests for joining us on today's show. And that's all for this week's episode of the Urbanist. Coming up on next week's show, we head to Asia to assess how different parts of the continent deal with their relationship with the built environment, from architecture to public art and design. In the show, we'll hear from the new president of the Royal Institute of British Architects about their recently announced Asia Pacific Awards.
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2 I'm always impressed with the work internationally. There's a couple in particular. There's the Al Mujahdillah center, which is Baidillah, Scofidio and Renfra. They design the Road in Los Angeles and the High Line in New York, and that's a mosque and a centre for women. So it has a skills based. Some of the programs that come out are very exciting and very forward thinking. The UK leads the world in design. We export a lot of skills. But I think my experience in working abroad is you can learn a lot from other countries as well and learn from what other countries are doing. And there's lots of innovation and new technologies. There's the World Food Waste Teahouse in Dubai, which is by Mitsubishi Jishu design and that's using tea waste in construction. So like the Bartlett here in London, they're actually using natural materials in the construction industry. So there's some great innovations. And similarly in Asia Pacific a lot of the work that's coming out of that region is incredibly innovative. Whereas maybe 10 years ago there was a lot of copying going on, now it's really cutting edge design.
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I always feel the same when we go to the likes of Abu Dhabi or Dubai these days that actually the knowledge that sits there now, it's a transference of knowledge back and forth. It's not that they're just recipients and they're not just clients, they're actually generating ideas and solutions and especially when we think about climate and I guess the same for when you look at apac other projects there that have excited you when you've seen them.
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Yeah, no, there's the Shenzhen Energy Ring by Schmidt, Hammer Lassian and that's a waste energy power plant. So the program again is very important, very futuristic, very forward looking. In Bangladesh there's a fantastic project, the BRAC University which is on not just a brownfield site which we try and put forward, but this is a derelict dumping ground and it now home for 20,000 students and it's a very low energy cross ventilation natural scheme. So it's a fantastic profession and to see the diversity of schemes that get put forward is wonderful. It's one of the great aspects of my job is being involved in this.
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Listen to that conversation in full on next week's edition of the show. You can follow us for new editions of the programme every week. And you can subscribe to Monocle magazine for reports on all things design, architecture and urbanism too. Just visit monocle.com the Urbanist is produced by Carlotta and by David Stevens who also edits the show. I'm Andrew Tuck. Goodbye and thank you for listening. City Lover.