It Takes A City

In Episode 9, the final episode of the season, we take a step back. With our two guests, we look at the bigger picture: could participatory programs help address the crisis of democracy? Our two experts come from very different fields. Mitch Stripling works at the intersection of philosophy and disaster management and is the Director of the NYC Preparedness and Recovery Institute. Carl Henrik Knut...

Episode 8 takes us to Mexico.  We look at what it really takes to make participatory programs work in practice, and ask whether their success is less about design and more about discipline. Dino Cantú-Pedraza, Founder and Director of Aceleradora de Ciudades, shares her experience from working inside a municipality and now supporting local governments to implement participatory programs. She talks...

Episode 7 takes us to Lisbon, Portugal. We look at what is probably the best-known participatory tool, participatory budgeting , and discuss how it helped transform Lisbon from a city in crisis into one that attracts people. For instance, the idea of co-working spaces came through participatory budgeting and proved to be key for Lisbon becoming a hub for digital nomads.  Graça Fonseca , former Min...

Episode Six takes us to Delhi, India.  In 2001, in the low-income neighbourhoods of east Delhi, residents used India's new Right to Information Act to audit the Public Distribution System — the government programme meant to deliver subsidised food to the poor. The method, the jan sunwai or public hearing, brought citizens, officials, and an independent panel into the same room to compare what the...

Episode Five takes us to Lezhë, Albania. In conversation with Vasilika Laska, Director of Strategic Projects for the Municipality, we explore how the city is rethinking its foundations after a severe debt crisis. How should we spend the entire budget? By opening up this rarely asked question, the municipality invites local stakeholders, including residents, businesses, and civil society, not just...

Episode Four takes us to Athens, Greece. In conversation with Amalia Zepou, former Vice Mayor of the City of Athens , we explore how one citizen’s frustration with the state of her city grew into her running for office and adopting a new model for civic engagement. All this in a context where volunteering often carries negative connotations and trust between citizens and public servants is low. Th...

Episode Three takes us to Surakarta, Indonesia. In conversation with Nina Asterina and Bima Pratama Putra from the Kota Kita Foundation , we explore what it means to take inclusion seriously. On a single busy street, where children walk past a school, a prison, shops, and constant traffic, they were asked what they needed. One of the first answers was a swimming pool. Instead of dismissing it, the...

Episode Two takes us to Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. In conversation with Nyasha Frank Mpahlo from Green Governance Africa , we explore how legislative theatre can transform confrontation into dialogue. Through drama, community members and government officials come together to reflect on local climate challenges in a setting that feels less formal and less threatening than a typical meeting room.  --- W...

Episode One takes us to Budapest, Hungary. In conversation with Tessza Udvarhelyi, Vice Mayor of Budapest’s 8th District , we explore how participatory processes can become a winning edge in local elections, boost voter turnout, and help secure a second mandate in a district where that once seemed unthinkable. All this unfolds under increasingly authoritarian national politics, raising a central q...

We’re living through a global democratic crisis, and if we’re honest, we don’t really know how to fix it. Elections around the world are sending a clear message: the system isn’t working. It Takes a City is a podcast about participation and democracy. We believe that greater participation is key to making democracy work and to making people feel better about it. Through conversations with practiti...