Smart in the City – The BABLE Podcast

How does one of the fastest growing cities in the United States keep improving its services without simply hiring more people? In this episode, we speak with Paul Grimes , City Manager, and Brandon Opiela , Chief Data and AI Officer, both of the City of McKinney , Texas, USA, about the answer they have landed on: reforming the way work gets done. We explore McKinney's High Performance Organisation...

In this episode, we cross the Atlantic to Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, to explore how a city builds a more intentional innovation culture from the inside. We are joined by Ishu Gupta , Innovation and Data Strategy Lead for the City of Green Bay , who works at the intersection of change management, technology, and data inside the Mayor's Office. We look at why Green Bay is moving from solution-led in...

In this episode of Smart in the City – The BABLE Podcast, we head to Kyiv, Ukraine, to explore Mental Guard, a city-level mental health initiative embedded within the public education system. We are joined by Kateryna Mohylnytska , Head of the Mental Health Project and Chief Communications Officer of the Kyiv Digital Agency, Ukraine. Kateryna explains how Mental Guard moves schools from reaction t...

Dans cet épisode francophone de Smart in the City – The BABLE Podcast, nous traversons l'Atlantique pour nous rendre à Montréal, la métropole francophone d'Amérique du Nord. Nous y recevons Natacha Beauchesne , commissaire au développement économique en charge de l'économie circulaire au sein du Service du développement économique de la Ville de Montréal , au Canada. Natacha nous explique comment...

Taiwan's Yunlin County supplies one in every three vegetables and pigs on the nation's dining tables. Yet its transformation extends far beyond traditional agriculture. Join Hsieh Shu-ya, Deputy Magistrate of Yunlin County , Taiwan, as she reveals how Yunlin is reimagining rural innovation through smart technology, circular economy strategies, and inclusive design. From AI-powered crop predictions...

Kansas City is not chasing AI hype. Instead, Andrew Ngui , Chief Digital Officer of Kansas City , Missouri, United States, is focused on the essential work that makes artificial intelligence functional in local government: aligning data, processes, and people. In this episode, we explore what lies beneath every successful AI implementation. Through Kansas City's work with the Bloomberg City Data A...

Michael Rech , Mayor of Folgaria, manages one of Italy's most dynamic Alpine municipalities. Located in the Dolomites, Folgaria welcomes 2 million visitors annually while maintaining a permanent population of just 3,000 residents spread across 33 villages. This creates a unique tension: balancing climate commitments with the realities of a tourism-dependent economy. In this episode, Michael explor...

In this episode, recorded in collaboration with the Urban Future 2026 conference in Ljubljana, we travel to Vienna, Austria, to discuss practical climate action. Our guest, Johannes Lutter , Head of International Affairs and Strategic Partnerships at Urban Innovation Vienna , shares how the city implements its Smart Climate City Strategy. We explore the balance between climate protection and adapt...

In this episode, recorded live at the 2026 Urban Future conference in Ljubljana, we head to Celje, Slovenia. We are joined by Monika Tominšek , Head of Development, Projects and Economy Office, and Tanja Tamše , Expert Associate in the Department for Development, Projects and Economy at the Municipality of Celje . Together, they discuss what it takes to build urban change with people, rather than...

In this episode, recorded live at the Urban Future 2026 conference in Ljubljana, we explore the evolving landscape of Mannheim's inner city. Our guest, Petar Drakul , City Centre Commissioner and Head of FutuRaum for the City of Mannheim , Germany, shares insights into navigating complex urban transformations. We discuss the critical difference between merely participating in a process and taking...

Recorded live at the 2026 edition of the Urban Future conference in Ljubljana, this episode explores how the City of Toronto , Canada, is rethinking public engagement. Our guest, Daniel Fusca , Manager of Public Consultation, Parks and Recreation at the City of Toronto and Urbanist-in-Residence at the University of Toronto School of Cities, shares his approach to treating the public as a true deli...

In this episode, recorded in collaboration with the Urban Future conference at their 2026 edition in Ljubljana, we sit down with Signe Pērkone , Senior Project Leader and Architect at the City Development Department of the Municipality of Riga , Latvia. While many urban areas plan for continuous growth, Riga faces a different reality: a shrinking population. Signe explains what smart consolidation...

In this special episode, recorded live in collaboration with the Urban Future conference at their 2026 edition in Ljubljana, we explore the complexities of urban rehabilitation in Porto. We are joined by Ricardo Ferreira da Silva, Programme Manager at Porto Vivo Urban Rehabilitation Society in Portugal. We discuss the challenge of caring for a historic centre while protecting its identity and ensu...

In this episode, in collaboration with the Urban Future conference , recorded at their 2026 edition in Ljubljana, we travel to Madrid to explore the intersection of environmental infrastructure, clean mobility, digital operations, and urban innovation. Our guest, José Luis Cifuentes Sastre , Innovation, Promotion and Information Manager at Madrid City Council, shares insights into the Valdemingóme...

In this special episode from our Major Cities of Europe 2025 series, we travel to Florence, Italy, to speak with Alessandra Barbieri , Manager in EU Projects and Fund Raising within the City Manager Department of the Municipality of Florence . We discuss the city's recently developed AI Adoption Plan, a strategic framework designed to guide the integration of artificial intelligence into public se...

In this episode of Smart in the City, we sit down with Hashem Alhendawi , Head of the UITP MENA, to discuss the rapid evolution of urban mobility in Dubai and across the broader Middle East and North Africa region. Hashem explains how cities in MENA are transitioning from car-centric designs to integrated, network-based public transport systems. We explore the concrete steps Dubai has taken over t...

Dans cet épisode de Smart in the City, nous nous rendons en région parisienne pour échanger avec Eric Legale , directeur général d' Issy Média . Depuis plus de trois décennies, Issy-les-Moulineaux se positionne à l'avant-garde de la transformation urbaine, ayant lancé son premier site web municipal en 1996 et s'adaptant continuellement aux nouvelles vagues numériques. Nous explorons dans cet entre...

In this episode of Smart in the City, we travel to the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg in Germany to explore how a mid-sized municipality is driving digital transformation through a human-centric approach. Petra Schwerdtfeger , Smart City Officer for the City of Aschaffenburg, shares details on the city’s "Dialog City" strategy. This initiative focuses on integrating digital and analogue worlds to...

Innovation is not exclusive to dense megacities. In this special episode from our Major Cities of Europe 2025 series, we head to the UK to speak with Kurt Frary , Head of IT and CTO at Norfolk County Council . Kurt shares how Norfolk navigates the unique challenges of a large, mixed rural region to build robust digital foundations. We discuss practical applications that save real time and money, f...

In dieser Folge von Smart in the City reisen wir nach Luxemburg in die Gemeinde Leudelange. Moderator Alexander Schmidt und Co-Moderator Michael Agostini von Drees & Sommer begrüßen Bürgermeister Lou Linster , um über die Herausforderungen eines einzigartigen demografischen Profils zu sprechen: eine Gemeinde mit 2.800 Einwohner:innen, aber über 10.000 Arbeitsplätzen. Bürgermeister Linster gibt...

In this episode, recorded live at the neext 2025 in partnership with Drees & Sommer , we travel to the historic "Square Mile" with Alderman Gregory Jones KC of the City of London, UK. As a barrister and elected representative, Gregory provides a unique perspective on the intersection of planning law, heritage preservation, and urgent sustainability goals. We discuss the City's "retrofit first"...

In this episode, recorded at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2025, we travel to the City of Hamburg with Dr. Nora Reinecke , Project Manager for the Connected Urban Twins project. Nora explains how Hamburg is moving beyond the buzzwords to implement digital twins that address real urban challenges, from climate resilience and flooding to complex urban planning scenarios. She discusses the colla...

In this episode, recorded live at the Smart City Expo World Congress   2025 in Barcelona, we travel to France to explore a pragmatic vision for sustainable urban development. We are joined by Gérard Wolf , Special Advisor for Smart & Sustainable Cities to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, who shares the French approach to building resilient cities based on four essential services: e...

In this episode, we travel to Italy with Francesco Leonardo Nelli , Coordinator of the International Relations Unit at the City of Bologna . Recorded live at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, we discuss how the city leverages its strong cooperative spirit to drive modern innovation. The conversation highlights Bologna's distinct approach to technology. Rather than purchasing st...

In this episode, recorded live at Smart City Expo World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, we are joined by Eddie Copeland , Director, and Genta Hajri , Digital Innovation Delivery Lead at the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) . London consists of 33 separate administrative areas, which can often lead to fragmented public services. Eddie and Genta explain how LOTI acts as a collaborative...