Smart in the City – The BABLE Podcast

In this first episode sponsored by Red Española de Ciudades Inteligentes (RECI ) , it was our great pleasure to meet with Manuel Gonzalez – Chief Information Officer for the City of Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Spain and David Dessers – Deputy Mayor Mobility, Climate and Sustainability, Agriculture and Consumption of the City of Leuven, Belgium .   With them, we discussed the challenges both cities ar...

In this first episode in collaboration with Copenhagen Capacity , it was our great pleasure to have two architects by formation on the podcast:  Camilla van Deurs , Chief City Architect for the City of Copenhagen, and  Stefanie Weidner , Director at  Werner Sobek  Copenhagen and Director of Sustainability Strategies for the whole Werner Sobek Group.   With them, we discussed urban design, circular...

In this episode, we talked with  Stephen Jones , Director of  Core Cities UK , about collaboration between national governments and cities, UK cities' preparation for net zero, smart readiness, international relationships and more!   Overview of the episode: 01:13 - Teaser : What is the most stereotypical British thing our guest has ever done? 01:55 - Stephen's background story and what led him to...

This episode was  recorded live at the   Autonomy Mobility World Expo 2023  in Paris, where Smart in the City was a Media Partner.    In this episode, we talked with  Sergio Fernández Balaguer , the Head of the International Department at the  Municipal Transport Company (EMT) of Madrid, Spain . We discussed sustainable mobility, transversal connectivity, public transport and car usage and the imp...

This episode was  recorded live at the   Autonomy Mobility World Expo 2023  in Paris, where Smart in the City was a Media Partner.    In this episode, we travel to Manchester in the UK and talk about public transport, active mobility, integration, railway network and more with Nick Fairclough , Senior Policy Manager at Transport for Greater Manchester .   Overview of the episode: 02:29 - Teaser :...

This episode was recorded live at the Autonomy Mobility World Expo 2023 in Paris, where Smart in the City was a Media Partner.    In this episode, we were lucky enough to sit down with  Ross Douglas , Founder and CEO of Autonomy Paris & the Urban Mobility Weekly, to talk about the event, mobility trends, carbon emissions goals, car ownership, electric vehicles and more!   Overview of the episo...

In this episode, we learn how the happiness of citizens can be measured and quantified to inform decision-making in urban planning with two guests from the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark:  Catarina Lachmund , Senior Analyst, and  Camilla Michalski , Data Analyst.   Overview of the episode: 02:18  - Teaser : our guest shared a quote about happiness from the founder of the Happi...

For this episode, we sat down in Stuttgart, Germany with our guests S ebastian Ewert , CEO and Founder of MAHLE chargeBIG , and Alexander Schmidt , our CEO and Founder at BABLE . With them, we discussed electric vehicles, EV charging infrastructures, and the future of urban mobility in general.   Overview of the episode: 02:47  - Teaser : Imagine Stuttgart in 2050. Are there cars, and what does it...

With us in this special episode is none other than a fellow podcast host and urbanist – Marcin Wojciech Żebrowski from Urbcast - a podcast about cities . He is also a  Business Development Coordinator at Henning Larsen Architects . Urbcast is a unique bilingual podcast about cities, urbanism, urban planning, architecture and much more. Every second Wednesday, Marcin interviews various guests and d...

In this episode, we welcomed  Montserrat Miramontes – who is a Transport Planner in charge of mobility management at the city of Fürstenfeldbruck in Bavaria, Germany . With her, we discussed transport planning, urban design, multimodal mobility and more!   BABLE will be at the Autonomy Mobility World Expo in Paris on March 22nd and 23rd. Register now to benefit from the many activities on the prog...

Going just a little north from our last episode to the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland , we discussed Smart District development, stakeholders engagement, funding sources and more with Deborah Colville ,  the City Innovation Manager & Head of Smart Belfast , and with Nikita Shetty , the UK and Ireland Lead and Senior Consultant for  BABLE Smart Cities .   BABLE will be at the Autonomy Mobili...

We start 2023 with our very first co-hosted episode with Alessandro Gaillard , Communications Campaign Officer at the Solar Impulse Foundation and host of the Solutions for Cities Podcast .   With our host Tamlyn Shimizu , they had a fascinating talk with David Kelly , the Director of the Southern Regional Assembly in Ireland, about collaboration between organisations, local authorities but also r...

 In this episode, we dived into the topic of digitalization with Bas Boorsma , Chief Digital Officer of the city of Rotterdam, Netherlands , urban innovator, professor of practice at Thunderbird School of Global Management and author of A New Digital Deal .   Overview of the episode: 01:50 -  Teaser : an inspiring quote from our guest 4:45 - What is Bas' background? 07:25 - Building on Bas' episod...

In this episode, we welcomed two very special guests: Bernard Clerfayt , the Minister of the Capital Region of Brussels, Belgium , and Bertrand Piccard , twice-around-the-world man and Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation . Listen now to a very insightful conversation on topics such as the digital transition , the COP27 outcome , the European energy crisis , and the existing solutions from a g...

In this episode, we talked once more about our H2020 EU-Funded project – SPARCS – speaking with one of the fellow cities of the project – Kladno in the Czech Republic , live at the Smart City Expo in Barcelona. We welcomed  David Škorňa – Head of Project SPARCS for the City of Kladno , as well as  Gretel Schaj – Regional Manager of BABLE Iberia and the Project Lead from BABLE for the SPARCS projec...

En nuestro primer episodio en español, grabado en el inmejorable escenario de la  Smart City Expo World Congress 2022 de Barcelona , conversamos sobre empresas  y ciudades, proyectos, éxitos y retos con dos personas que saben mucho de  ciudades inteligentes, de creación de comunidades y de relaciones  público-privadas  en España: Verónica Ramírez , directora de operaciones del Smart City Cluster y...

This episode takes us back to Finland, and more precisely to the city of Lahti , to discuss public-private partnerships, knowledge-driven community engagement and participatory planning  with our guests:  Johanna Palomäki , City Architect at the city of Lahti   and  Maarit Kahila , CEO of Maptionnaire , a community engagement platform for managing public participation processes in a central place....

In this episode, we dive into the topic of circular economy and especially how the city of Prague, Czech Republic is tackling waste recycling and other challenges. Our guest  Vojtech Vosecky   is himself trying to create a world with a circular economy, as he is the chairman of the Steering Group for Circular Economy in Prague , as well as an associate within Circle Economy .   The Solutions Guide...

In this episode, we had the pleasure to speak with Merja Honkanen , Project Manager at KONE and Elina Wanne , the Project Manager for the SPARCS project at the city of Espoo, Finland . Not only are they our partners within the H202 project  – SPARCS , but they also were the perfect guests to talk about co-creation , stakeholders engagement  and inclusion .   Register now for our new online trainin...

In this episode, we welcomed Katerina Nikolopoulou back to the podcast, this time as the Network Manager of  CIVINET Greece-Cyprus , the Greek-speaking local network of the CIVITAS Initiative , which focuses on the promotion of Sustainable Mobility in Greece and Cyprus. We also were delighted to have with us the  Founder & Coordinator of   CIVINET Greece-Cyprus :   Kosmas Anagnostopoulos . Thi...

In this episode, we ventured again to Sweden by discussing with the Strategic Developer of the city of Umeå :  Carina Aschan . We had the opportunity to sit down with her at the Urban Future conference 2022 in Helsingborg, Sweden and to discuss behaviour change, EU projects, gender equality, gamification and more! Carina is also the Project Manager of the Ruggedised H2020 Project , which brings to...

In this episode, we talked with  Katerina Nikolopoulou about INCIRCLE , an Interreg MED project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund which supports INsular and low-density areas in the transition towards a more CIRCular tourism Economy . Katerina works for the Greek-speaking branch of the CIVITAS Initiative, CIVINET Greece-Cyprus as the network manager.   Register now for our new...

For this episode, our journey towards a better urban life led us to the beautiful city of Innsbruck in Austria. We sat down with  Elisabeth Meze , the former Head of Citizens' Participation of Innsbruck , currently searching for new challenges within climate and sustainability management with participation.   Register now for our new online training course : SMARTER CONNECTED PLACES - experiential...

In the sixth and last episode of our Smart Dublin mini-series, we talked about the Smart Balbriggan programme and the community-based and innovative projects of this small town of 25,000 inhabitants on the northern edge of Dublin’s coast.  For this, we had the pleasure to discuss with  Aishling Hyland , the Fingal County Council Digital Programme Officer.   Overview of the episode: 02:26 - Aishlin...

In the fifth episode of our Smart Dublin mini-series, we ventured into Smart Docklands – located in the heart of Dublin and a major centre of innovation and employment – with Darach Mac Donncha , Programme Manager at Smart Docklands .   Overview of the episode: 01:55 -  Teaser: Three words to describe Smart Docklands 02:46 - Darach's background 06:30 - What makes Smart Docklands special? 10:50 - D...