The Shape of the World

What if your upstairs neighbor, your cousin, or the bartender down the street were chosen by lottery to represent you in government? Writer and political philosopher Alex Guerrero believes this radical idea, known as lottocracy, is a better alternative than voting....

This episode was originally published in 2021, but we're bringing it back because the questions landscape architect Sarah Cowles asks—about which kinds of nature get space in our cities—feel particularly urgent right now. As debates over land, development, climate resilience, and public space continue....

As the founder and principal at site design group ltd., a Chicago-based urban design and landscape architecture firm, Ernest (“Ernie”) Wong has spent over three decades transforming overlooked spaces into places where people can gather, play, rest, wander, and connect....

Ornithologist Doug Stotz is a key player in the Field Museum of Natural History’s strenuous effort to safeguard threatened landscapes, galvanize community stewards, and advance action-oriented science research. Doug’s long tenure at the museum is on the verge of changing...

Each of the largest cities on earth plays host to hundreds of thousands of dogs. Dr. Alexandra Horowitz, founder of the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College and the author of the bestselling book, Inside of a Dog, discusses how dogs managed....

Over the past 30 years, the quality of water in rivers has improved tremendously in many major cities around the world. So much so that what once seemed impossible has now become reality: people really are swimming in the Thames in London. Chris Rommer-Lee is one of the visionaries behind what is called the “Swimmable Cities” movement....

We often notice more of the visual world than we do the auditory world, yet many of our experiences are defined by sound. Edward Warden, the president of the Chicago Ornithological Society....

Samara Greenwood, a PhD candidate in the field of History and Philosophy of Science, explores the women who revolutioned the field of primatology and...

The Executive Director of Seven Canyons Trust, Ronnie Pessetto, is attempting to peel back the layers of concrete that cover many of the creeks in Salt Lake City, Utah. The process is known as “daylighting rivers.” And because Ronnie’s projects are happening right inside a city with a million people, it means the work is as much about civic healing as it is ecological restoration....

Jill Riddell speaks with her colleague, the cartoonist and author Sophie Lucido Johnson, about comedy, community, and the social science of friendship. In her new book...

As a child, Peggy Mason was a biology prodigy. Today, as a neurobiologist, Peggy is still working with mammals, but instead of preserving their skins, she’s studying whether they experience empathy and act to help one another...

Structural geologist Marcia Bjornerud was raised by free-thinking parents who instilled in her a love of books and nature. She’s published many professional papers (read mainly by experts in the field) and two popular books that, in the opinion of this podcast, ought to be read by every inhabitant of our planet...

Ferris Jabr, author of Becoming Earth, claims that it is: that Earth is a vast interconnected living system and we humans (and all other living things) don’t just live...

Dr. Adrienne Brown reads cities the way professors read novels: carefully, and with lots of attention to what’s written between the lines...

Daniel Holz studies black holes, gravitational waves, and cosmology, all while also running the Existential Risk Laboratory...

Biologist Sara Lewis doesn’t just study fireflies—for her, fireflies are a living reminder that the world is pure magic. In this episode...

Biologist Dr. Seth Magle wants to rethink what a city is – and who it’s for. As part of an alliance with 50 cities around the globe, Seth and other wildlife researchers have discovered an overlooked truth: that our large cities teem with interesting native wildlife.

Artist Laurie Palmer believes they can. In her book, The Lichen Museum, Laurie explores what we can gain from learning to see life the way a lichen does.

Season SIX Will Launch This Friday, May 9th New episodes, new guests, and new insights about nature and our built environments coming soon with season 6 of Shape of the World. And more on how we can live together–with nature, with cities, and with one another. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite platform.

Biologist David George Haskell says this collective inattention is a huge loss for each of us. It's like leaving money on the table because paying attention to the living world is a source of beauty, joy and renewal—one we can access at anytime from anywhere.

Margaret Renkl's new book "Graceland at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South is mix of graceful observations and practical solutions.

The organization Nick Wesley co-founded, Urban Rivers, is creating The Wild Mile, the first-ever floating eco-park of its scale in the world.

Guest Jenn Smith says that human concepts of intergenerational wealth and inequality occur also in the behaviors of animals.

When Jane Watson encountered a ruined meadow of seagrass in the ocean, instead of getting furious, she grew curious.

Season Five Will Launch July 2022 New episodes, new guests, new insights about nature and our built environments are coming soon. And more on how we can live together--with nature, with cities and with one another. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app or check back here.