Live entertainment and the arts; things the pandemic took away from us that are now coming back in force.  Michael Cassel is a leading international producer, bringing to our stages some of the world’s greatest theatrical productions and live entertainment. Along the way he has grown some of Australia’s best talent.  I asked Michael how living without live arts and entertainment has hurt our national culture and, now we are opening up, how we get it back.

Smarter Cities

Michael Cassel - International theatre producer

Smart Cities. Everyone is obsessed with them - from visions of autonomous cars and flying service drones to everything being connected through billions of IOT devices constantly reporting activity. This has long being the mantra of what smart cities are supposed to be. But being honest this concept is something I have somewhat struggled with. The best cities are those that are people centric - focused on making people’s lives easier, healthier, sustainable and more productive. Sure technology plays a role in this. But should it be at the centre? Smart Cities expert Meredith Hodgman joins the Podcast to delve into this question and help us all understand what a smart city really is.

Meredith Hodgman - Smart cities expert

The first 'fan free' Olympic and Paralympic Games - Tokyo2020 - was a success under challenging pandemic circumstances. The fan experience was driven by digital TV connectivity, on-demand viewing and IOT capability more than at any time in the Games' history. Tokyo2020 has changed our future expectations of how the Olympic Games are to be delivered and experienced by fans, and in how cities safely manage athletes arriving and competing, from around the World. What is the future of the Olympic Games experience for fans? How can we prepare to host the best digitally connected Olympic and Paralympic games in Australia's Brisbane in 2032?  Recorded as part of the Autonomous21 Conference.

Smarter Cities Clips: Future of the Olympic Games and what it means for cities and fans

Wellness. What is it and why should it matter to corporates? These are rather pertinent questions. As the world continues to battle Covid-19, the lines between work and home have blurred, perhaps permanently, and 'zoom calls' have become the norm. According to a recent study in the Harvard Business Review*, 85 per cent of workers surveyed said they were working longer hours but being less productive. 55 per cent said they were having trouble balancing work and home life, with the consequence that they are feeling less 'well'. Duncan Young is a specialist on workplace health and wellbeing and advises corporates globally on developing and implementing health and wellbeing programs. He has also developed a specialised wellbeing program called 'Build your ideal day', a 30 day challenge towards managing yourself better. In this episode, Duncan provides an interesting insight into how small changes to what we do in our daily routines can make material differences to our wellbeing, and why employee wellbeing is critical to improving overall corporate productivity.

Duncan Young - health and wellbeing specialist

Sometimes you meet truly remarkable people who are making a tremendous difference in their communities and countries. This is the case with Jean Nepo Sibomana and his Australian born wife Sabrina, who founded the Mustard Seed Institute – an organisation driving employment, training and human development in rural Rwanda. Nepo is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide  - which shocked the world in its consistency of application and brutality of purpose. He was just eleven years old when it happened. His story is one of unfathomable loss but also, as his country continues rebuild after near destruction, one of immense hope and inspirational personal strength. In this episode, Nepo and Sabrina share his story, their passion for Rwanda and their hope for the future of Africa.   #Nepo tell us his story of survival of the genocide approximately 20 mins into this episode, which some listeners may find distressing.

Jean Nepo & Sabrina Sibomana

Selina Short is Managing Partner for Oceania at EY, specialising in the real estate, construction and hospitality sectors. She is a leading voice on cities and urbanisation. Selina argues that a city's future success will be driven by experience and human interaction and that Australian cities have the chance to set the mark for a new way of working and a new style of global workforce in a post Covid World.  Selina appeared on the"Autonomous Now" Podcast, which I guest hosted.  

Selina Short - Managing Partner, EY - Oceania

Richard Kuppusamy has spent a lifetime thinking about what makes a city accessible. He is an architect and disability rights campaigner. In his job, as Head of Digital Engineering - Asia at Lendlease Group, he is pushing boundaries by driving the development and adoption of digital engineering in the development and construction industry. He also has spina bifida, a congenital spinal condition, which he has used to develop and inform his passion and advocacy for inclusive urban design and inclusive society in his native Singapore and beyond. So what is a truly accessible city and how far off are we from achieving one?

Richard Kuppusamy - Architect and Disability Rights Campaigner

Rishi Suri, editor of India's largest Urdu newspaper, the Daily Milap, joins Smarter Cities in a fascinating discussion on India and its place in the world. India is a rising power. A country of deep history, beloved in Australia for its culture, cuisine and cricket obsession. It is also the country of my parent’s birth, one I have visited since childhood and one which has always captured my love and imagination. Governed now by a nationalist administration and a prime minister, Narendra Modi, whose leadership has overwhelmingly been endorsed by the Indian people at multiple elections, India is finding its voice - with a deeper focus on nationalism and an intensified leadership in international affairs. Rishi Suri is the third generation of his family to serve as editor of the Daily Milap. I took the chance to draw on his deep knowledge to understand what India wants its place in the world to be and what it is doing to get there.

Rishi Suri - Editor of India's largest Urdu language newspaper - the Daily Milap

Rob Stokes is one of Australia’s most thoughtful and prescient politicians - with a passion for public policy and public service that has led him to one of the toughest portfolios around - as Minister for Planning and Public Spaces in Australia’s largest state, NSW. Rob argues that Covid 19 is the greatest disruption to how cities and countries will function since the Spanish flu and the introduction of the motorcar. He says the heart of this disruption will be how Australia, and the global community of nations, chooses to manage global resources as the World addresses new and emerging geopolitical and environmental risks ahead. The first ‘in person’ episode of Smarter Cities since March 2020 is a wide- ranging conversation that extends from cities and the environment to the future of education and to how we meet challenges ahead.

The Hon Rob Stokes MP - NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces

Futurist and thought leader on the real estate sector, Nikki Greenberg, joins Smarter Cities in this first episode for 2021.  The world is emerging from Covid-19 with the release of new vaccines and a global roll out gathering apace. As we take stock of 2020, and the impact of the virus on our lives, what does the future look like for real estate and the way we live work and interact with one another in cities and countries?  

Nikki Greenberg - Futurist and thought leader on real estate

As Australia's second largest state, Victoria, emerges from a five day lock down, following lock downs in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney's northern beaches, it seems apparent that snap lock downs have become part and parcel of virus management and that they are here to stay.  In this clip, Kristy McSweeney discusses the balancing act for families that has come with prolonged home working caused be slow return to work and snap lockdowns.

Smarter Cities Clips: Kristy McSweeney - on the Covid balancing act

Gary Horwitz, founder of the pioneering Australian food and homewares chain BaySwiss and creator of retail precinct experiences in many global cities, talks in this clip about online disruption to the retail sector and how the sector can successfully respond. 

Smarter Cities Clips - Gary Horwitz on how the retail sector can respond to disruption

Mukund Narayana-Murty, CEO of AsiaLink Business, and I reflect on how proud we are to be Australian, how we respect both our Country and also the cultural heritage of our families, and the importance of values in the ever - and always continuing - improvement of our Australian Nation.

Smarter Cities Clips - Mukund Narayana Murty on Being Australian

There is increasing interest in Australia in building closer government to government and economic relations with India, particularly in the wake of increasing trade tensions between the major powers. In this clip, Julian Leeser MP, Member of the Australian Parliament, discusses his love of India and what is ahead in building closer relations between our countries.

Smarter Cities Clips - Julian Leeser MP

Over the last 20 years there has been accelerated growth in house prices across the World's major cities, with Australian cities running towards the top of the pack. Average house prices in Sydney and Melbourne have increased between five to six times in the last two decades. At the same time real wages have run stagnant, leading to growing affordability pressures and making the “great Australian dream” of owning a home that much more difficult to achieve. Housing policy has, as a consequence, been at the centre of political competition between the major parties, with Governments prescribing policies from financial incentives to the private sector to deliver subsidised housing to straight public funding of new government housing – seemingly without material success in moving the needle. With a lack of access to affordable housing the visible outcome of growing inequality in our cities – what will it take to make housing work for everyone? And how do we get there?  

Scott Langford - CEO St George Community Housing

In this series, Jason de Sousa explores urban life and how it's changing around us with people focussed on creating better places, cities and new ways of getting things done.

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Smarter Cities

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