The Smart Community Podcast show

The Smart Community Podcast

Summary: "Making Smart Communities that are Accessible, Liveable and Sustainable for All"​ The Smart Community Podcast is a hub where Smart and exciting people from all around the world come to discuss all things Smart City, Smart Town, Smart Region - anything that makes a place more liveable. Together we can create the Smart Community Collective. Disclaimer: All content is representative of personal opinion only and is not associated with any company, organisation or government agency.

Podcasts:

 The important role of local government in Smart Communities, Matthew Schultz | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:33:45

In this episode I had a great conversation with Matt Schultz, City Digital Officer at Ipswich City Council in Queensland and the National President of the Australia Smart Communities Association. Matt and I cover his wide and varied career in technology and local government, and why Matt is so passionate about helping people. We also discuss how important and complex the role of local government actually is, and why Smart Communities are so important. Matt tells us how he sees Australia embracing Smart concepts, as well as the many interesting projects Ipswich City Council is working on to make it an open and interoperable city moving forwards. Matt then explains how ASCA came to be, from its beginnings in 2009 as the Broadband Today Alliance, and how it developed into what it is today, helping with connecting and integrating across different disciplines and industries in Australia today. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of 5G, AI, ML, IOT and blockchain, and the opportunity that lies in the fusion of all of these technologies going forwards. As always I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Matt via LinkedInor the ASCA website Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Advancing Equity in Smart Cities, with Emily Royall | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:31:31

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I had a really fascinating discussion with Emily Royall, the Smart City Coordinator of the City of San Antonio, Texas. Emily tells us about her passion for advancing equity in Smart Cities, and the Community Driven Smart City model that San Antonio is pursuing. We discuss the digital divide in San Antonio and the equity questions municipalities need to think about when being marketed to by the companies mediating Smart City data. Emily then tells us about a number of really interesting and innovative projects the City of San Antonio is working on, including how they've partnered with kids in the local CoderDojo coding program to get viable prototypes for their community. Emily and I finish our conversation discussing her thoughts on integrating across disciplines and the jobs of the future, as well as the emerging trends of digital justice and digital equity. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Emily on Twitter @emily_royall and LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 What is ASCA August? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:07:04

This is a quick episode to introduce our ASCA August special here on the Smart Community Podcast. What is ASCA? ASCA is the Australia Smart Communities Association of which Zoe is a volunteer board member. In August, all episodes of the Smart Community Podcast will be brought to you by the Australian Smart Communities Association with a focus on the needs of ASCA members. So we're bringing you conversations, stories and learnings from local government agencies around the world, as well as from the board members. Connect with ASCA at www.australiansmartcommunities.org.au Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Smart Initiatives and Using Resources in India, with Aditi Padhi | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:25:33

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a great conversation with Aditi Padhi, a Senior Associate in Planning and Smart City Initiative at infrastructure and urban development company, Surbana Jurong. Aditi tells us about her background in business and architecture, and her passion for Smart Community solutions, as well as why the concept is so important to her personally. She tells us how she sees India embracing Smart City initiatives, and we also talk in depth about two projects she's worked on. We discuss how cities must carefully manage their resources, and the very real need to educate both citizens and local government administration and other professionals to be able to fully engage in and maintain Smart initiatives. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of disaster management and multi-use facilities within cities. As always I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Aditi at her website http://aditipadhi.com/ or via LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Using data to enable change and foster inclusivity, with Aileen Gemma Smith | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:38:14

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a fascinating conversation with Aileen Gemma Smith the CEO at Vizalytics Technology Incorporated. Aileen Gemma tells us a bit about her very varied background from English Literature to Allied Health to data analytics, and how she became interested in the Smart City and Community space. We discuss why it's so important to understand the needs of all users so we can better deliver services to our community, and how data can help do us do this. Aileen Gemma also tells us how she sees Australia embracing Smart Concepts and some of the projects she's working on right now, including with Transport NSW. We then discuss the power of having executive buy in and support to empower and enable teams to do things differently, and she uses the term 'fluency' to define the different and varied expertise and experiences we all have, and why we really need to be honouring and respecting our different expertise, experiences and fluencies when it comes time to integrate across disciplines. Aileen Gemma and I then have a fantastic chat about changing the narratives for emerging women leaders in tech and bringing more diversity to our conversations so we can foster inclusivity. Finally, we finish our conversation discussing the lack of awareness about how much context matters when it comes to AI and machine learning, and the need for far more tech and data literacy across the board. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Aileen via LinkedIn or on Twitter @aileengemma Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Smart Mobility Lessons from Mexico City, with Pablo Lazo | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:36:08

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I had a great conversation on location in Mexico City with architect and city planner Pablo Lazo. I recorded this while I was away on my Churchill Fellowship visit to Mexico in March and I really enjoyed this conversation. If you want to hear my reflections on my visit to Mexico City, as well as the other places I visited while I was away, you should subscribe to my exclusive podcast about my Churchill Fellowship. It's exclusively for supporters on Pozible, so head to Pozible.com today, search for My Smart Community, and hit support. There's several episodes there already for you to get stuck into and hear about the various people, places and platforms I investigated as part of her Churchill Fellowship. In this episode, Pablo and I discuss his passion for cities and his interest in Smart Mobility. We really focus in on Mexico City and the opportunities and challenges the city is facing in terms of transport, urban sprawl, population and employment opportunities. We talk about the relationship between place, mobility and public health and how we can use data to better understand this relationship and provide better solutions for our communities. Pablo and I also discuss Smart Streets, and how we need to be proactive about reducing conflict between different users on our roads, plus the emerging trends of both autonomous vehicles and walkability. As always I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Nurturing Smart Regional Hubs, with Sofie Pringle | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:34:54

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I had a brilliant conversation with Sofie Pringle, a designer with a passion for creating cities and urban places that increase people's happiness and mental well-being. She is currently completing a doctorate in urban planning and design at Queensland University of Technology, focusing on the positive and negative effects that design and planning features have on user happiness and well-being. In this episode Sofie tells us about her PhD and what sparked her interest in this space, as well as why she believes there is a gap in the Smart Community conversation around the concept of happiness in the city. We also discuss sustainable urbanisation and the compact city fallacy, and why nurturing our Smart Regional Hubs is so crucial. We finish the chat discussing the emerging trend of the neuroscience research into the impact urban environments have on human brains, and how we're just not talking about that enough. As always, I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Sofie via LinkedIn or Twitter @sofie_pringle Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Where to next for Smart Cities and Communities? (Part 1) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:17:45

Zoe is back behind the mic after her Churchill Fellowship world tour so you'll start hearing her voice again at the start of the regular podcast episodes. In this episode we're doing things a little differently. Throughout this year, Zoe has asked each guests an extra question which was edited out of the regular interview: "Where to next for Smart Cities and Communities?" In this episode you are going to hear an amalgamation of a few of the answers from this year's guests. The loose theme of this episode is around the need for decision making and action on climate change: you'll hear from Don McLean from episode 102, Mark Thomas from episode 111, Lisa McLean from episode 105, Ricardo Van Leunen from episode104 And finally Chunga Cha from episode 110. All the guests agree that we need some urgent action and we need to think not just about what's happening now, but more about the long term. We need to make decisions now that may not benefit people now, but will be beneficial in the long term. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Citizenship, Democracy and Data in the Smart Community (Part 2), with Cornelia Levy-Bencheton and Mike Barlow | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:32:27

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, we hear part 2 of Zoe's interview with Cornelia Levy-Bencheton and Mike Barlow. In Part 2, which is the previous episode, Zoe and Mike and Cornelia discussed the power of Smart Communities to engage citizens which can lead to a more effective and empowered democracy. They also shared how they see the US embracing the Smart City space and gave some great examples of some Smart concepts being implemented there. If you haven't yet listened to Part 1 of this interview, go and do that before listening to this episode. In Part 2, Cornelia and Mike tell us about their book, "Smart Cities, Smart Futures: Showcasing Tomorrow." And about some of the projects that they're working on right now. They cover the future of work and the opportunities and challenges that come from the range of generations in the work force right now. Zoe, Mike and Cornelia also discuss blockchain and the concept of data as labour, and why Smart Cities and Smart Communities need to be part of Smart Regions in order for them to be good for Smart People that live there. So we pick up Part 2 of this conversation where the previous episode left off, talking about the need for transparency and citizen engagement in Smart Cities to avoid backlash from the community. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Cornelia on LinkedIn or on Twitter @bencheton Connect with Mike on LinkedIn or on Twitter @mike7pilot Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Citizenship, Democracy and Data in the Smart Community (Part 1), with Cornelia Levy-Bencheton and Mike Barlow | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:33:36

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, Zoe has a fascinating and really great conversation with Cornelia Levy-Bencheton and Mike Barlow, the authors of the book "Smart Cities, Smart Futures: Showcasing Tomorrow." Cornelia and Mike tell us about their backgrounds and how they became so passionate about the Smart City and Smart Community space. They share with us their desire to educate and inspire people about these concepts so that we can collectively be more engaged citizens, have a more effective and empowered democracy, and solve problems both big and small in our communities, cities, countries and the world. Cornelia and Mike share examples of Smart Concepts being used in real places, why being engaged citizens is so important, and what they see as the six facets of a Smart City. This was a longer interview that usual, so we've split the conversation into two parts. You will hear Part 1 today and stay tuned for part 2. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Cornelia on LinkedIn or on Twitter @bencheton Connect with Mike on LinkedIn or on Twitter @mike7pilot Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 The power of local champions in Smart Regions, with Heath Raftery | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:29:57

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, Zoe speaks with Heath Raftery, Head of Technology at boutique electronic product consultancy, Newie Ventures. Heath tells us about his background in computing and electrical engineering, and why the strengths and weaknesses of engineers led him to study economics, communication and human behaviour. He explains how he became interested in Smart concepts thanks to initiatives of the City of Newcastle, and how he sees Australia embracing the Smart Community space. Heath shares some of the projects he's currently working on, including the Smart Play initiative, which involves playful ways to capture, use and communicate Smart City data. Zoe and Heath then cover why integration really needs organisations being supportive of individuals being collaborative, and the emerging trend of making grass roots projects sustainable through financial as well as community support. A quick warning, the audio quality of this episode does diminish in the last few minutes of the interview, but it's very listenable and well worth it too, as it's such a great conversation about the importance of local champions in Smart Regions. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Heath via LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Putting data in the hands of people, with Flora Salim | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:25:24

In this episode, Zoe had a fantastic chat to Dr. Flora Salim, Associate Professor at the School of Computer Science and Information Technology, RMIT University. She obtained her PhD in Computer Science from Monash University and her research areas are mobile and pervasive computing, urban computing, activity and behaviour recognition, and applied data mining and machine learning for ambient intelligence. Flora shares with us how she sees Australia embracing Smart Community concepts, as well as some of the projects she's working on right now, including a foot traffic prediction app in Melbourne and a tool to help residents and tourists plan their BBQs in public parks. Zoe and Flora discuss change management and better integrating across disciplines, governments and industries. They finish their conversation discussing the emerging trend of the good things happening because of AI, the need for choice and control when it comes to our data, and the concept of algorithmic governance. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at www.mysmart.community Connect with Flora via LinkedIn and on Twitter @florsalim Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Smart Community Thinking Solving Wicked Problems, with Mark Thomas | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:26:34

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, Zoe chats with Mark Thomas, the Managing Director of Serviceworks group, an international Smart City Consultancy. Zoe and Mark discuss how council amalgamations sparked Mark's interest in the Smart City space and led to a stint in local politics, as well as how he sees New Zealand currently embracing the Smart Community concepts. Mark shares numerous great examples of how Smart Community thinking can be used to solve wicked problems and engage and empower citizens at the same time. Zoe and Mark also discuss Smart Stadiums, what we can learn from Singapore's approach to integration, and the emerging trends of Digital Twins, AI and blockchain being used in cities. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Mark on LinkedIn and on Twitter @markthomasnz or email him at Mark@serviceworks.co.nz Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Smarter and greener without overinvesting, with Chungha Cha | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:47:35

In this epsiode of the Smart Communtiy Podcast, Zoe has a fascinting conversation with Chunga Cha, the Co-founder and Chair of the Re-Imagining Cities Foundation. Zoe and Cha discuss his background in finance and how he became passionate about Smart Communities, plus some of the organisations he works with around the world. Cha tells us how he thinks Korea is currently embracing Smart concepts, projects he's currently working on, and why accelerating Smart Communities is the most effective way to positively influence whole cities and regions. They discuss the gaps and the greenwashing that can exist between different disciplines, and some ideas for better integration. Zoe and Cha finish their chat discussing the emerging trend of overwhelm in the face of the urgent climate crisis, and why we need financial arguments, not just people- or planted-focused arguments, in order to achieve true sustainable solutions. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Cha on LinkedIn or via the Reminagining Cities Website Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

 Evidence-based, adaptable and iterative approaches to planning and design, with Prugya Maini | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:30:57

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, Zoe has a great chat with Prugya Maini, an urban ist with a background in planning and design. Prugya tells us how evidence-based planning frameworks, or lack thereof, sparked her interest in the Smart City space, and why we need more adaptability and iterative approaches. Zoe and Prugya discuss how Australia is embracing Smart concepts, as well as the need for upskilling and knowledge sharing to address the current skills gaps. Prugya shares how important it is to speak with and actually listen to people from other disciplines, as well as the power of open mindedness and high trust, high respect environments for sparking innovation and creating integration. They finish their conversation discussing trends of accountability, adaptability and the relationship between failure and innovation. As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Prugya on LinkedIn Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod

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