In this episode of Inclusive Urban Futures, we had the honour to interview Professor Amira Osman, a Sudanese/South African Professor of Architecture at the Tshwane University of Technology and the 70th President of The South African Institute of Architects (SAIA). What is the most inspiring about Professor Osman’s work is her unshakable commitment to building inclusion in some of the most challenging places in the world where in her words, 'separation in the built environment was enginee...

Understanding the dimensions, ramifications and dynamics of systematic exclusion and discrimination is fundamental to raising awareness about it, educating about it, changing culture, and most importantly, addressing it. As painful as exclusion is, understanding it and deconstructing it is a fundamental first step if we are to move towards inclusive futures. Inclusive Urban Future was honoured to interview NGO Monitor Vice President Olga Deutsch. A leader in her own right Olga Deutsch is...

Our collective ideas and aspirations touch the ground and are cast in stone through urban design, planning and real estate development. The question of whether we are building inclusive urban futures or not is answered then and there and decided for generations. This question is critical in peacetime but even more so in the aftermath of an armed conflict. The Inclusive Urban Future was delighted to interview Dr Haris Piplas, Senior Consultant, Co-Directing Urban Design and Planning Initi...

Ideas and policies are as good as their implementation. There may not be a policy sphere where this is truer than in the cities' pursuits of inclusive urban futures. The poly-crisis the world has been exposed to since 2020 has exacerbated inequalities across people and places, especially in large cities, where vulnerable groups such as migrants, the poor, women, and the elderly, among other population groups, were hit hard. As a response to the growing gap between the rich and the p...

The world of scientific research and education is crucial to exploring ways of inclusion and implementing it. Scientific research deepens understanding, education broadens views, but most importantly, academic institutions can act as an essential vehicles for societal transformation needed for ataining inclusive futures.To this end, Inclusive Urban Futures is honoured to launch the 2023 series with Prof. Tommaso Vitale, the Dean of the Paris Institute of Political Studies 'Sciences Po' U...

To celebrate the end of the first mini-series of the Inclusive Urban Futures podcast we have decided to expand the visions of inclusion even further, to go beyond cities and individual disciplines, to national and supranational levels of European diplomacy. To this end, we are honored to introduce our special guest Eva Srnová Diplomat at the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union in charge of the Cohesion Policy, Regional Policy, Urban Matters and Just Trans...

In this episode of Inclusive Urban Futures, we explore inclusiveness through building technology. We speak about intelligent facades and building energy with Dr Carlos Ochoa, Building Energy Senior Researcher at IERC - International Energy Research Centre in Ireland, whose scientific publications have been cited over 1000 times worldwide. The focus on building facades may seem to be narrow when regarded from a perspective of urbanization as a whole and quite remote from the notions...

In this episode of INCLUSIVE URBAN FUTURES with speak with Dr. Wiktor Szydarowski ESPON EGTC Director. The ESPON - The European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion -aims at promoting and fostering a European territorial dimension in development and cooperation by providing evidence, knowledge transfer and policy learning to public authorities and other policy actors at all levels. As part of a renewal and upgrade of ESPON for the period 2014-2020 and beyond, an E...

Today, some 55% of the world’s population – 4.2 billion inhabitants – live in cities this proportion will continue to increase rapidly to reach 70% by 2050, according to the World Bank. Urbanism and architecture are disciplines hat have a direct link and defining impact on people’s lives. The critical question that we must ask, is how to ensure cities are inclusive today and ensure inclusive urban futures tomorrow. The discussions on inclusion often focus on socio-economic aspects of people's...

COVID-19 has had far-reaching consequences for how we live, work, connect with one another as well as nature and other living things. In this episode of the Inclusive Urban Futures, we speak with Shraman Jha Director of Fund Raising, Marketing and Communications at World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF India). In 2020 Director Jha left the corporate world and dedicated his career to the common good.The mission of WWF India is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment an...

COVID-19 crisis has changed the way we use and think about our cities. In many ways, the pandemic has brought people closer together, emphasising the importance of our neighbourhoods and communities. It has changed the way we work. However, Covid- 19 has also exposed the inequality that has existed before the pandemic and raised the matters of inclusion high on the recovery agenda. These issues have a direct effect on the present and the future of urban planning and design. In this inter...

There are more than 200 million people in the world who do not live in the country of their birth, and if you are one of them you already discovered that belonging is easy as long as you are in your nation state. But what happens if you leave your country of birth for better or worse? What about belonging? Inclusion? What about those who due to dire circumstances had to leave their countries as in haste as refugees?Inclusion for migrants and refugees is one of the primordial questi...

Inclusion can take many forms and shapes. The world of work is one of them and an important one. COVID-19 crisis has changed the way we work and where we work. These trends will inevitably change the way the cities and territories are planned and built in the future. Therefore, discussing the meaning, opportunities and challenges related to inclusion in the world of work is of crucial importance when considering inclusive urban futures. In this episode, we speak with Christel Adamou (MBA...

#Inclusiverecovery, #inclusivegrowth, #diversity and #inclusion are some of the key light motives cities, organisations and businesses across the globe aspire to in recovering from the #covidー19 crisis as well as addressing equity challenges that existed well before the pandemic.But what does it mean to be #inclusive? For whom and where? How to achieve inclusion while addressing seemingly insurmountable challenges of transforming #urban #futures? Let’s be honest the term inclusion is con...