Welcome to the Urban Resilience Dialogues Podcast
A podcast to explore key themes for urban resilience practitioners, researchers and policy makers
What is it?
From failure to power, from collaboration to money, from participation to equity, this podcast will poke and provoke conversation about key themes we need to address as urban resilience practitioners, researchers and policy makers. After each episode, we’ll host an open Zoom conversation where we hope to dig deeper into the topic, reflect together and start identifying experiments and actions to shift our practices.
Why a podcast?
As the pandemic is unfolding we’re finding our compass arrows turned upside down. We’re having to navigate change and uncertainty at all levels — from the very personal to the structural and societal. And yet, we’re seeing that this shock is by no means a “great leveller” as people and communities are affected disproportionately. At a societal level, we’re better geared to respond to shocks, such as this pandemic, then we are to mobilise in swift responses to stressors such as inequality or climate change.
Urban resilience has never seemed more vital, but we’re lacking spaces to pause and reflect on what really works and what really doesn’t and to dig deeper into the tricky topics that we usually discuss on the sidelines of official events, conferences or other gatherings. With most event being moved online, we’ve been overwhelmed by the volume of urban resilience webinars and conferences. Although these are valuable contributions, we’re sensing there is a gap in facilitated dialogues and smaller scale spaces for discussion and connection. Here we want to create a safe space for honest conversations and discussion based on experience and practice.
Who are we?
This podcast is hosted by Chiara Tomaselli and Corina Angheloiu.
Chiara is an urban planning and resilience specialist, currently working as a consultant. Her work experience and academic background, in both geography and law, gives her a multifaceted basis to address contemporary urban issues. Before joining the private sector she worked for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) developing tools and engaging with governments and local authorities to analyse urban dynamics and plan accordingly.
Corina is a strategist, researcher and facilitator. Originally trained as architect, she is Principal Design Strategist for the global sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future, where she coaches initiatives and organisations tackling systemic challenges — from ocean plastics to urban adaptation. In parallel, she’s a PhD candidate in the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College, where she investigates the role of systems approaches in bridging knowledge — implementation gaps in urban resilience.
It goes without saying that the views we express here are our own.
How can you get involved?
This is an experiment and we’re inviting you to take part and co-create this with us. Our plans are to schedule a monthly recurring slot on Zoom. In the first part, we’ll be in conversation with one guest speaker to explore a question regarding urban resilience. In the second part we’ll be opening the floor for conversation through an adapted fishbowl method — or depending on numbers, we’ll be splitting in smaller, random groups. While the first part of the conversation will be recorded and edited down as a podcast, the second part will follow Chatham House rules and will not be recorded.
You can get involved in the following ways:
- Follow this publication and sign up to our newsletter where we’ll share what’s coming up and a short, curated reading list. No spam, we promise.
- Put yourself forward as guest speaker. Are you an urban resilience researcher, practitioner or policy maker? Do you have a question or challenge you want to explore? Drop us a line at the email below.
