Architectural Democracy

August 28, 2024
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Helsinki built its 1st skyscraper but wants to be carbon free by 2035, Dubai imports all its sand from Australia to build its skyscrapers, the concrete for your house starts to decay after 30 years, and it has been a democracy, not a dictatorship, who has just built the biggest statue ever of a man, in India.

The kind of people we want to be is the kind of cities we should be designing for. So who decides about that and our future? Is this a science? For whom are we designing the city? Who owns my city? 

Join us in the Architectural Democracy podcast, where we will take a critical look at these matters so that you can re-discover your own city and be a real part of it.

Architectural Democracy is a monthly podcast hosted by Pedro Aibéo with rotating guests, produced and airing at the Helsinki Open Waves, at Caisa, in Helsinki, Finland. 

Kaisa Schmidt-Thomé is based at Demos Helsinki as a Leading Researcher, focusing on Urban Transformations. She works also with cities and urban regions on sustainability transitions and social inclusion.

With her background in Geography (University of Helsinki) and Land Use Planning (Aalto University) she is a generalist–urbanist who has published among others on participatory urban planning and the power of civic engagement.

She holds the title of a Docent, i.e, Adjunct Professor, in Strategic Planning for Urban Sustainability at Tampere University. Recently Kaisa has been working on, e.g., the Sustainable City programme (co-ordinated by the Ministry of the Environment in Finland) and several Horizon Europe projects, such as CommuniCityNetZeroCitiesand Regions4Climate.


Credits
Producers and Hosts: Pedro Aibéo and Mark Linder
Guest: Kaisa Schmidt-Thomé
Sound recording and editing: Bailey Polkinghorne

*The audio piece was recorded and edited at the Helsinki Open Waves performance & recording room located at Caisa.

**The views expressed in this audio piece and texts are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the view of Helsinki Open Waves.  

***If you have any feedback regarding the content of the podcast, please contact us via helsinkiopenwaves@gmail.com

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