Architectural Democracy

April 26, 2023
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Episode 4

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. 

The guest of the fourth episode is Mark Linder. Mark is co-founder of both N2 Comms, remembered for campaigning for a Tesla gigafactory in Vaasa and against early children’s smartphone use. More recently he co-founded Amöl Projects to improve the communication of deep technologies  

More relevant to this podcast for the past year Mark has been contracted to and working in Neom, the ambitious megaproject aiming to create a new economic and residential zone in Northwest Saudi Arabia. Mark’s role was to frame the project to increase international involvement from the construction industry.

Mark has a background in infrastructure stakeholder positioning and engagement. He has worked in onshore natural gas in the UK (suspended indefinitely) with the Venezuelan national oil company PDVSA (production has declined mercilessly), with the development of tidal lagoons on the west coast of the UK (labelled a green white elephant). He is closely involved in Finland’s TAKT movement, the (long overdue)application of Lean production methods to construction. Mark is also an active partner at the Architectural Democracy group.

Credits

Producer & Host: Pedro Aibéo
Guests: Mark Linder
Sound recording, editing & live streaming: Bailey Polkinghorne

*The audio piece was recorded 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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