Best Sustainable Urban Development Practices Podcasts (2025)

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Molly-Claire Gillett, "Irish Lacemaking: Art, Industry and Cultural Practice" (Bloomsbury, 2025) 1:04:13

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8m ago1:04:13

1:04:13

Following the career of the Irish lace designer and inspector Emily Anderson (1856-1948), Irish Lacemaking: Art, Industry and Cultural Practice (Bloomsbury, 2025) by Dr. Molly-Claire Gillett traces a network of designers, makers, organizations and institutions involved in the late-19th and early-20th-century Irish lace industry and explores their c…

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#707 Using Artificial Intelligence to Empower Public Servants with Jorge Valens, Miami-Dade County, FL 50:36

4h ago50:36

50:36

AI meets local government. Jorge Valens, Innovation Manager for Miami-Dade County, FL, joined the podcast to talk about the opportunities artificial intelligence represents for local government organizations and his recent article on the topic. He talked about how these tools can improve the efficiency of subject matter experts and allow organizati…

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Celina Su, "Budget Justice: On Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities" (Princeton UP, 2025) 35:32

5d ago35:32

35:32

Amid political repression and a deepening affordability crisis, Budget Justice: On Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities (Princeton UP, 2025) challenges everything you thought you knew about “dull” and daunting government budgets. It shows how the latter confuse and mislead the public by design, not accident. Arguing that they are moral doc…

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Maddalena Alvi, "The European Art Market and the First World War: Art, Capital, and the Decline of the Collecting Class, 1910–1925" (Cambridge UP, 2025) 1:00:08

5d ago1:00:08

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The outbreak of the First World War shattered the established European art market. Amidst fighting, looting, confiscations, expropriation fears and political and economic upheaval, an integrated marketplace shaped by upper-class patrons broke down entirely. In its place, Maddalena Alvi argues, can be found the origins of a recognizably modern marke…

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Megan Tobias Neely, "Hedged Out: Inequality and Insecurity on Wall Street" (U California Press, 2022) 1:01:57

6d ago1:01:57

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In Hedged Out: Inequality and Insecurity on Wall Street (U California Press, 2022) Megan Tobias Neely, a former hedge fund worker takes an ethnographic approach to hedge funds. Manager? A greedy fraudster, a visionary entrepreneur, a wolf of Wall Street? She gives readers an insider perspective on the phenomenon. Facing an unpredictable and risky s…

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Mike Bird, "The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset" (Penguin, 2025) 51:28

8d ago51:28

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In The Land Trap (Portfolio / Penguin), Mike Bird—Wall Street editor at The Economist—reveals how this ancient asset still exerts outsize influence over the modern world. From the speculative land grabs of colonial America to China's real estate crisis today, Bird shows how fortunes are built—and destroyed—on the bedrock of land. Tracing three cent…

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#706 Maintaining Good Government During Transitions with Jessica Carrero, East Hartford, CT 40:50

7d ago40:50

40:50

Jessica Carrero, Operations Project Manager for the Town of East Hartford, Connecticut joined the podcast to discuss project management and ensuring operations continue when organizations go through changes. She shared her experience during mayoral transitions, how standard operating procedures helped her succeed during those transitions, and how t…

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Kathryn Chelminski, "Governing Energy Transitions: A Study of Regime Complex Effectiveness on Geothermal Development in Indonesia and the Philippines" (Cambridge UP, 2025) 55:30

10d ago55:30

55:30

As the world moves with increasing urgency to mitigate climate change and catalyze energy transitions to net zero, understanding the governance mechanisms that will unlock barriers to energy transitions is of critical importance. Governing Energy Transitions: A Study of Regime Complex Effectiveness on Geothermal Development in Indonesia and the Phi…

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Jack Wertheimer, "Jewish Giving: Philanthropy and the Shaping of American Jewish Life" (NYU Press, 2025) 1:00:38

12d ago1:00:38

1:00:38

The American Jewish philanthropic enterprise is unparalleled in scope, dynamism, and the diversity of funders and the causes they support. Yet even as Jewish giving has been largely successful in responding with alacrity to emergencies, it has been subjected to severe criticism. What once was regarded as a point of pride has become the object of sc…

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GP 54: Upskilling Local Government: with Pooja Agrawal of Public Practice 40:01

7d ago40:01

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In this powerful episode of the Grow Places Podcast, Tom Larsson speaks with Pooja Agrawal, co-founder and CEO of Public Practice, a pioneering not-for-profit that places built environment professionals into local government roles to drive meaningful change. Pooja shares her journey from growing up in Mumbai to becoming a passionate advocate for pu…

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David Silkenat, "Scars on the Land: An Environmental History of Slavery in the American South" (Oxford UP, 2022) 1:04:47

14d ago1:04:47

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They worked Virginia's tobacco fields, South Carolina's rice marshes, and the Black Belt's cotton plantations. Wherever they lived, enslaved people found their lives indelibly shaped by the Southern environment. By day, they plucked worms and insects from the crops, trod barefoot in the mud as they hoed rice fields, and endured the sun and humidity…

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Thomas Haigh on the History of “AI” as a Brand 1:42:06

5d ago1:42:06

1:42:06

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Thomas Haigh, Professor and Chair of History and affiliate of the Department of Computer Science at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, about his forthcoming book on the history of artificial intelligence. The book, which has had the working title _Artificial Intelligence: The History of a Brand_ with th…

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E4 S15: Stories That Shape Change – Freelancing in Global Development 1:05:48

2h ago1:05:48

1:05:48

Ever wondered what it looks like to blend storytelling, journalism, and global development into a dynamic career? This episode of the Social Change Career Podcast features Emma Smith, a freelance journalist whose bylines include Devex, The New Humanitarian, and The Guardian, interviewed by host Craig Zelizer. Emma shares her journey from Scottish c…

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#705 Increasing Representation with Amber Cabrera and Maylee De Jesús, Local Government Hispanic Network 56:48

12d ago56:48

56:48

Amber Cabrera. Senior Assistant to the City Manager for City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Maylee De Jesús, City Clerk for the City of Boynton Beach, Florida joined to podcast to discuss increasing representation in local government. They shared recent efforts they have worked on for Latinos in Florida Local Government, advice for the next genera…

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Anny Gaul, "Nile Nightshade: An Egyptian Culinary History of the Tomato" (U California Press, 2025) 57:57

18d ago57:57

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By the end of the twentieth century, the tomato—indigenous to the Americas—had become Egypt's top horticultural crop and a staple of Egyptian cuisine. The tomato brought together domestic consumers, cookbook readers, and home cooks through a shared culinary culture that sometimes transcended differences of class, region, gender, and ethnicity—and s…

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Maria Bach, "Relocating Development Economics: The First Generation of Modern Indian Economists" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 33:59

19d ago33:59

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Originating in the Nineteenth Century, the European idea of development was shaped around the premise that the West possessed progressive characteristics that the East lacked. As a result of this perspective, many alternative development discourses originating in the East were often overlooked and forgotten. Indian Economics is but one example. By …

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Jimmy Wales with Dan Gardner, "The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last" (Crown Currency, 2025) 50:07

20d ago50:07

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In my interview with Jimmy Wales, father of Wikipedia, we celebrate his new book, The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last (Crown Currency Publishing, 2025). We talk about how the book came about, how Wikipedia took flight, and how the challenges of maintaining trust and preserving neutrality shape the key to Wikipedia's …

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Michael McCulloch, "Building a Social Contract: Modern Workers’ Houses in Early Twentieth-Century Detroit" (Temple UP, 2023) 56:25

22d ago56:25

56:25

The dream of the modern worker’s house emerged in early twentieth-century America as wage earners gained access to new, larger, and better-equipped dwellings. Building a Social Contract: Modern Workers’ Houses in Early Twentieth-Century Detroit (Temple UP, 2023) is a cogent history of the houses those workers dreamed of and labored for. Dr. Michael…

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#704 Development and Customer Service with JC Hudgison, Tampa, FL 51:04

15d ago51:04

51:04

JC Hudgison, Chief Building Official for the City of Tampa, Florida rejoined the podcast to discuss development, technology, and process improvement. He talked about how the City responded to and has been recovering from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in 2024. He shared how the City has worked to improve customer service through process impr…

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Chris Yogerst, "The Warner Brothers" (UP of Kentucky, 2023) 1:07:36

24d ago1:07:36

1:07:36

One of the oldest and most recognizable studios in Hollywood, Warner Bros. is considered a juggernaut of the entertainment industry. Since its formation in the early twentieth century, the studio has been a constant presence in cinema history, responsible for the creation of acclaimed films, blockbuster brands, and iconic superstars. In The Warner …

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Meg Bernhard, "Wine" (Bloomsbury, 2023) 58:37

15d ago58:37

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Today I talked to Meg Bernhard about her new book Wine (Bloomsbury, 2023). Agricultural product and cultural commodity, drink of ritual and drink of addiction, purveyor of pleasure, pain, and memory - wine has never been contained in a single glass. Drawing from science, religion, literature, and memoir, Wine meditates on the power structures bound…

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Sabrina Mittermeier, "Fan Phenomena: Disney" (Intellect Books, 2023) 54:14

24d ago54:14

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Sabrina Mittermeier's edited volume Fan Phenomena: Disney (Intellect Books, 2023) analyzes the fandom of Disney brands across a variety of media including film, television, novels, stage productions, and theme parks. It showcases fan engagement such as cosplay, fan art, and on social media, as well as the company’s reaction to it. Further, the volu…

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Fahad Ahmad Bishara, "Monsoon Voyagers: An Indian Ocean History" (U California Press, 2025) 45:10

25d ago45:10

45:10

In 1924, the Al-A‘waj, also known as the Crooked, set sail from Kuwait on a trading journey around the Persian Gulf, through the Strait of Hormuz, to Western India and, eventually, back to the Gulf. Dhows had sailed this route for centuries—and would continue to sail it for a few more decades still. Fahad Ahmad Bishara talks about this specific 192…

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Lauren E. M. Everett, "Fortunate People in a Fortunate Land: At Home in Santa Monica's Rent-Controlled Housing" (Temple UP, 2025) 49:42

26d ago49:42

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Rent control and other tenant protections have profound and positive impacts on individuals’ and communities’ lives. Dr. Lauren Everett’s Fortunate People in a Fortunate Land: At Home in Santa Monica’s Rent-Controlled Housing (Temple UP, 2025) shows how rent control impacts the lives of the renters themselves. Dr. Everett interviews residents about…

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GP 53: Architecture for Real Life: Over 35 Years of Stories with Paul Monaghan of AHMM 38:54

27d ago38:54

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How do you actually deliver a school, an office, or a housing block and turn it into something extraordinary? In this episode, Tom Larsson speaks with Paul Monaghan, co-founder of AHMM, about a career spent designing buildings that shape everyday life and the people behind them. With warmth, honesty, and a quiet determination, Paul reflects on the …

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Amy Hughes, "An Actor's Tale: Theater, Culture, and Everyday Life in the Nineteenth-Century United States" (U Michigan Press, 2025) 1:04:14

28d ago1:04:14

1:04:14

Harry Watkins was no one special. During a career that spanned four decades, this nineteenth-century actor yearned for fame but merely skirted the edges of it. He performed alongside the brightest stars, wrote scores of plays, and toured the United States and England, but he never became a household name. Inspired by this average performer’s life a…

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Verena Halsmayer on Managing Growth in Miniature: Solow’s Model as an Artifact 1:22:06

28d ago1:22:06

1:22:06

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, chats with Verena Halsmeyer, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Vienna, about her recent, award-winning book, Managing Growth in Miniature: Solow’s Model as an Artifact. The book explores the history of the way economists think about growth, including the role of technological change in it. It focuses on t…

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#703 Staying Authentic with Aarón Zavala, Pleasanton, CA 45:05

24d ago45:05

45:05

Aarón Zavala, Assistant to the City Manager for the City of Pleasanton, California joined the podcast to discuss his role with the City. He talked about the work he does for the City and his career goals moving forward. He also shared how he remains authentic to himself as he serves the public. Host: Lauren Palmer…

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Emily Callaci, "Wages for Housework: The Feminist Fight Against Unpaid Labor" (Seal Press, 2025) 46:07

1M ago46:07

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Across the globe in the 1970s, a network of feminists distilled their struggles into a single demand: Wages for Housework! Today, it remains a provocative idea, and an unfulfilled promise. In Wages for Housework: The Story of a Movement, an Idea, a Promise (Penguin/Seal Press 2025), historian Emily Callaci tells the story of this campaign by explor…

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Christina Jerne, "Opposition by Imitation: The Economics of Italian Anti-Mafia Activism" (U Minnesota Press, 2025) 56:40

1M ago56:40

56:40

For more than 150 years, Italy has been home to a resilient and evolving resistance against the pervasive influence of mafias. While these criminal organizations are renowned for their vast international business enterprises, the collective actions taken to oppose them are less known. In Opposition by Imitation: The Economics of Italian Anti-Mafia …

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Carl Benedikt Frey, "How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations" (Princeton UP, 2025) 54:29

1M ago54:29

54:29

In How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations (Princeton University Press, 2025), Carl Benedikt Frey challenges the conventional belief that economic and technological progress is inevitable. For most of human history, stagnation was the norm, and even today progress and prosperity in the world's largest, most advanced econo…

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Vanessa S. Williamson, "The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History" (Basic Books, 2025) 53:49

1M ago53:49

53:49

Americans have always fought over the meaning of freedom and equality. What is not commonly recognized is that the battles most pivotal in defining our democracy, from the framing of the Constitution to the decades-long backlash to the civil rights movement, hinged on one issue—taxes. In The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation i…

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E3 S15 Construyendo carreras de impacto regenerativo desde el territorio 54:38

30d ago54:38

54:38

En este episodio especial, Craig Zelizer conversa con Johana Hoyos, líder, docente e investigadora colombiana, sobre su inspiradora trayectoria en el desarrollo de proyectos de sostenibilidad, equidad e innovación social en algunos de los territorios más vulnerables del Sur Global. Johana comparte cómo su sensibilidad se ha convertido en su superpo…

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Thomas Piketty, "A Brief History of Equality" (Harvard UP, 2022) 28:56

1M ago28:56

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It's easy to be pessimistic about inequality. We know it has increased dramatically in many parts of the world over the past two generations. No one has done more to reveal the problem than Thomas Piketty. Now, in this surprising and powerful new work, Piketty reminds us that the grand sweep of history gives us reasons to be optimistic. Over the ce…

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Joe Allen, "The Package King: A Rank and File History of UPS" (Haymarket Books, 2020) 1:01:15

1M ago1:01:15

1:01:15

If the 20th Century was the American Century, it was also UPS's Century. Joe Allen's The Package King: A Rank and File History of UPS (‎Haymarket Books, 2020), tears down the Brown Wall surrounding one of America's most admired companies—the United Parcel Service (UPS). The company that we see everyday but know so little about. How did a company th…

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#702 The Mayor Has a Hammer and Other Poetry with Jim Schutz, JMSB Strategies 58:40

1M ago58:40

58:40

Jim Schutz, a Principal at JMSB Strategies joined the podcast to discuss his transition from a City Manager to poetry author. He shared how he decided to transition into consulting and how he got into local government poetry. Plus he talked about his favorite poem and other highlights from The Mayor Has a Hammer, a book of poetry on the everyday he…

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Pierre-Yves Donzé & Maki Umemura, "Pierre-Yves Donzé & Maki Umemura, Japan and the Great Divergence in Business History" (JESB, 2025) 32:37

1M ago32:37

32:37

For much of the late 20th century, Japanese business historians were core contributors to the global field. They published, collaborated, and shaped debates. But something shifted after 2000. Their international visibility - and participation in emerging theoretical conversations - declined. In Japan and the Great Divergence in Business History (Do…

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GP 52: UK Politics, Housing, Growth: with Kevin McKeever of Lowick Group 40:20

1M ago40:20

40:20

In this episode, Tom Larsson is joined by Kevin McKeever, Managing Director of Lowick Group, a leading strategic communications and public affairs consultancy working at the intersection of development, politics, and community. Kevin also recently co-founded Hedry, a cross-party consultancy focused on building resilience in the built environment. T…

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How Government Made the U.S. into a Manufacturing Powerhouse 1:10:28

1M ago1:10:28

1:10:28

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, talks with Colleen Dunlavy, Emeritus Professor of History at University of Wisconsin-Madison, about her recent book, Small, Medium, Large: How Government Made the U.S. Into a Manufacturing Powerhouse. Small, Medium, Large examines the crucial role that the U.S. federal government played in rationalizing and diffus…

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Joseph Stiglitz, "The Origins of Inequality" (Oxford UP, 2025) 39:47

1M ago39:47

39:47

Joseph E. Stiglitz has had a remarkable career. He is a brilliant academic, capped by sharing the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and the Nobel Peace Prize, and honorary degrees from Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and more than fifty other universities, and elected not only to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Lett…

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#701 Leading ICMA and the Roots of Professional Government with Julia Novak, ICMA 48:31

1M ago48:31

48:31

Julia Novak, the CEO and Executive Director of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), rejoined the podcast to discuss her new role at ICMA. She shared how the organization is adapting after reduced federal grants for international work. She discussed how she has engaged with members and how the Board is revamping the strategic…

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Fahad Ahmad Bishara, "Monsoon Voyagers: An Indian Ocean History" (U California Press, 2025) 1:49:59

2M ago1:49:59

1:49:59

Monsoon Voyagers follows the voyage of a single dhow (sailing vessel), the Crooked, along with its captain and crew, from Kuwait to port cities around the Persian Gulf and Western Indian Ocean, from 1924 to 1925. Through his account of the voyage, Fahad Ahmad Bishara unpacks a much broader history of circulation and exchange across the Arabian Sea …

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Charles Watkins, "Trees Ancient and Modern: Woodland Cultures and Conservation" (Reaktion, 2025) 55:02

2M ago55:02

55:02

Charles Watkins joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, Trees Ancient and Modern (Reaktion, 2025). This delightful new book explores the relationship between trees and people and reveals how people have used, valued and understood forests over time. While trees are celebrated as symbols of natural beauty, they are increasingly at risk from cli…

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William J. Glover, "Reformatting Agrararian Life: Urban History from the Countryside in Colonial India" (Stanford UP, 2025) 56:58

2M ago56:58

56:58

Reformatting Agrarian Life presents a stealth urban history from the countryside that foregrounds the mutual entanglements of agrarian and urban expertise. William J. Glover traces an essential genealogy for understanding how urbanism unexpectedly left the city in late colonial India and began to settle in agrarian space, exploring how two milieus …

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Loic De Canniere, "The Future of Employment in Africa: Demography, Labour Markets and Welfare" (Anthem, 2025) 1:07:47

2M ago1:07:47

1:07:47

The Future of Employment in Africa: Demography, Labor Markets and Welfare explores the major trends that will define the face of the sub-Saharan continent in the next three decades. The near doubling of Africa’s population by 2050 will lead to more than twenty million new job seekers entering the African labor market every year until then. Right no…

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GP 51: Place Personality: with Denz Ibrahim of Legal & General IM 47:52

2M ago47:52

47:52

In this insightful episode of the Grow Places Podcast, Tom Larsson sits down with one of the most forward-thinking voices in the UK real estate sector – Denz Ibrahim of Legal & General. As Head of Futuring & Place, Denz shares how he and his team are turning traditional development models on their head by embedding creativity, community, and custom…

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Peter McAteer, "Leading the Sustainable Organization: The Quest for Ethical Brands and a Culture of Sustainable Innovation" (Anthem Press, 2025) 1:12:37

2M ago1:12:37

1:12:37

Never before have we been presented with the prospect of redesigning business at scale to create a more sustainable future for our planet and the people who inhabit it. As we pass the midpoint of the Sustainable Development Goals (2015–2030), the world has changed. There is not only more progress and policy but also more disagreement on the way for…

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Linda Upham-Bornstein, "'Mr. Taxpayer versus Mr. Tax Spender': Taxpayers’ Associations, Pocketbook Politics, and the Law during the Great Depression" (Temple UP, 2023) 45:45

2M ago45:45

45:45

During the Great Depression, the proliferation of local taxpayers’ associations was dramatic and unprecedented. The justly concerned members of these organizations examined the operations of state, city, and county governments, then pressed local officials for operational and fiscal reforms. These associations aimed to reduce the cost of state and …

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Maxim Sytch, "The Influence Economy: Decoding Supplier-Induced Demand" (Oxford UP, 2025) 1:06:59

2M ago1:06:59

1:06:59

In The Influence Economy: Decoding Supplier-Induced Demand (Oxford UP, 2025), Maxim Sytch reveals how professional services--consulting, marketing, banking, and legal firms--create demand for unnecessary and potentially harmful products and services. Such supplier-induced demand can take many forms, including superfluous reorganizations, frivolous …

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#700 An ICMA Conference Recap, Leadership, Urban Revitalization, and Hot Wings - GovLove Island 43:24

1M ago43:24

43:24

GovLove Co-hosts Meredith and Ben were joined by several friends of the pod to recap the 2025 ICMA Conference. Tom Modica is the City Manager at the City of Long Beach, CA, April Walker is the Assistant City Manager at the City of Long Beach, CA, Jackie Wehmeyer is the Senior Director of Strategy and Intergovernmental Affairs at City of Parkland, F…