Hi #SmartCommunity friends, welcome back to the Smart Community podcast. In this episode, I have a great conversation with Samuel Austin. Sam is an Urban Planner, Community Engagement Specialist and Placemaker, and also the NSW Young Planner of the Year 2022. In this episode, Sam tells us about his background in urban city planning, and his interest and passion for the relationship between people and place. We talk about the role data plays in planning and analysis of how people are using spaces, and Sam tells us about his work on the neon grid and nighttime economy strategy for Sydney. Sam an ..read more

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! Welcome back to another episode of the Smart Community Podcast. In this episode I have a fascinating conversation with Dr. Michaela Musilova, an astrobiologist, speaker, analog astronaut and author. Michaela has been conducting space-related research at institutions around the world and was the Director of HI-SEAS and Commander of over 30 simulated missions to the Moon and Mars, in collaboration with NASA, ESA and many international organizations. She is currently a visiting Professor at the Slovak University of Technology, Global Faculty at the International Space ..read more

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, welcome back to the Smart Community Podcast. This month we are highlighting Smart Regions with two fantastic guests. If you haven’t yet listened to our interview with Tim Neale in the last episode, I definitely recommend listening to it after this one. In this episode, I have a wonderful chat with repeat guest and Queensland Chief Entrepreneur, Julia Spicer. We first had Julia on the podcast way back in Episode 152, which was in January 2020. (The beforetimes!) In this episode, Julia and I discuss what a Smart Community means for her and what has changed for Queensl ..read more

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, welcome back to the Smart Community Podcast and this month we are highlighting Smart Regions with two fantastic guests. First up is Tim Neale, the co-founder and Managing Director of agtech company DataFarming. We first had Tim on the podcast in Episode 308 in August 2022. Then we featured Tim again in our recent Summer Series so we knew we had to get him back on the podcast. In this episode, we get a little update from Tim about what he’s been up to since we last spoke. We talk about how much and how fast satellite technology is improving and the many ways the data ..read more

Hi #smartcommunityfriends! I’m back with another bonus episode of the Smart Community Podcast sharing various guests answers to the question, ‘Where to next with Smart Cities and Communities?” And this time I’m sharing with you the answers from these guests:  Dan Barr from Episode 330 Jessica Coldrey from Episode 332 Bonnie Shaw from Episode 333 Mike Day from Episode 334 Michael Wanyama from Episode 335 Being the end of our Mobility March series, there’s a strong mobility theme, particularly with ideas for transport and town planning and policy decisions that impact all our communities ..read more

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, and welcome to our second Mobility March episode! In this episode of the Smart Community podcast, I have a brilliant conversation with Michael Wanyama. Michael and I met at Smart City World Expo in Barcelona in November 2022 where his company Auto Safety Uganda won the Innovation Category of the World Smart City Award. In this episode Michael and I discuss his background in IT and automatic technology and why he’s so passionate about happy, healthy and inclusive communities. Michael tells us about the context in Kampala, Uganda, why it’s the best tourist destination ..read more

Hi #SmartCommunity Friends and welcome to Mobility March! This month I have 2 great episodes for you all about the theme of mobility. In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I have a great chat with Mike Day from integrated planning, design and placemaking practice Hatch RobertsDay. Mike tells us about his background in town planning and why he is so passionate about shaping neighbourhoods and making better places for humans and nature. We have a great discussion about his aversion to the term Smart and the importance of long-term thinking in building sustainable, connected and liveabl ..read more

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, welcome to this bonus episode of the podcast! We will be kicking off Mobility March next week but this week I wanted to share this fantastic conversation I had with Bonnie Shaw. Bonnie is co-founder of Place Intelligence, a geo-AI startup focused on democratising access to big data to support evidence based design, policy and decision making. She has a varied background in landscape architecture, urban design and game design and in her role as the Smart City Practice Lead at the City of Melbourne, Bonnie helped to establish and lead Australia’s first (and multi-awar ..read more

Hi #SmartCommunity friends! In this episode I have a great chat with return guest Jess Coldrey. Now we first had Jess on the podcast back in Episode 258, which was released in October 2021. But more recently we re-shared that episode as part of our Summer Series and promised to have her back for an update, so here it is! In this episode Jess and I talk about what she’s been up to in the last 18 months, including doing her Masters of Humanitarian Engineering in the UK. She tells us what Humanitarian Engineering is, and what a Smart Community means to her. We discuss the power of having differen ..read more

Hi #SmartCommunity friends and welcome to this very special bonus episode to celebrate the Smart Community Podcast’s 5th Birthday! Our Podcast Producer Ellen Ronalds Keene jumps into the host seat to interview Zoe about the history of the podcast, the ways it has changed Zoe’s life and the impact it has had on others. Ellen and Zoe discuss the network effect of the podcast and the ways the Smart space has matured over the last 5 years. Zoe shares why she is excited about seeing Smart being embedded in boring government processes, and the opportunities and challenges of the ‘collision of profes ..read more