🗣 The floor is yours

A short special edition about the Cities in Mind feedback survey. What you like, what you'd like to see and which topics you think will matter. Issue #22

Mar 09, 2022

Happy Wednesday everyone!

As promised, in today’s issue, I’ll share some of the results of the Cities in Mind feedback survey. Thanks to all of you who joined it.

The survey aimed at getting your opinion on the newsletter & podcast, and your views on the topics you think will matter for cities in the coming years. The survey will remain open till the end of March in case you want to react to what you’ll see below. You can join it here.

I enjoyed reading your suggestions of topics and trends. Definitely new materials for me to explore in the coming weeks. Stay tuned, some of the ideas you mentioned are already in the pipeline of future contributions.

First things first, what is you overall impression of Cities in Mind?

What do you like the most in the newsletter/podcast? (selection)

Interactive interviews, selected speakers and thematic.
The diversity of topics around a clear theme: cities. The links to other posts on a topic.
Quality of writing & sourcing.
Focus on Asia is really interesting given the unique character of a lot of rapidly developing markets, and quickly urbanising city centers.
Entertaining. Uses a good angle on urban design issues to create an entertaining story.
The approach to the topics are interesting and nuanced, they add something new to the conversation.
Personality :) informative but relatable.
Clear, easy to process concepts with hands-on testimonials. Just the right amount of material at once.
Proper pace, good sound quality and most importantly great casts about interesting topics.
Current. Informative. Focused on Asia.

What are the topics that you found the most interesting?

Which topics you think should be covered in the newsletter? (selection)

Urban AI and Panoptic. Circular Economy, Blue Economy.
Digital twins, circular economy, culture in cities.
Different business models to build infrastructure/ housing / transportation.
How urban governance structures impact urban policies.
Urban play and recreation. More about retail, markets and commercial "spaces". Transformation. Realistic development in less developed countries and/or regions.
Consumer choices and the city; energy and housing, accessibility, making tactical urbanism permanent, slow-car zones, what’s going on with the Hyperloop.
Mobility-as-a-service, climate change, balance between tech/disruption and policies in cities.
Explore controversies, eg smart IT solutions vs low-tech nature-based ones.
Exploring new planning and design ideas with architects/master planners/developers. Flooding. Urban heat island effect.
Planned cities across Asia - Nusantara: Indonesia’s new capital, Amaravati: India’s Andhra Pradesh’s new capital.

Which topics you think will matter for cities in the coming years? (selection)

Free energy generation (Nikola Tesla’s dream).
Decarbonisation, Circular Cities, Digital Cities.
Construction startups like Katerra or The Boring Company : scams or stars ?
Real impacts of the Metaverse.
Localised development. Realistic policies and actions on affordable housing. Changing lifestyles and living patterns. Generational change.
E-bikes as a serious form of transportation, co-housing and multi-generation housing (all from a European perspective but lots to learn from Asia).
Embracing the circular economy and a new aesthetic for buildings. No longer new and shiny but perhaps embracing a more "worn in" look.
VR, micropayments, mental health/anxiety, diversity and spontaneity in urban design.
Moving less since the pandemic: is that going to be a permanent shift so planning cities will be radically different? Moving less: from a society to uniform communities not mixing with others.
The future of working remotely and how it impacts cities.
Migration and demographics.
The need to adapt cities to climate change and biodiversity loss, beyond greenwashing speeches.