Maria Vassilakou: Leading the Livable City Revolution
Maria Vassilakou, internationally recognized urban transformation expert and former Vice Mayor of Vienna, joins The Century of Cities. Drawing on her decade of leadership in Vienna, Maria explores how cities can balance livability, affordability, and sustainability while safeguarding democracy itself. From reimagining housing as a human right to redefining livability through a child's eyes, Maria shares an inspiring vision of cities designed for every generation. She reflects on the crossroads we now face, between inclusive, decarbonized, and democratic urban futures or divided "bubble cities" defined by inequality and disconnection. Through stories of community innovation, social housing, and small-scale empowerment, Maria reminds us that transformation begins with leadership, and sometimes, with just 40 people moving together in the same direction.
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Francesca Froy: Rebuilding Urban Complexity
Francesca Froy, Lecturer in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Kellogg College, joins us on The Century of Cities. Francesca explores how cities evolve as living, complex systems, shaped by design, policy, and the countless small, interconnected decisions made every day. She argues that to build sustainable cities of the future, we must learn from the past: valuing walkability, connectivity, and human interaction over technological quick fixes. Rather than controlling cities from the top down, she calls for policymakers to observe, steward, and harness the natural complexity already at work, allowing cities to evolve intelligently on their own terms.
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Henrietta Moore & Arthur Kay: The True Cost of Cars
The Century of Cities welcomes Henrietta Moore, Founder and Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity, and Arthur Kay, Senior Advisor at Innovo Group and board member at Transport for London. Together, they unpack their new book Roadkill: Unveiling the True Cost of Our Toxic Relationship with Cars, a powerful exploration of how our dependence on cars shapes our health, cities, and future. From the exponential rise in global car ownership since 1980 to the ripple effects on climate, inequality, and urban design, Henrietta and Arthur reveal how car culture has quietly become one of the most expensive and destructive addictions of our time. They share examples from Los Angeles to Lagos, Dallas to Delhi, showing how communities are reclaiming streets, re-imagining mobility, and redefining freedom in urban life. As we look toward 2080, they challenge us to imagine cities built not around vehicles, but around people, where prosperity is measured not by how fast we drive, but by how freely we move.
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Vera Bukachi: Designing Dignity in Nairobi's Urban Future
In the episode of The Century of Cities, we are joined by Vera Bukachi, Executive Director and Managing Principal of the Kounkuey Design Initiative in Nairobi. Vera has spent two decades at the intersection of climate adaptation, urban resilience, and community-led design, championing dignity, equity, and collaboration in the built environment. Tracing Nairobi's transformation from its post-colonial roots to today's "Silicon Savannah," she reflects on the city's rapid growth, its deep inequalities, and the quiet power of local innovation. Vera argues that informality need not mean indignity and that resilience begins when communities, governments, and designers work together to create spaces that honour lived realities. Vera envisions African cities that thrive through dignity by design, where inclusion, innovation, and justice are woven into every street and public space.
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Patrick Cobbinah: Decolonizing Urban Planning in Africa's Next Century
Patrick Cobbinah, Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne, joins The Century of Cities to reimagine the future of African urbanism through a decolonized lens. Drawing on his work across Ghana and the Global South, Patrick shares how colonial planning systems still shape land use, governance, and inequality today, and why genuine progress depends on embracing bottom-up, citizen-led approaches to city-building. He argues that Africa's growing youth population, rising education levels, and rapid urbanization present a once-in-a-century opportunity to redefine how cities evolve. From rethinking informality as a strength to integrating indigenous knowledge into urban planning, Patrick envisions a future where governance is transparent, communities are empowered, and cities are built with people, not just for them.
Welcome to The Century of Cities, a captivating journey fueled by curiosity into humanity's most profound transformation: urban evolution. By 2100, 10 billion people will live in over 10,000 cities. What shape will that world take? This 100-episode series explores the forces driving this shift through illuminating interviews and compelling stories, revealing how cities can lead us toward a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient world.
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