In PX107, our interview guest is Kate Hardwick an exceptional planning professional originally from Australia who now works in South East Asia. 

Kate takes the listener on a fascinating journey describing her professional career. Along the way she offers tips to those starting out and also to those seeking a new direction after a number of years in the job. 

She talks of recognising and responding to cultural variations and social norms in many different countries. Also in gaining humility and the value, often overlooked, of actually listening and observing.

Kate looks back on her early career and identifies key change moments. She also talks of the challenges and rewards of working on large scale 'new world' urban development projects both oin the west and east. There is a particular segment of note on how Singapore does planning.

In Podcast Extra / Culture Corner, Kate recommends ‘War Transformed’ by Major General Mick Ryan https://mickryan.com.au/books-%26-writing. Jess recommends the pleasures of farmers markets while Pete reads a poem about his new dog.  

Audio production by Jack Bavage. Podcast released 27 July 2023.

In PX106, our interview guest is James Vincent who is the CTO at NCS NEXT Australia, a global digital, data and cloud services consultancy (https://www.ncs.co/en-au/next/). James is a senior people leader with 25 years’ commercial IT experience and an established authority in large-scale strategic transformation in enterprise environments and delivering business outcomes through technology.

In this episode James shares four smart city technology solutions government could adopt to improve citizen services amid a rapidly growing urban population. Smart meters, sensor technology and AI in buildings to reduce environmental footprint are some of the examples that James touches on.

With Australia’s population projected to reach 30 million between 2029 and 2033, adding pressure to the quality and delivery of services for the community, James describes how it’s becoming more important to leverage modern technology to improve experiences and the efficiency of infrastructure, public transport, travel and roads. 

He has previously stated: “Urban populations are growing at unprecedented rates, so we need to keep investing in smart city technology to create a brighter and more stable future. When further demand is added to systems such as public transport and traffic networks, some will struggle to cope – leading to overcrowding and poor-quality experiences.

“Modern technology is making safe, scalable, sustainable cities and performant governments a reality. In particular, smart city technology helps accommodate large and rapid urban population growth, facilitate resource conservation such as water and carbon, and improve the quality of services for the community across utilities, transport, healthcare, waste management, air quality, safety and wellbeing, and emergency response.

“We’re already starting to see various levels of Government engage in public-private partnerships and sponsored collaboration to modernise and advance services through technology. It’s a great step in improving access for citizens and the broader community and one we hope will continue in response to the changing population’s needs.”

The concept of ’Smart Cities’ has been touted before. In this episode we talk about how technologies and systems thinking has created previously unrealisable outcomes. James, in a very broad discussion talks about how these technologies are just as relevant in developing nations as they are in first world countries. We also talk about the potential downsides of such technologies in terms of civic life. In the interview we also discuss visions of the future portrayed through popular culture.

A wide ranging and testing interview on a topic that those responsibility ofor cities and towns will have to grapple with. We hope the episode makes a positive contribution to an understanding of the issues.

In Podcast Extra / Culture Corner, James recommends the Emperor series by British author Con Iggulden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conn_Iggulden. The series follows the life of Julius Caesar. On another note he describes his efforts trying to build an acoustic guitar, quite a challenge! He revels in the hands on, craft aspect of the task.

Jess has a TV show recommendation, Fisk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_(TV_series)).

Pete recommends Wuthering Heights (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights) and the PlanningxChange Spotify playlist! 

Audio production by Jack Bavage. Podcast released 3 July 2023.