Centric Cities Podcast

This track welcomes Alex Fefegha from Comuzi Lab and our very own Araceli Camargo from Centric as we discuss AI, racial bias and discussing some of Alex's projects concerned with ensuring that decision making form an urban and social perspective is inclusive and not one-directional. Alex is founder + head creative technologist @comuzi_lab. which is an experimental R&D agency working at the intersection of emerging technology & humans. Some of their clients include the BBC and the NHS. On the side he also runs @_cretativehustle is an award-winning educational platform for young individuals from underrepresented groups. Alex is wise beyond his years, fiercely intelligent, incredibly patient and on a constant hustle to progress. Without any further due let’s get on with the who. Best way to get in touch with Alex is at his website which hosts other links to his work - http://alexfefegha.com/. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Araceli then you can do so via our website, thecentriclab.com. Thanks an

On this show I'm delighted to finally be sitting down with Robin Mazumder who's in London for the summer working with our scientific partners at UCL. This is the first of a few podcasts we're doing together as we embrace and embody the city as we discuss how neuroscience and technology is going to have impacts across all elements of city design. He has a huge passion for reducing opressiveness in cities with a particular focus on the psychological impacts of buildings and democratising public mobility space. You can read more about Robin at his website - www.robinmazumder.com and via his twitter feed https://twitter.com/RobinMazumder. Do stay in touch with The Centric Lab via our website, thecentriclab.com, via twitter https://twitter.com/TheCentricLab or just say hello via email if you have any questions hello@thecentriclab.com.

On this show I’m delighted to welcome Kwende Kefentse who I met through a very random and chance encounter. We recently met at a roundtable discussion organised by two creators of an illustrated book called Out of Nothing with the lead being Daniel Locke. The evening was focused around how Daniels love of hip-hop and space exploration led his creativity in the way he looked at this book. After sitting next to Kwende for five minutes at this event it was evident why he traversed across the city to attend. Born and raised in the Greater Toronto Area, Kwende is currently living in London and working on his masters at The Bartlett's Space Syntax Lab (UCL). Fascinated by cities, his various professional ventures reflect different explorations and investigations into how they function, with a particular focus on culture, space, and music. Most recently Kwende worked in the Arts and Heritage Development unit at the City of Ottawa, on a small but mighty award-winning Cultural Development and Initiatives (CDI) team. H

On this show I’m delighted to have Stefan Webb from the Future Cities Catapult. Stefan has a broad career in the world of urban planning and now has a particular remit in co-running the PlanTech strategy for Future Cities Catapult. FCC as I like to call them have a remit from the UK government to help identify the new business opportunities for cities of the future and how through early investment, testing and nurturing they can make that the journey smoother for UK business in the long run. They regularly cover some fascinating topics and it’s been a personal pleasure to talk with Stefan so I hope you’ll enjoy listening to him too. To find out more about what Stef and his great colleagues are up to be sure to head over the FCC website of futurecities.catapult.org.uk. If you have any questions about the show, or even ideas for it please email us at podcast@thecentriclab.com and feel free to give us a follow on Twitter via @TheCentricLab.

In episode 10 I’m delighted to have Dinah Bornat on the pod to discuss her work as an architect with a specialism in designing for children, which has led her to be working on the Mayor of London’s Design Advocate board. Children have increasingly complex lives in cities. The youthful yearn for exploration and expression is being met with cities that are hectic dangerous, every changing and not designed for them. So to talk more about this. Dinah can be reached via https://www.zcdarchitects.co.uk/ If you have any questions about the show, or even ideas for it please email us at podcast@thecentriclab.com and feel free to give us a follow on Twitter via @TheCentricLab

Episode 9 of the podcast was recorded in February 2018. In this episode I welcome Nick Russell to talk about his experiences in the intersection of technology and real estate and what he’s up to now with his venture PropCoin. Nick and I go back around 5 years when we were, in theory, competition to each other. He was the co-founder of one tech startup, and I an early team member at mine. I must point out for clarity that Nick refers to me as a founder/starter of my former employer, the online marketplace appearhere.co.uk but technically I am not, although I gladly take home the title of Employee #1 after the sole founder, Ross. In recent years we’ve got back in touch and and it’s been a pleasure to sit and talk with Nick as he looks far and wide beyond his own business to dig deep into what’s going on laterally around his, or anyone else’s, business ideas and look for opportunity. It’s a long one this pod as we cover a whole host of issues from blockchain, to proptech, to traditional property, to urban planni

Episode 8 was originally recorded in November 2017 and follows a slightly different format. In the quest to learn a little more about the state of artificial intelligence I’ve teamed up with Ben Byford, a technologist that runs the Machine Ethics podcast series. In this episode we interview each other. Amongst many things Ben’s career has focused on applying his theories to games designing, education for companies like Decoded where he is a Facilitator and Teacher, as well as a venture called Eulogy that was focused on connected academic studies to industry better - something I'm sure we can whole heartedly get behind. If you missed any of his contact details the best place to get hold of him is via his website benbyford.com. If you have any questions about the show, or even ideas for it please email us at podcast@thecentriclab.com and feel free to give us a follow on Twitter via @TheCentricLab.

This episode was originally recorded in October 2017. In it I had the pleasure to speak with Patricia Brown, director of Central. Patricia’s day job is as Director of Central, a niche consultancy largely centred on the dynamics of cities and the process of achieving change. Central advises business and civic leaders on partnerships, developments and projects to create thriving places, economies and business. A significant element of her current and past work is building a shared vision and ambition to create a better outcome for all, building alliances between the public and private sectors. She is currently Chair of London Festival of Architecture, Vice Chair of the British Property Federation’s Development Committee and until May, was Deputy Chair of the Mayor’s Design Advisory Group, helping to lead its “Good Growth Agenda”. Patricia works across the UK, as well as New York where she is an adviser to Times Square Alliance and a consultant to Columbia University’s Centre for Urban Real Estate. Best place

Hello and welcome to the Centric Cities podcast from the Centric Lab. Some of this material will be familiar with listeners to the Conscious Cities podcast where it was previously hosted. However, we decided to bring things in house to further our intended direction. Centric are all about enhancing user experience in the built environment, one of our main things is mapping out ecosystems and looking for friction and tension points, well that’s what this podcast aims to explore by interviewing professionals working at the coal face of the businesses helping design, build, manage and dream of the cities of tomorrow. Episode 6 was originally recorded in September 2017 where I had the great opportunity to sit down with proptech CEO and founder Savannah de Savary of Built ID. Built-ID is Bringing word-of-mouth insight into the digital age. Built-ID is an online platform and professional community that connects real estate developers with consultants. They’ve had documented over 26,000 projects worldwide by over

Episode 5 was originally recorded in June 2017. In this episode we're speaking with Ashley Perry, a Canadian calling London home. This show was first recorded when Ashley was at international property services firm JLL, or Jones Lang LaSalle, where he was specialising in providing services to large housing developers on how to deliver build-to-rent developments, something he’ll pick up on in the show. Ashley is now at LIV Consult after having been headhunted for the great work he’s been doing. With a broad view on the future of the construction industry through technological innovations he’s a great person to have on the podcast to teach us all a little bit more about what’s actually going on in the big bad world of the real estate development industry. Enjoy the show! Ashley’s an open guy so if you do have any ideas or questions to him, or want to follow what he’s up to you can find him on Twitter with the handle @ashleyperryuk. If you have any questions about the show, or even ideas for it please email us

Episode 4 was original recorded in June 2017 and is the second of a two-part focus of financing innovation in the industry and what that might support. This episode is an interview with startup CEO Daneal Bassiouni of NativeFinance.com and an associated venture called Common Home (www.custombuild.co). These guys are up to some very interesting things where I feel they’re hitting on that triumvirate of a win-win-win in civic lead urban development. If you have any questions about the show, or even ideas for it please email us at podcast@thecentriclab.com and feel free to give us a follow on Twitter via @TheCentricLab.

This episode was originally recorded in May 2017. It was the first in a two-part episode looking at new financing models for property development. Whilst we can look at a variety of means and virtuous ideas for creating cities, it also has to be funded by someone, somehow. Finance is crucial to the industry, certainly as the majority of the business is based in moving private capital around to generate returns. Sometimes it’s never the industry sector itself that needs changing, but the tools its uses and laws around it that guide its actions. In this episode I’m going to be speaking with Michael Dean, who’s a principal at the firm Avamore Capital. I’ve known Michael for a while now and I’ve always enjoyed speaking with him as he looks at his industry with quite a rounded view. Michael is both a traditionalist and a tech inspired radical. He’s a well educated and rounded man and I hope he imparts some insights to you. If you have any questions to ask Michael in response to anything he’s said you can contact

This episode was originally recorded in April 2017 as we Dr. Hugo Spiers and I were preparing for the Conscious Cities conference the month after. Dr. Spiers acts as lead scientific advisor to the Centric Lab to we took this opportunity to sit down and explore where neuroscience is and how it’s being applied to industry. Dr Spiers is a reader in Neuroscience at University College London where is he is director of the Spatial Cognition research group. Dr. Spiers is also one of the leads of the Ecological Brain project, a 4 year PhD program funded by the Leverhulme Trust. It is a world first research grant focused on understanding the scientific opportunities of applying neuroscience based technologies and theories in the real world, where it has previously only been tested with significance in the lab. Dr. Spiers is a great guy and one thing that really sets him apart is his articulation of such a complex field of research. If you’re interested in reading more about Dr. Spiers work he regularly releases his a

In this first episode I’m going to be speaking with James Dearsley of the Digital Marketing Bureau and his latest business PropTech Consult with business partner and long time proptech VC Eddie Holmes. Unsurprisingly we’re going to talk PropTech. It first arrived on the scene as a popular term around 2012/2013 it is spawning a whole host of businesses, some with a hope of disrupting and others just seeing how something can be improved. To follow James and keep up to date with his movements best place is via twitter, his handle is @jamesdearsley. If you have any questions about the show, or even ideas for it please email us at podcast@thecentriclab.com and feel free to give us a follow on Twitter via @TheCentricLab.