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Green Urbanist - Sustainable Placemaking, Planning and Urban Design
100+ episodes exploring climate action in cities and neighbourhoods.
This show provides actionable advice and case studies on:
- Sustainable urban design and placemaking principles.
- How to design cities and neighbourhoods for biodiversity net gain and wildlife.
- Climate adaptation: How to build resilience to climate change in cities.
- Net zero carbon masterplanning and architecture.
- Circular economy: How to minimise waste and emissions in new development.
- Transport: How to transition cities away to sustainable and active travel.
- Regenerative Design: Delivering positive benefits for the environment and communities.
Who is it for? Urban designers, planners, developers, architects, landscape architects, urban ecologists, engineers, transport professionals and urban citizens.
The Green Urbanist podcast is hosted by Ross O'Ceallaigh, an urban designer and sustainable placemaking consultant.
Episodes
126 episodes
Why aren't there more 'vertical forest' buildings? (3 reasons)
Everyone seems to love vegetated buildings like 'Bosco Verticale' in Milan (pictured). So, why isn't this a standard building approach for new buildings? Why are there still so few of them?In this episode I go under the surface and expla...
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32:48
Urban Wilding Hub - Mainstreaming rewilding in cities
Urban Wilding Hub is a new not-for-profit with the mission to mainstream rewilding in towns and cities across Europe. In this episode I explain why I'm launching this and how you can get involved.
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20:37
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#120: Biomimicry in Architecture and Urbanism, with Michael Pawlyn
Biomimicry has the potential to transform the way we design buildings, public spaces and local economies to reduce environmental harm and improve our health. Architect and author Michael Pawlyn joins me to discuss the newly released...
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1:00:04
Nature-led Urban Design - Join our study tour and masterclass in London on 25 September
I'm co-leading a fantastic urban design training on 25 September at the Olympic Park in London, UK. Listen to learn more about the format and what you'll learn.Learn more and register here: https://course.greenurbanist.org/masterclass-se...
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8:25
#119: Timber-first Development, with Bywater Properties
A conversation with Theo Michell (COO) and Joe Jack Williams (Head of sustainability) at Bywater Properties. We talk about: A timber-first approach to development A case study of 'Paradise', a six-storey timber-le...
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1:00:56
#118: Sustainable Street Furniture for Joyful Public Spaces, with Furnitubes
This episode is a conversation with Catherine Barratt, Managing Director of Furnitubes. Furnitubes create modular street furniture that helps to bring communities together. In this episode we discuss how they are innovating with sustainable mat...
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46:38
#117: (WILD) Wilding Campuses
This episode is a conversation about the 'Wilding Campuses' programme, led by Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK). We talk about the practicalities of applying a 'wilding' approach on highly altered and designed landscapes on educat...
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52:38
#116: A Climate of Truth, with Mike Berners-Lee
Mike Berners-Lee is a consultant and author of the new book A Climate of Truth. In this episode we discuss the polycrisis and how raising standards of honesty is essential to respond to the challenges we are facing.Learn more ab...
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53:20
#115: (WILD) Urban Rewilding with Communities, with Citizen Zoo
This is a conversation with Elliot Newton and Ben Stockwell of Citizen Zoo, a Community Interest Company that are rewilding urban areas with communities.We talk about:What rewilding in the city meansGrazing animals i...
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40:02
#114: Regenerative Design in Practice, with Scott McAulay (Architype)
This is a conversation with Scott McAulay, Regenerative Design and Infrastructures Specialist at pioneering architecture studio Architype. We talk about:What 'regenerative design' means in ...
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1:12:48
#113: The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard explained
This episode is a conversation with Salem Qunsol, Principal Sustainability Consultant at Verte, about the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard. Salem was one of the contributors to the standard. He joined me to discuss:...
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1:03:38
#112: How to make sustainability irresistible
My guest is Virginia Cinquemani, a coach, trainer and Director at Green Gorilla. In this episode we discuss strategies from her book The Good Communicator on how to communicate sustainabilit...
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57:44
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#111: Engaging Communities with the Future of Place and Nature, with the Place Bureau
My guests today are Rosanna Vitiello, Chief at the Place Bureau, and Domenica Landin, Associate Design Researcher at Place Bureau. Place Bureau is a research, strategy and design studio ...
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1:02:39
Nature-led Masterplanning and Placemaking + Webinar Announcement
Register for the webinar on 25 April: Nature-led Masterplanning with EcoResponsive EnvironmentsThis podcast is a re-uplo...
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1:00:50
#110: Wild Cities - Lessons from cities where biodiversity thrives
My guest today is Chris Fitch, author of the upcoming book Wild Cities: Discovering New Ways of Living in the Modern Urban Jungle. In this episode we discuss case studies of cities around the world that embrace wilder nature.We ...
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57:12
#109: (WILD) Rewilding and Reconnecting Towns with the Landscape
This episode is a conversation with Stephen Mason, Community Parks Officer at Cheltenham Borough Council. We discuss:Urban rewilding projects in Cheltenham - including meadows and orchardsReconnecting urban areas with their...
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52:22
Free Tool: Your City's Climate in 2050
Get free tool: https://free.greenurbanist.org/2050climatetoolIn this episode I share a free tool you can use to understand what the local climate of 520 major world cities will...
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9:33
#108: (WILD) Rewilding for Urban Flood Resilience
My guests on this episode are Ian Russell and Jamie Kukadia from the watercourses team at London Borough of Enfield. We discuss:'Rewilding Enfield' - rewilding urban streets, parks and rivers.Nature-based flood resilience a...
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57:04
#107: Strategies for Communicating Sustainability with Clients and Communities
In this episode I share 4 tips for effectively communicating about sustainability and climate change with a variety of audiences like clients, collaborators and the public. The four strategies I share are:Start with empathy and tail...
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22:15
#106: Sustainable Placemaking - creating places where people and nature thrive
In this episode I explore Sustainable Placemaking: an 8-step process for creating places that people love and maximise sustainability opportunities. So many masterplans create soulless and unsustainable places. In this episode I exp...
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40:55
#105: (WILD) Wilding the City, with Sophie Thompson (LDA Design)
This is episode 2 of 6 in the podcast series on urban rewilding.My guest is Sophie Thompson, a landscape architect and Director at LDA Design.In this episode we discuss:How wild nature can be brought into city streets ...
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48:28
#104: Local Energy Solutions: Case Studies + Interactive Map
My guest is Duygu Kutluay, a campaigner at Beyond Fossil Fuels. We discuss:Why local community projects need to be part of Europe’s energy transition away from fossil fuels.Beyond Fossil Fuels' new interactive map ...
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37:47
#103: The 5 Types of Sustainable Change-Maker and Your Role in Systems Change
In this episode I explore the different roles that built environment professionals can play in leveraging systems change for sustainability. This is based on interviewing 122 guests on this podcast and exploring systems change research.T...
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26:28
#102: (WILD) Rewilding Urban Parks with Lost Species - Sean McCormack, Ealing Beaver Project
This episode is part of a 6-part series on Urban Rewilding. My guest is Sean McCormack, Chair of Ealing Wildlife Group. Sean led the reintroduction of harvest mice and beavers into urban parks in London, UK. In this episode we disc...
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56:16
#101: Sacrifice Zones - Rebuild after disaster or return to nature?
This episode is a conversation with Jonathan Rosenbloom, Associate Dean at Albany Law School who has researched and written about sacrifice zones. He is also the Executive Director for the Sustainable Development Code.We discuss:
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56:46
