Episode Details

"[Cities are] multiple systems, threaded together, nested inside each other, interacting with each other in different complex ways."

Are you interested in the city as tangle of systems and flows? What do you think is the connection among nature, technology and culture? How can we create real smart cities?

Interview with Dan Hill, the Director of the Melbourne School of Design at the University of Melbourne. We talk about his vision for the future of cities, hope and optimism, engineering and design, scale of cities, and many more.

Dan Hill is a designer, urbanist, and educator with extensive experience leading across multiple sectors. Dan is currently the Director of the Melbourne School of Design at the University of Melbourne and a professor of the built environment. His career has spanned roles such as Director of Strategic Design at Vinnova, Sweden’s innovation agency, the Finnish innovation fund SITRA, the global design firm Arup, and the BBC. Dan has worked on urban development and design projects globally, collaborating with clients like Google, Lendlease, British Library, Victoria & Albert Museum, and City of Melbourne. He’s also a founder board member of the Council on Urban Initiatives and UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, and former professor at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. Dan is also an accomplished author, known for works like “Dark Matter & Trojan Horses” and “Designing Missions.”

Find out more about Dan through these links:

• Dan Hill on LinkedIn;
• Dan Hill on Medium;
• Dan Hill at the Melbourne School of Design;
• Dan Hill on Threads.net;
• Dan Hill on Bluesky;
• Council on Urban Initiatives website;
• Council on Urban Initiatives youtube channel;
• Modern housing: an environmental commmon good - article by Dan Hill at the Council on Urban Initiatives;
• Dan Hill on Strategic Design - youtube video;
• Shaping urban futures - discussion with Dan Hill and Diana Rodríguez Franco about Bogotá's Care System

Connecting episodes you might be interested in:

• No.171 - Interview with Nicole Garofano about circular economy
• No.190 - Interview with Adrian McGregor about cities as part of nature

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