Technopolis

Can tech help cities nudge us to live better lives, without things getting weird? In this episode, we look at how technology is making the popular behavioral science tool known as a "nudge" more prevalent in cities, from tackling sign-ups for food stamps to reducing congestion downtown. Molly and Jim talk with Emily Bailard, the CEO of InClass Today, a startup that uses nudges to help school districts reduce student absenteeism; and Anthony Barrows, managing director of Ideas42, a nonprofit that helps cities use these behavioral science tools to improve social outcomes.

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Technology is reshaping our cities—often without permission and sometimes without a clue. Hosted by urban innovation expert Molly Turner and startup advisor Jim Kapsis, the new podcast from CityLab will ask the questions nobody is asking about what needs to change for tech to help solve more problems than it creates.

For the final episode of our COVID miniseries, Molly and Jim consider the disparities in how people are getting around cities during the pandemic, and who is benefitting from closed streets and new forms of mobility. They talk to urban mobility expert Tamika Butler, who shares why she thinks bicycles are tools for social justice, and what she thinks tech companies should consider if they actually want to solve the mobility problems they say they do.

Are we at risk of creating a permanent digital underclass? Internet access has become essential for modern American life, but current policies don't treat it that way. In this special bonus episode, Jim and Molly talk to Maya Wiley about a core piece of the infrastructure for our tech future: broadband. Wiley, a digital equity expert and MSNBC contributor, breaks down the history of broadband access, the severity of the inequity, and what it costs us all when some people just can't get online. We also talk about local efforts to improve broadband access, including Wiley's own work in New York City to turn old phone booths into free Wifi kiosks.

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Can Wakanda's capital city teach us to build better cities in the real world? For as long as there have been movies, there have been fictional visions of tech-forward futures. But few cities on film have inspired the awe of urbanists like Black Panther's Golden City, devised by production designer Hannah Beachler. In this special bonus episode, Jim and Molly talk with Beachler about the role tech played in her meticulously crafted urban vision. Beachler, who won the Academy Award for her work in the film, helps us understand why the Wakandan city feels so right—and what she thinks some real-life tech-led urban designs are getting wrong.