
The DNA of Cities
Prof Greg Clark CBE & Caitlin Morrissey
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Top 10 The DNA of Cities Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The DNA of Cities episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The DNA of Cities for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The DNA of Cities episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

The DNA of Shanghai - Part II
The DNA of Cities
11/30/23 • 38 min
In our second episode on The DNA of Shanghai we discover more about the social and cultural factors that make Shanghai, Shanghai.
We ask how many Shanghai’s are there? What is the city’s role within China and what is its relationship to other Chinese cities? And we find out how Shanghai’s unique history led it to become the birthplace of the Chinese adaptation of communism.
With special thanks to Stella Dong, Dr Hou Li and Professor Jenny Lin.
To learn more about the DNA of Cities and sign up for our latest updates visit www.thednaofcities.com.

What does The DNA of Cities not explain?
The DNA of Cities
09/19/24 • 38 min
In our final episode of Season 1, we ask our urban experts ‘what does The DNA of Cities not yet explain about how cities evolve?’ We debate the limits of The DNA of Cities and what it is that cannot be explained using this way of exploring, conceptualising and understanding urban identity.
Thank you to Professor Michele Acuto, A/Professor Ellie Cosgrave, Gabriella Gómez-Mont, Professor Edgar Pieterse, Dr Jaana Remes, Dr Karissa Sanbonmatsu and Geerte Udo for joining us in this episode. We also hear from Abha Joshi-Ghani, who we dedicate this season to with great respect and affection.
Whether this is the first episode you have listened to this season, or you have been with us from the beginning, thank you for tuning in.
We will be back soon!
To learn more about The DNA of Cities and sign up for our latest updates visit www.thednaofcities.com

The DNA of Sydney - Part I
The DNA of Cities
03/13/25 • 41 min
Welcome to the first episode in our three-part mini-series exploring The DNA of Sydney. The beauty and appeal of Sydney’s dramatic, dreamy, and diverse scenery have always been, and are still, an inspiration for people. Today, the Sydney metropolitan region is home to over five million people in a region whose spatial boundaries are defined by the Pacific Ocean on the eastern coast, the Blue Mountains to the west, the Hawkesbury River to the north and the swampy Woronora Plateau to the south. It's a place of abundance, where an environment of immense lushness and attractiveness combine with a temperate climate that has been very conducive to human flourishing.
It’s an obvious point to make, but the mountains, the sea, the rivers, the climate and wider geography of this location are really quite important in shaping the way people have lived and congregated here. As we learn in this episode, that is true of the diverse Aboriginal communities that have always called this place home, to the relatively more recent urban story of Sydney.
We are hugely grateful to the wonderful experts who joined us in this episode to decode what makes Sydney, Sydney. Thank you to Monica Barone, Dr Danièle Hromek, Dr Sarah Hill, Alex O’Mara, Michael Rose AM, Rob Stokes and Eamon Waterford. You can read our full interviews with each of our local experts on our website.
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Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462
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Sound design by Dainius Kacinskas.

The DNA of Kyiv - Part II
The DNA of Cities
02/06/25 • 52 min
In Part II of The DNA of Kyiv, we learn about the people who live in Kyiv and the strong feelings the city stirs within those who choose to make it their home. We discover what it means to be and become a Kyivan, and we explore the manifestations of the common struggle for cultural freedom and self-government in the city's protests and revolutions.
Against the backdrop of war in Ukraine and amid possible air-raid sirens, power-blackouts and the threat of Russian missile strikes, our local experts spoke about how Kyiv has been responding to the full-scale invasion and enduring under more than 1,000 days of war. They told us how the trauma of war has scarred the city, and their dreams for the future of the city.
With special thanks to Denys Nazarenko, Dr Victoria Itskovych, Professor Serhy Yekelchyk, Yulia Bevzenko and Stanislav Kukhtyk for joining us in this episode, and to Denys for the invitation to explore Kyiv in this season of the podcast.
To learn more about The DNA of Cities and to read each of our interviews in full, head to www.thednaofcities.com.
To find out more about the history of Kyiv, check out these resources:
Yulia Bevzenko - Shukai
Serhii Plokhy - The Gates of Europe
Serhy Yekelchyk - Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know
Serhy Yekelchyk - Understanding Ukraine for Legion Magazine
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Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462
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Sound design by Dainius Kacinskas.

Keynote - Ben Wilson - Part I
The DNA of Cities
02/13/25 • 46 min
We are honoured to have historian Ben Wilson as our first Keynote guest. Ben is the author of several acclaimed books, including Metropolis which was released in 2020 and Urban Jungle which was published in 2023.
In Part I of this global adventure spanning 5,000 years of urbanisation, Ben reveals:
- How cities rewire humans biologically, culturally and socially both individually and collectively
- Why the permanence of human settlement in cities catalyses innovation
- The innate duality of cities as places of opportunity and hardship, brute and beauty, enchantment and horror
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What are the Keynotes? These are the episodes where we zoom out from our city-to-city voyage to meet global expert voices from a range of different disciplinary vantage points (e.g. from history, to theology, to genetics, to archaeology, to design) to understand the place of cities in their work. We want to know how they would approach and investigate the relationship between cities and human experience and evolution.
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Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462
–
Sound design by Dainius Kacinskas.

The DNA of São Paulo - Part II
The DNA of Cities
02/27/25 • 47 min
In our second episode on São Paulo, we explore the rich and irreducibly plural social and cultural fabrics and the unique scales of its global diaspora communities. Through the lenses of various infrastructural fragments (e.g. water and public transportation) and spatial patterning (e.g. the location of homes vs jobs and critical services), we discuss the politics and pervasiveness of inequalities in São Paulo. We also learn about the city’s distinctive roles in Brazil, South America and the world, and we ask how well São Paulo is understood and misunderstood.
We are very grateful to our esteemed local experts Mariana Barros, Claudio Bernardes, Professor Miguel Bucalem, Professor Felipe Correa, Elisabete França and Professor Regina Meyer for revealing São Paulo's acquired traits.
To continue exploring São Paulo, check out these resources:
- Felipe Correa – São Paulo: A Graphic Biography
- Regina Meyer – São Paulo Metrópole
- Edison Veiga – 'O que foi o Cerco de Piratininga, o 9 de julho há 462 anos que permitiu São Paulo existir' [BBC News Brazil]
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To learn more about The DNA of Cities and sign up for our latest updates visit www.thednaofcities.com.
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Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462
–
Sound design by Dainius Kacinskas.

The DNA of Philadelphia - Part I
The DNA of Cities
07/20/23 • 37 min
It’s hard to say anything about Philadelphia without talking about the founding of America or the fact that this city is home to the first library, hospital, university, art gallery, stock exchange, and of course, the Philly Cheese Steak, Rocky and Sound of Philadelphia.
In this episode we explore the long history behind this Quaker city that emerged between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. It is important to take a historic perspective in Philadelphia because its most recent chapter has not been as prosperous as the previous 350 years or so. Philadelphians often ask themselves how they can reconcile the story of Philadelphia as a great social innovator with its present.
In this episode, we hear from Professor David Brownlee, Sylvie Gallier-Howard, Eleanor Sharpe and Lauren Swartz.
To learn more about the DNA of Cities and sign up for our latest updates visit www.thednaofcities.com.

The DNA of Barcelona - Part I
The DNA of Cities
03/30/23 • 38 min
We begin our time in Barcelona by exploring its self-determining “do it yourself” approach to governance, the muse effect the city has in an individual’s life, and its relationships to its region and beyond; all understood, of course, through its identity as a Catalan city in the northern-most point of Southern Europe and the southern-most point of Northern Europe.
Part of what makes modern Barcelona such an interesting city from a 'DNA' perspective is the fact that city branding and place marketing have played such a strong part in its post-industrial recovery. The experts we meet have been working for many years to uncover what makes the city unique. Join us as we ask Mateu Hernández, Consol Vancells-Casanovas, Aleix Gabarre, Miquel Molina and Michelle Barrios what makes Barcelona, Barcelona.
To learn more about the DNA of Cities and sign up for our latest updates visit www.thednaofcities.com.

The DNA of New York - Part II
The DNA of Cities
03/16/23 • 40 min
New York City captures the imagination like few other cities. In this second episode we explore the stories of urban life in the city’s neighbourhoods and the New York City dream that draws people from all over the world to make themselves in the city.
We hear how New York has a history of openness because it was the primary gateway to the USA; the largest and fastest-growing economy in the 20th Century. We discuss the famous myths that capture something about the DNA of New York, the expectations that people hold about the city, and whether the portrayal of New York through film, TV, literature and music has led to misconceptions of the city.
We end our time in New York with the brilliant Dr Sarah Henry, Professor Ester Fuchs and Tom Wright, and with a hopeful gaze towards the future of the city.
To learn more about the DNA of Cities and sign up for our latest updates visit www.thednaofcities.com.

Keynote - Ben Wilson - Part II
The DNA of Cities
02/17/25 • 21 min
We are back with Part II of our conversation with Ben Wilson, our first Keynote guest. Ben is the author of several acclaimed books, including Metropolis which was released in 2020 and Urban Jungle which was published in 2023.
In Part II of his Keynote, Ben sets out a compelling case for nurturing nature in cities. We discuss the:
- Forgotten histories of growing and foraging in cities
- Opportunities for cities of the future to be defined by how biodiverse and wild they are
- Requirement for agile, flexible and adaptive urban leadership that combines community energy with a guiding vision
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What are the Keynotes? These are the episodes where we zoom out from our city-to-city voyage to meet global expert voices from a range of different disciplinary vantage points (e.g. from history, to theology, to genetics, to archaeology, to design) to understand the place of cities in their work. We want to know how they would approach and investigate the relationship between cities and human experience and evolution.
–
Bass Vibes - Rollin at 5 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100462
–
Sound design by Dainius Kacinskas.
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FAQ
How many episodes does The DNA of Cities have?
The DNA of Cities currently has 39 episodes available.
What topics does The DNA of Cities cover?
The podcast is about Culture, Society & Culture, History, Podcasts, Epidemiology, Cities and Geography.
What is the most popular episode on The DNA of Cities?
The episode title 'Our Listeners - Part I' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The DNA of Cities?
The average episode length on The DNA of Cities is 40 minutes.
How often are episodes of The DNA of Cities released?
Episodes of The DNA of Cities are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of The DNA of Cities?
The first episode of The DNA of Cities was released on Oct 23, 2022.
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