The DNA of Cities

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

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Sound design by Dainius Kacinskas.

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.

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.

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.

In today's Keynote episode, we meet the wonderful Dr Wangui Kimari. Wangui is Assistant Director at the American University Nairobi Abroad Program and she is an Honorary Research Associate at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. We had a fantastic time learning from Wangui about The DNA of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, and she also enlightened us about her starting points for understanding the uniqueness of cities as an urban anthropologist.

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Here are a selection of Wangui's recent publications:

• Kimari, W. (2024) On the police as infrastructure and managers in the African city. (Link)
• Pfingst, A. and Kimari, W. (2021) Carcerality and the legacies of settler colonial punishment in Nairobi. (Link)
• Kimari, W. (2020) War-talk: an urban youth language of siege in Nairobi. (Link)
• Kimari, W., Melchiorre, L. & Rasmussen, J. (2020) Youth, the Kenyan state and a politics of contestation. (Link)

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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

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Sound design by Josh Latham.