I rarely go out of my way to review podcasts, but several episodes bothered me so much that I can't let it go. This show is uncritical and one-sided - they profile a subject, tending to be a powerful authority, that is "innovating" with and "saving" cities and their communities. They leave out the fact that usually these subjects have actually been the source of the communities' challenges, and their efforts are not simply an act of goodwill, but a marketing ploy and narrative flip. I would say that this podcast does its listeners an injustice by not "going deeper", but the stories are so transparently bad that I wouldn't be surprised if they are literally funded by their subjects and the entire point of the show is to be an advertisement. It's very rah rah we love cops and corporations are our saviors type stuff. I really implore you to listen just so you can improve your ability to read (listen) between the lines when you're being marketed to. And then you can give it a 1 star rating too :) absolutely awful stuff!

This podcast is expertly made and focuses on exciting developments for cities and doesn’t shy around the more difficult aspects of urban innovation. 5/5 stars. Love it! You’d should listen!

It has amazing ideas for cities and even insures me that people have thing planned that will make cities better

Love this podcast! I’m not a designer and it pushes my understanding of design to new places...like robots?? Would love to see an episode about who is actually funding some of this design (gov? non-profits? tech companies?) and how successful it’s been so far. Keep it up fam 💕

This podcast explains interesting aspects of cities and how they work, and how they can/ are be improved; the episodes are like mini documentary films about specific parts of a cities. Really cool.

I listen to a lot of talks and podcasts on topics of sociology, city planning/design and urbanism. Sidewalk Labs hits these marks in a very thoughtful and entertaining way. You can get your fix or get hooked with this podcast🤯. So good.

The best podcast I have listened to. Gives the right and most up to date information and very useful tips of new materials and innovations. Well composited with perfect duration. Can’t wait for more seasons.

I love this podcast. it’s different than what i normally listen to and I really enjoy listening to it.

This very hopeful podcast focuses on our way forward. Soon after describing the challenges we face they move to describing possible solutions, many of which are mind blowing. A very quick and worthy listen.

I love this podcast. Informational but fun at the same time!!

I love these podcasts but I just wish they were twice the length! Content is informative, as mentioned in the title, but I feel like the dive could go deeper! Keep it up, please :).

The focus of these podcasts is far too heavy on technocratic solutions to ancient problems of city planning and infrastructure that mostly exist in cities that were set back by post-WW2 US (or US-style) planning mistakes, but otherwise have well-known solutions. Because the solutions they showcase are often the product of Alphabet investments—Alphabet is the parent company of both Google and this show's benefactor—this comes off at best as lacking international and historical context, and at worst as a kind of astroturf shilling or advertisement. However, some episodes do strike a good balance between describing social context and basically "pitching" the technology; the massed timber episode comes to mind, where an interesting spin on older technology is proposed to effect established urbanist goals like height and low-impact construction (rather than Silicon Valley wheel reinvention) and the listener is asked to sympathize with knee-jerk reactions from policymakers who don't understand the innovation.

Scratches the same itch as 99PI. Listen to think about the design of your urban spaces and question what you’ve always taken for granted.

This subject matter is right up my alley! Despite some of the things going on in the world, I tend to think optimistically about how we can use design and technology to better our future. I sincerely hope this podcast continues for some time as there are many topics that can be covered. Thanks!

Please include in the episode description links to projects mentioned during the podcast. I am specifically trying to find visuals of the project described in Innsbruck. Thanks, otherwise great podcast.

This is going to sound silly but I’ve seriously been waiting for this podcast for so long!! I soak up the 99PI’s about cities. Freakonomics did one not too long ago as well. Now we get one from the masters themselves!

I feared this would be a “shoot the sh—t”-type show with two people discussing smart cities in an undcripted format without ever leaving the studio. Instead, this is an awesome, journalistic-minded production that features good music, good sound design, good interviews, and good research. Each episode is like a mini-documentary, and you’ll learn a lot about smart design. Keep up the great work guys.

Love this new podcast. Excited to hear more!

Thanks for putting on this podcast. It is very entertaining and informative.

I have been loving City of the Future. They tackle complex topics and condense them into extremely digestable episodes. As someone looking to learn more about the Smart City movement this podcast is perfect. And on top of being educational, it's a fun listen! I typically have my informative podcasts and my fun podcasts- this is one of the few that falls into both categories and has me excited for each new release!

I had heard about mass timber construction 3-4 years ago and I’m incredibly happy to see that it’s taking off. The hosts and editors have a great job putting together a smooth podcast episode. I’m very excited to hear more from this group

City living can get you down at times. It helps to know that there are great minds out there working in making it better. First episode on mass timber is a topic I hadn’t heard of but now it’s got me thinking!

the cover art is amazing...

I’m sure Sidewalk Labs has a lot to say. I’ve been looking forward towards learning more from them!