53: How to connect passionate people who make cities sustainable? (guest: Gerald Babel-Sutter - URBAN FUTURE)

In this episode I am really happy to talk to the co-founder & CEO of URBAN FUTURE Global Conference - Gerald Babel-Sutter. The URBAN FUTURE global conference is Europe’s largest event for sustainable cities. But it is also so much more than that. It’s a community of passionate CityChangers from all over the world. Active, passionate and visionary decision-makers – CityChangers – are the ones who drive change and create sustainable urban spaces.  With Gerald we talked about: 1) the story behind the Urban Future Global Conference How did one small coincidence in Graz led to the the biggest event for sustainable cities? 2) How does pandemic influence urbanism conferences? This can be on a more personal note as I was directly influenced by it. I was extremely excited to join UFCG in Lisbon. I had bought all the tickets and accommodation and then the lockdown came.. But I was only one of the participants. It had to be really devastating for the organising team who spend more than a year of their life preparing for this event. 3) The FUTURE of Urban Future The Urban Future is now rebranding and broadening the scope with online activities. It is extremely interesting for a conference to be rebranded into a one big community of city changers, where the physical conferences are only a part of the whole agenda. Gerald reccommendet the following book: If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities by Benjamin Barber https://www.amazon.pl/If-Mayors-Ruled-World-Dysfunctional/dp/030016467X You can follow Gerald and the Urban Future at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/urbanfuture/ http://www.urban-future.org/ https://www.facebook.com/urbanfutureglobalconference/ https://www.instagram.com/urban_future_global_conference/