If you have ever been to Bruges, or seen it in films or photos, chances are you have noticed at least one of the following: canals, swans, water, tourist boats. What often goes unnoticed is that Bruges, and the wider region of Flanders in Belgium, regularly suffers from droughts.

In this episode, we meet Astrid Stroobandt from the City of Bruges and Simon Thys from the non-profit organisation Waterland, who are currently running the Blue4Green project, an Innovative Action funded by the European Urban Initiative. Astrid and Simon explain how the project aims to change the city’s relationship with water in multiple ways, and how children’s dreams can inspire change just as much as data and technological innovation. We also hear how the city is experimenting with medieval infrastructure as water buffers, and how green and blue algae are cutting summer fun short.

If you would like to find out more about the project, have a look at the links below, connect with Astrid, Simon and Johannes on LinkedIn and follow Blue4Green on Portico.

· European Urban Initiatives: https://www.urban-initiative.eu

· Portico - Gateway to urban learning: https://portico.urban-initiative.eu

· Article: From smart sensors to medieval cultural heritage: A new chapter in Bruges' water identity with Blue4Green

· Article: A hot summer’s wake-up call to the City of Bruges: A blue-green algae crisis and what comes next

I have to start with an apology. To the guest of this episode, Kristijan Radojcic. After we had this conversation in a wild hotel room with tacky wallpaper in Wroclaw, Poland, the raw version of the recording was sitting unedited on my notebook for much too long.

Finally, I am more than happy to share this episode with you, where Kris takes on a deep dive into his childhood in Slovenia and how a trip to Southeast Asia changed everything.

If you are around urban EU programmes, you might have bumped into Kris on various occasions as he is working with URBACT, a programme that helps cities to develop an integrated set of actions for sustainable change. He and his family live in Paris.

Connect with Kristijan and Johannes on LinkedIn and take a look at URBACT.

In this episode:

How did growing up in 1980s Ljubljana shape everyday urban life?

How do music and architecture intersect in shaping cities and communities?

How can encounters beyond Europe reshape ideas of sustainable urbanism?

How do European cities learn from each other in practice, not theory?

How do paradox economies shape our societies?

Why does neighbourhood-level community matter for urban resilience?

Do you remember the first time you learned how to ride a bike? Chances are that you do, and if you kept on kicking those pedals, you might have some fond memories about the (daily) adventures with your bicycle. But… although biking ticks almost all boxes when it comes to urban sustainability, health, livability, affordability and accessibility, our cities still do not unfold the full potential of how urban biking can make our neighbourhoods better places.

My guest today, Josip Rotar from the Maribor Cycling Network, is one of those who pushed for change in the city. Find out how advocacy for urban biking led Josip to take a political role and why urban biking is competing with the SUV of your neighbourhood (or your own?).

Find out more about Josip and the Maribor Cycling Network here.

Josip and the Maribor Cycling Network was part of the first round of Driving Urban Transition’s Urban Doers Community. We recorded this conversation just before the ACT NOW Mayor’s Conference in Vienna.