How an office is designed can have a big impact on our productivity and well-being. After months of working from home, we’ve gained a stronger sense of what works and what doesn’t – and not everyone is ready to embrace the thought of returning to the traditional way of working. Will we return to the office at all? How will we meet new expectations for the future of work?  

Sam Hughes talks to three guest speakers about the predicted transformations in the workplace in 2021 and beyond: 

Torben Østergaard, Architect and Partner at 3XN 
Mahwesh Khan, Research Associate at IMD 
Etti Seppä, Business Design Expert at KONE 

The Flow of Urban Life is a podcast produced by KONE. Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts and follow KONE on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Reimagining the Office

Now more than ever, data and smart technology is informing the way we live, work and build. Our capacity to imagine and create better connected, more resilient future cities is rapidly improving. But what does this mean in practice? 

In this episode, two experts look at answers to these questions and offer unique perspectives on future iterations of the built environment:

Tessina Czerwinski, Program Director for Smart and Sustainable Cities at KONE
Greg Lindsay, futurist, journalist and senior fellow at MIT's Future Urban Collectives Lab and partner at Futuremap

The Flow of Urban Life is a podcast produced by KONE. Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts and follow KONE on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Smart and sustainable cities

Cities are becoming busier by the day as more and more of us move into them. As the urban population increases, we need to build apartments, buildings, metro stations - and everything in between - in a way that can adapt to our future needs. The Flow of Urban Life explores how urbanization and digitalization are transforming the way we live, work and move around in cities. Together, we’ll explore the innovations that could improve urban design and help to create smarter, more sustainable cities of tomorrow.

Introducing The Flow of Urban Life

More than 4.2 billion of us live and work in cities every day. Some of us need specific accommodations for disabilities, whether in a digital world or the real world. Now, as urban populations continue to grow, many cities are turning to technology to create smarter, more liveable environments for all. Join us as we talk to some of the people at the forefront of inclusive urban innovation.

How can we make our cities more inclusive? The host Sam Hughes explores how technology can improve urban design with three guest speakers, all with expertise in working with accessible technology:
- Ilkka Pirttimaa, developer of BlindSquare, the world’s most widely used GPS-app for the blind, deafblind and partially sighted.

- Holger Dieterich from SozialHelden, co-founder of Wheelmap.org, a map designed to help people find and mark wheelchair-accessible places all over the world.

- Mirva Nevalainen, Head of Ecosystem Partner Operations at KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry with a mission to improve the flow of urban life. 

The Flow of Urban Life is a podcast produced by KONE. Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts and follow KONE on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Connected Cities: Inclusive Technology

Services play a key role in making our cities pleasant, productive and healthy places to be. Innovations such as on-demand delivery robots and autonomous vehicles could help us live more sustainably while providing services that offer real value to residents. This episode explores how robots can have a positive impact on our lives.

From city cleaning to supermarket deliveries, to medical professionals and other frontline workers – services play a key role in making our cities more pleasant, more productive and healthier places to be. With fast-paced urbanization, some people are turning to technology to help meet the growing demand. Could robots help? Sam Hughes talks to three guest speakers to find out:

- Oliver Stahl, CEO at Robotise, a Germany-based start-up on a mission to introduce service robots into people's everyday lives
- Kaisa Spilling, Development Manager at Forum Virium, the City of Helsinki’s innovation company
- Crystal Hu, Marketing Manager at Gaussian Robotics 

The Flow of Urban Life is a podcast produced by KONE. Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts and follow KONE on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Connected Cities: The Robot Helper

Technology has long faced scrutiny for its negative effects on our wellbeing. But what if it could help us connect with our surroundings on a deeper level? In this episode, Sam Hughes is joined by Anders Sörman-Nilsson, a leading futurist and the founder of the think tank Thinque, to discuss how innovations in the digital world could transform our physical spaces.

The Flow of Urban Life is a podcast produced by KONE. Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts and follow KONE on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Connected Cities: Connected Cities: Predicted Trends

Urbanization and digitalization are transforming the way we live, work and commute in cities. The Flow of Urban Life is a podcast by KONE that explores how we can innovate to improve urban flow and create smarter, more sustainable cities of tomorrow.   

The host Sam Hughes is joined by guests from around the world, each with a new perspective on topics like urban design, city living, technology and sustainability.