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Dr. Geci Karuri-Sebina is part of the SingularityU South Africa faculty and has a focus on urban futures, which includes smart cities, networks, urban planning, governance, and development, as well as innovation systems. She has a Master’s degree in Architecture, Urban Design, and Urban Planning as well as a Ph.D. in Planning and Innovation Studies. Dr. Geci shares with us the development of cities, where it’s all headed, and how we need to be thinking differently when it comes to urban planning and the environment that we live in.
Key Takeaways
A little bit about Dr. Geci and her background in urban futures and urban planning.
Dr.Geci shares a bit of history on how cities are developed.
Is it possible to interact in your city without producing pollution?
When the electricity goes out, people can’t pump gas. The whole city collapses when there is no power. There must be a better way.
Where is the future of city supply chain headed?
Many of us are vulnerable in our cities without realizing it.
Dr. Geci shares some of the challenges cities are facing when trying to tap into a solar-powered grid.
The challenge is not in generating energy, the challenge is in storing the excess energy.
Dr. Geci talks about the implementation of blockchain or other technologies and how it’ll impact our cities.
Each country has a different economy or way of interacting/trading. Trip shares an example.
In rural communities, banks will loan money to trusted members of the community or people who will vouch for a person. The payback rates were higher than any other method the bank was using prior.
Dr. Geci shares how we’re not thinking “big enough” when it comes to blockchain. We’re still trying to put new technologies into broken and inefficient systems. We need to completely rethink the way we’ve been using these things.
Dr. Geci knows there are good things coming out in the blockchain space, but still hasn’t seen it implemented on a large scale for the problems we currently have.
As people are leaving cities and a lot of commercial spaces are sitting vacant, what will all of this turn into 10–15 years from now?
Things are not looking good for a lot of people. There is an increase in crime because people are hungry.
Dr. Geci shares examples of countries that are building their cities with intentionality.
People love to plan their cities in a very textbook kind of way, but the reality of how we interact with a city is very different. Who are you planning for if a majority of the population doesn’t think this way?
There isn’t always a clear-cut answer. It takes time to find the right balance.
Cities that mimic other cities are missing out on a big opportunity to develop an environment that matches the culture’s context.
Airports are the perfect example of this. Why does each airport look the same?
In Dr. Geci’s line of work, where does she encounter the most resistance?
Dr. Geci wants to encourage people to experiment. City planning is difficult and not one person has the answer to all of its complexities. It’s important to band together and experiment, try new things, and find what works in the culture’s context.
Resources
Thebraveworkforce.com (http://thebraveworkforce.com/)
Bravenewcompanies.com (http://bravenewcompanies.com/)
Email Anna: Anna@Thebraveworkforce.com (mailto:Anna@Thebraveworkforce.com)
Dr. Geci Singularity Faculty Bio (https://su.org/about/faculty/geci-karuri-sebina/) https://su.org/about/faculty/geci-karuri-sebina/
Dr. Geci on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gecik/detail/recent-activity/posts/) https://www.linkedin.com/in/gecik/detail/recent-activity/posts/
Video: What investment opportunities lie in the cities of the future? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cILZJwDPWgA&t=615s) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cILZJwDPWgA&t=615s
Special Guest: Dr. Geci Karuri-Sebina.

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