Building Connections: Mark Lakeman On Combatting Urban Isolation With Sustainable Ecological Design
Finding Genius Podcast
Richard Jacobs
4.4 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 August 2024
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Humans are social creatures, and despite the fact that many of us live together in large groups, there are still issues of isolation. How does the development of sustainable public places foster connections and create opportunities for interaction, inclusivity, and community building – ultimately enhancing the well-being and social cohesion of urban populations? Mark Lakeman joins the podcast to explain…
Mark is the founder of The City Repair Project and the principal and design director of Communitecture. Using urban design and placemaking, permaculture and ecological building, encouraging community interaction, he is committed to developing human and ecological communities.
Are you ready to explore the future of urban living and the role you can play in creating a more connected and sustainable world? Dive in now to learn how sustainable public spaces can transform neighborhoods, revitalize communities, and combat social isolation!
In this episode, we cover:
- How Mark redefined his role as a designer.
- The foundations of ecological design principles.
- The benefits of seeing design through the lens of democratic participation and collaboration.
- The consequences of living in isolated environments.
To follow along with Mark and his intriguing work, click here.
Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/30PvU9C
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Forget frequently asked questions common sense common knowledge or Google how about advice from a real genius |
| 0:06.6 | 95% of people in any profession are good enough to be qualified and licensed 5% go above beyond. They become very good at what they do, |
| 0:14.8 | but only 0.1 percent. A real Jesus. |
| 0:18.2 | Richard Jacobs has made it his life's mission to find them for you. He hunts down and interviews geniuses in every field, |
| 0:25.0 | sleep science, cancer, stem cells, ketogenic diets, and more. Here come the geniuses. |
| 0:30.0 | This is the Finding Genius Podcast. |
| 0:33.0 | That is Richard Jacobs. |
| 0:35.0 | Hello, this is Richard Jacobs with the Finding Genius Podcast. |
| 0:41.0 | And my guest today is Mark Lakeman. He's a principal and a design lead at city repair. |
| 0:46.0 | We're going to talk about re-villaging what that means. He's based out of Portland, Oregon, and |
| 0:51.0 | promises to be a very good interview so welcome Mark thank you |
| 0:54.1 | thank you Richard thanks for having me really great to be here yes you would tell me a |
| 0:57.7 | bit about your background and then we'll go from there to your current work yeah |
| 1:00.8 | basically I love to collaborate and I'm trained in like |
| 1:04.4 | profession of architecture and planning where you know you really are directed |
| 1:08.4 | toward aspiring to be some kind of individualistic icon but I I really redefined my role and my approach to the whole design culture in a number of different respects. |
| 1:19.0 | So I come out of that as an education and as a profession. Both of my parents are architects and planners |
| 1:26.3 | and really place-making revolutionaries that have deeply impacted our region and through |
| 1:31.5 | their work, like you know the advent of our first public |
| 1:34.0 | square in the city very successful kind of cities more far afield so they've been my |
| 1:39.0 | mentors and I've really taken on you know the idea of a career as a means toward a cause and along the way I've become very attracted to ecological design principles and so I've incorporated those powerfully into things the realm of urban design and planning and architecture and really see design as a means toward |
| 1:57.0 | building democratic participation through you know really collaborating my grassroots |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Richard Jacobs, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Richard Jacobs and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.