Cities 1.5

 In the face of the accelerating climate crisis, rising authoritarianism, and geopolitical shifts, national governments are faltering…but cities are stepping into the void and taking the lead. 

Season 6 of Cities 1.5 will delve into how municipal-level actions and powerful coalitions are creating a carbon-free future, promoting resilience, and enabling a new economic system based on wellbeing over profit. We’ll explore how cities ar...

Welcome to Cities 1.5 Hot Takes: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis. Hot Takes brings you fast, focused coverage on breaking news and underserved stories at the intersection of climate, economics and public health - all through an urban lens. 

This first-ever edition of Hot Takes is about a major move in Canada’s energy future…and what it means for climate, cities, and the promises made to hold fossil fuel giants a...

In the first episode of our two-part World Mayors Summit special, we heard from mayors around the world about the power of convenings like the Summit to unite city leaders and spark collaboration. In this second episode, we explore what that collaboration looks like in practice, from new approaches to urban planning and the challenge of energy-hungry data centres, to fossil-free trucks and greener and cleaner shipping routes.

We als...

In this first instalment of our two-part special from the C40 World Mayors Summit, Cities 1.5 takes you inside the flagship gathering of the world’s most ambitious urban climate leaders. We hear directly from mayors as they unveil this year’s Offer of Action – a unified commitment that raises the stakes for urban climate leadership and pointedly challenges national governments to match their ambition with action of  their own, all ...

Cities 1.5 is back with a special two-part series focused on the C40 World Mayor's Summit in Rio de Janeiro, convening just ahead of the upcoming COP30 in Brazil. City mayors are continuing to play a critical role in combating climate change as they implement substantial climate policies and actions amidst the inaction of national governments. Tune in to hear behind-the-scenes discussions with funders, policymakers, and mayors...

We’re joining podcasts around the world in tandem with the 80th United Nations General Assembly, to ask a vital question: where do we find hope in challenging times? We explore how cities are implementing Herman Daly’s revolutionary economic theories.

Featured in this episode:

Karen Daly Junker, Herman and Marcia’s youngest daughter

Terri Daly Stewart, Herman and Marcia’s eldest daughter

Denis Daly Heyck, Herman’s sister

David Batker, E...

We follow Herman Daly into one of the last places you’d expect to find a rebel economist: the World Bank. We will hear how the academic work of Herman’s sister, Denis Daly Heyck, impacted on his worldview. We’ll also see how this fused with Herman’s own experiences teaching in Brazil, and the building of pan-American ecological and human rights movements to fuel him to advocate for policy and philosophical changes at the Bank - cul...

We rejoin Herman Daly in the  late 1970s - a tumultuous time for our renegade economist.  Partnering with theologian John Cobb Jr., Daly began to rebuild economics from the ground up, reframing it around values, community, and the planet that sustains us.

Woven through this intellectual journey are stories of faith, family, and friendship that helped Daly persevere. We hear how he sparked a global community of scholars and inspired ...

We follow Herman from the lecture halls of Louisiana to the forests of Brazil – and through a period of global upheaval and personal transformation. Herman was profoundly shaped by the realities of inequality and ecological fragility in the Global South. These experiences helped crystallize his vision of a steady-state economy; one that operates within the planet’s ecological limits and prioritizes human wellbeing and ecological bo...

Herman Daly was a founding father of ecological economics: more than half a century ago, he warned that the pursuit of endless economic growth was driving ecological collapse and harming society, as well as harming society - and came up with a plan to unbreak our economy. 

Dismissed by mainstream economists, pushed out of the World Bank, and even targeted by menacing, anonymous threats, Daly paid a high price for challenging our uns...

Is it time to retire the concept of growth as the sole measure of prosperity? This summer, join host David Miller for a special miniseries dedicated to Herman Daly, an economist who transformed how we think about growth. Featuring never heard before interviews with Daly himself alongside experts, scholars, and Herman’s nearest and dearest, this is a story you won’t want to miss!

The first episode of Going Steady with Herman Daly deb...

Herman Daly would have turned 87 years old on July 21st, 2025. While he is no longer with us, his ideas have lived on - shaping an economic future that we haven’t yet achieved, but is steadily becoming the most probable way forward in the face of rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and ecological and economic decimation.

But who exactly was Herman Daly? Why was his work scorned by the World Bank? And how can his plan for wo...

For hundreds of years, people have been pondering the power of information. In this past season of Cities 1.5, we’ve seen examples of cities from around the world who are using data and the lived experiences of their inhabitants to create policies that support healthier lives for people and planet: from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to Tokyo, Japan, to Princeton, Canada. But while history - and our own conversations on this podcast - pro...

The building and construction sector is responsible for a mind-boggling 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The kinds of construction materials we use - and the building sector generally - are also responsible for almost a third of global resource consumption. Shifting to cleaner methods of construction is the only way to minimize the damage we are causing to the planet, while still providing homes, workplaces and vital infrast...

Capitalism is an illness: it’s killing our planet, and by extension, us. Economic instability and environmental concerns are symptoms that can only be cured by redefining prosperity in terms of health and wellbeing, so that we can create sustainable, equitable societies. In his new book, The Care Economy, returning guest Tim Jackson dives into historical and systemic reasons behind our current economic challenges and shares persona...

Cities around the world are on the frontlines of climate disaster. In Lisbon, Portugal, unprecedented flooding has required the construction of significant climate resilience projects like the city's drainage master plan. In the global south, cities like Ahmedabad, India are getting hotter and hotter…and the women who live in this region are disproportionately impacted physically and financially by heat wave events. But as we ...

As global temperatures and sea-levels rise, so to does the frequency of climate-driven migration. The search for a safe, healthy, and prosperous place to live has been a feature of humanity since time immemorial...but an increasingly polarized and toxic global discourse sees migrants being increasingly demonized, which makes it hard to have much-needed conversations around the issue. For many migrants of the climate crisis, cities ...

As the world enters yet another period of unprecedented political and environmental tumult, it is becoming even more clear that our current economic system based on the primacy of profit over the health and wellbeing of people and planet is failing. Throughout history, cities have always been at the forefront of new ways of thinking, and are urban laboratories to test and pilot new concepts. The same holds true today: the degrowth ...

The United States of America’s second withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord under the Trump administration has enormous implications for both international and local climate efforts - and the Inflation Reduction Act is also potentially under threat. If the IRA is even partially repealed, it would be a huge step backwards in the fight against the climate crisis. But all is not lost - engaged individuals and organizations are stri...