98. Innovation Units

City Road Podcast

Episode 1: Innovating urban governance: the work of Innovation Units In this first episode in the Innovating Cities Series, Pauline McGuirk and Tom Baker discuss what innovating city governance means and explore one key example of urban governance innovation in practice: innovation units. Drawing from research on innovation units in the United States, Europe and Australia, the team tackles questions around how these innovation units work, what they hope to achieve, and the challenges they encounter in practice. The episode also raises wider questions about the longer termed implications of working in ‘innovation mode’ for urban governance. Guests Pauline McGuirk is Senior Professor of urban geography and Director of the Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space, University of Wollongong. Tom Baker is Associate Professor in the School of Environment, University of Auckland. Thanks to our special guests Eliza Erickson (former Director of Innovation and Strategy, Office of Innovation and Technology, City of Philadelphia); James Corless (Executive Director, Sacramento Area Council of Governments); Nico Diaz Amigo (Chief Innovation & Data Officer Office of Accountability, Performance, & Innovation, City of Syracuse); and Shane Waring (Lead Dublin Beta Lab). Innovating Cities Series Across the series of episodes the Innovating Urban Governance team will be exploring these questions in conversation with practitioners from around the world about their insights in to the work of innovating city governance and its implications