MIG President and CEO Daniel Iacofano was a recent guest on an episode of the “Undisciplined By Design” podcast.
On the episode, titled “The Future of Cities is Human Centered,” Daniel chats with podcast host Aaron Bradley about facilitative leadership, the importance of bringing multiple disciplines to a project and the benefit of including everyone in the conversation.
“Facilitative leadership is where we work with our staff and clients as well and communities that we serve to have a process of shared problem-solving…and explore the possibilities according to a set of criteria defined by the people who are going to receive the benefits and potential impacts—both positive and negative,” said Daniel. “[The community has] to have a role in shaping the decisions that are going to affect them and their lives, families, and communities. That just makes sense.”
Daniel also spoke with Aaron about what future downtowns developments could look like if we prioritized a human-centered approach to planning.
“Another important aspect is thinking about…the public realm as programmable space. A space that we can use to tell the story of the city and all the different stories of the people who live there—from where they came and how they settled and how they built it— and to display artwork and other elements of artistry to make it interesting and always viable to visit,” said Daniel. “I think that is what is going to make cities more dynamic, more durable, more resilient and more successful ultimately.”
You can listen to the full episode on Spotify.