S04 Ep. 13. Joni Baboci - Cities in Flux: from Bureaucratic control to Participatory Ecosystems by Boundaryless

In this podcast, we dive into the shift towards a more decentralized and organic approach to city planning with Joni Baboci, an architect, planner, and urban enthusiast. We discuss how the modernist paradigm of deconstructing everything into individual parts and putting them back together linearly is becoming less relevant.

Joni Baboci is the founder of Layer, a spatial orchestration platform that empowers teams to govern through tactics and patterns. He has previously served as the General Director of Planning and Urban Development for the City of Tirana.

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://boundaryless.io/podcast/joni-baboci ‎

Key highlights

👉 The static, modernist way of thinking and planning cities is changing
👉Looking at cities through a “pattern language”
👉Bureaucracy can help to make sure things do not move too fast
👉The physical city won’t be replaced by a virtual city or a network state any time soon
👉New technologies make it possible to scale governance
👉Communities should be able to make small bets on things that matter to them

Topics:

(00:00)Joni Baboci quote
(00:47) Joni Baboci introduction
(02:13) A Paradigm Shift Towards Humility in Organizing Cities
(05:56) The Shift Towards Decentralized and Organic City Planning
(10:57) The Role of Cities in the Modern World
(18:15) Exploring the Pros and Cons of Network Cities
(23:13) The Future of Cities and the Interconnection between Urban and Rural Landscapes
(30:55) Using DAOs and Blockchain to Improve Local Governance and Participation
(40:41) City and Citizen Entrepreneurship for Bottom-up Development
(47:15) Joni Baboci's breadcrumbs

More about Joni’s work:

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dbaboci
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonibaboci
- Website: https://joni.baboci.net

Other references:

- Layer: https://getlayer.xyz
- Joni’s newsletter: https://thinkthinkthink.substack.com
- METABOLISM OF ALBANIA https://www.fabrications.nl/portfolio-item/metabolismofalbania-2
- The Deeper Order of Cities: https://thesideview.co/journal/the-deeper-order-of-cities
- Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs: https://www.amazon.com/Eyes-Street-Life-Jane-Jacobs/dp/0345803337
- Remote bureaucracy https://www.drorpoleg.com/remote-bureaucracy
and https://medium.com/block-science/disambiguating-autonomy-ca84ac87a0bf
- Center for International Development https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid
- The Atlas of Economic Complexity - https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu
- Overthrowing The Network State https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/overthrowing-the-network-state-untangling-balajis/id1501607045
- Metromontagna. Un progetto per riabitare l’Italia https://www.donzelli.it/libro/9788855221948
- Disambiguating Autonomy. https://medium.com/block-science/disambiguating-autonomy-ca84ac87a0bf
- Designing for children should be plan A https://medium.com/@dbaboci/designing-for-children-should-be-plan-a-so-why-arent-we-doing-it-71c7d9560b76

Joni’s suggested breadcrumbs:

- Seeing Like a State : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State
- A Pattern Language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pattern_Language
- Order Without Design:: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262038768/order-without-design
- A Crude Look at the Whole: https://www.amazon.com/Crude-Look-Whole-Science-Business/dp/0465055699
- Worlds Hidden in Plain Sight: https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Hidden-Plain-Sight-Complexity/dp/1947864157
- Scale: https://www.amazon.com/Scale-Universal-Growth-Organisms-Companies/dp/014311090X

Recorded on 17 February 2023.

Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at https://boundaryless.io/resources/podcast

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/boundaryless_
- Website: https://boundaryless.io/contacts
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/boundaryless-pdt-3eo

Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music