272I_Frank Elavsky, accessibility and data interaction researcher

What is The Future for Cities?

"Our job is to imagine a future that is hopeful."

Are you interested in the difference among hope, knowledge and prediction? What do you think about our responsibility in imagining better futures? How can we use predictions better to prevent nightmarish scenarios?

Interview with Frank Elavsky, an accessibility and data interaction researcher. We talk about his vision for the future of cities, epistemology, urban experimentation, AI, government as secondary to people, anarchist thinking, and many more.

Frank Elavsky researches, designs, engineers, contributes to standards, and talks about things at the intersection of data work and accessibility. He considers himself a maker and a builder before anything else, but he likes to think he also does this work critically. Frank is PhD student and researcher at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Find out more about Frank through these links:

• Frank Elavsky on LinkedIn;
• @FrankElavsky as Frank Elavsky on X;
• Frank Elavsky website;
• Frank Elavsky at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute of Carnegie Mellon University;
• More talks from Frank Elavsky;
• Chartability by Frank Elavsky;

Connecting episodes you might be interested in:

• No.200 - NeurodiverCity - An 'eye-opening' conversation on bathrooms (among others) with Dr. Kirsten Day and Lucas Gil Nadolskis;
• No.222 - Interview with Adam Dorr about science-based hope;
• No.252 - Interview with Allison Duettmann about the city influencing us;
• No.271R - Experimentation or projectification of urban change? A critical appraisal and three steps forward

What wast the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@WTF4Cities⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠wtf4cities.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ website where the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shownotes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ are also available.

I hope this was an interesting episode for you and thanks for tuning in.

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lesfm ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠