Urban Community · Sophia Silverton (formerly Ian M. Cook and Kate McGinn)

Community takes practice

·25 min·2 clips

Communities thrive when people's values are touched, when they connect with others who share those values, and can act on them daily.

Host Sophia Silverton interviews Duncan Crawley, Irish architect and climate activist, about his role as network weaver for the Urban Community of Practice. They discuss what communities of practice are, how they function as open systems to create systemic change toward sustainable and just cities, and what makes them thrive offline and online. Duncan explains that strong communities require trust, clear communication, accessibility, diversity, shared values, and willingness to experiment. Real learning happens at awkward edges, like building green spaces in post-ceasefire Northern Ireland. The episode draws on Margaret Wheatley's theoretical framework and examples from projects in Thessaloniki, Rotterdam, Katowice, and Lisbon.

As heard by us

A conversation about trust, community practice, and the patient work of building more sustainable, just cities.

Urban Community focuses on the quiet work that sits behind more sustainable and just cities: trust, shared purpose, and the discipline of showing up.

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Why you'd press play

For a hopeful, hard-nosed look at how communities actually take shape.

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