Archive: Sharing The City With Microbes

Today we conclude our three-week dive back into Living With Other Species. A series exploring how to plan and live alongside other species in the cities of the future.

With todays episode we turn our attention to the smallest and often most overlooked inhabitants of the city: microbes. From the soil beneath our feet to the materials that make up our buildings, microbial life shapes the health and resilience of urban environments. 

So what happens when we begin to think of the city as a living microbial ecology? And how might processes such as decomposition, fermentation, and soil regeneration inform the way we design and inhabit urban space?   On the podcast you will meet:   Adam Bencard: Researcher and curator at the The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research and at the Medical Museion. Bencard is interested in what he calls "molecular being." This concept revolves around the idea that we, as human beings, are fundamentally a part of an expansive, material network, stretching inside and outside of our bodies.   Marie Sainabou Jeng: Marie Sainabou Jeng is the founder and program director of Madland. Madland is a food political community for rethinking the food system. They are co-created by people vested in changing traditional food systems and actively working towards a more sustainable way of producing and eating. Madland embraces all the agents out there who both develop and nurture Denmark as a food nation.
   Lasse Antoni Carlsen: Is an urban farming expert and food system innovator, dedicated to advancing modular, sustainable farming that bring specialty ingredients like mushrooms closer to consumers - improving the accessibility to sustainable quality food.
   Gerd Laura Juul Dahl is moderating the conversation.