Massachusetts and Switzerland both often rank near the top of state and country innovation rankings. Key to this success are innovation zones, and none is more influential than Kendall Square – a small strip of former swampland in Cambridge, just across the river from Boston. These days it’s home to MIT and some of the most important biotech research on the planet, as well as pharmaceutical giants like Novartis and Moderna. Little wonder it’s been called ‘the most innovative square mile on earth.’

Our guest on this episode, Bob Buderi, has just written a book on Kendall Square, Where Futures Converge. We talk with Bob about Kendall’s progression from marsh to factory zone to biotech hub, and how constant change was necessary to maintain a vibrant urban innovation ecosystem. We explore the Swiss connections in Kendall Square, and what makes the small, unofficial innovation zone tick. We also delve into the shortcomings of Kendall Square’s imbalanced growth. While it’s an amazing place to invent and innovate, it’s not a great community to live in. Bob explores how plans for affordable housing and artist space can transform Kendall Square into a more livable urban landscape in the future.

Switzerland famously lacks natural resources, especially wood. To build its modern economy, the mountainous country came to rely heavily on concrete – and today has become a world leader in the concrete industry. But the building material has come under heavy scrutiny for its carbon footprint. Concrete production emits at least five percent of all human greenhouse gas emissions. As we face the urgent need for more sustainable built environments, does concrete have a future?

In this episode, we hear from Marc Angélil, the Swiss architect responsible for such buildings as Zurich Airport Terminal E. Marc has dedicated his career to sustainable construction, and he sees building materials as just one component in the full life cycle of a building – from construction, to use, and even disassembly. Concrete, he says, can be used to achieve energy savings that no other affordable material can match. He explores how efficient and hybrid buildings can work with nature to create low-tech, passive solutions for sustainability. Ultimately, Marc is designing for a world where even our lifestyles, such as how we cook and commute, are affected by the quality of our architecture.

The problems of the globe are also the problems of our major cities, especially post-industrial ones: environmental damage, economic inequality, public health crises. Can we solve these problems one city at a time, through renewal and innovation? We talk with Katie Stebbins, who has spent her career working to revive some of Massachusetts' most economically challenged towns. Her mission? To democratize innovation.

Katie explores how a community garden, or a small business growing coral in a garage, can and should count as innovation. "I think in any community you go into, you'll be surprised when you start knocking on doors, going in buildings, meeting people, the kind of assets you have on your roof that you never thought you had," says Katie. She says we have to work with the new populations that have migrated to our cities rather than attempt to re-create the factory town of old - a model she says is out-of-touch with our 21st-century workforces.

Katie also discusses public-private partnerships, her work in food innovation, and the 'circular economy' of best practices that allow ideas to migrate between cities and big national or supranational organizations. In her many roles, she emphasizes the need to 'get proximate' to people in order to democratize engagement.