Cities 1.5 | Podcast Guru

Details

Cities 1.5 is a podcast featuring progressive policy conversations with urban leaders taking action to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees. Hosted by David Miller and developed by University of Toronto Press, this podcast serves as a platform to discuss the most pressing policy and underlying economic issues facing cities in their effort to lead on transformational climate action. The podcast is an extension of the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy (https://jccpe.utpjournals.press), which publishes timely, evidence-based research that contributes to the urban climate agenda and supports governmental policy towards an equitable and resilient world. Join Editor-in-Chief and host David Miller as he speaks with mayors, city policymakers, economists, youth leaders, and scholars, among others, who are implementing and fighting for ambitious, near-term climate action.

Recent Episodes

Oh, Canada: Living with fire in a warming world

As catastrophic wildfires intensify across Canada - destroying homes, blanketing the country in smoke, forcing evacuations, and driving major economic losses - we ask in this episode what it will take to live with fire in a warming world. David sits down with returning guest to the podcast, fire ecologist and professor Jen Baron, to hear how decades of suppression and the disruption of Indigenous cultural burning helped create today’s more severe, fast-moving fires. We also hear from Ja...

62 MIN

Oh, Canada: How did we get here?

Canada is having a moment: our reputation and soft power are growing. In the face of unexpected tariffs, a deepening housing crisis, and skyrocketing cost of living, Canadians are asking who we really are, what we want to stand for…and what lies ahead. There is great opportunity to be had, but also great risk in the road ahead. Canada needs energy independence and geopolitical protection - but Mark Carney’s federal government seems to be choosing a path of further baking in fossil fuels, rath...

63 MIN

TRAILER: Oh, Canada: Solutions for the Climate Crisis

Climate change can feel frightening and uncertain - so much so, in fact, that sometimes hope can feel like an act of denial. But hope isn’t denial: it’s a recognition that we still have choices. In our new Cities 1.5 limited miniseries, Oh, Canada: Solutions for the Climate Crisis, we’re speaking to Canadians from coast, to coast, to coast, who are turning those choices into action. Featuring voices from politics, academia, activism, and municipal leadership - including Leader of Canada’s NDP...

1 MIN

Be Hope: Cities 1.5 presents a special preview of Oh, Canada - Solutions for the Climate Crisis

What if there are reasons to hope for a more resilient climate future in your own backyard - right here in Canada? Well, that’s exactly the question we’re asking in our new miniseries, Oh, Canada: Solutions for the Climate Crisis. At Cities 1.5, we’re proud to join forces with voices around the world for the 2026 #BeHope Podcast Takeover. We’re coming together to prove that even in challenging times, hope remains a real force for progress - and we can all be part of it. This special pre...

16 MIN

HOT TAKE: "A Captain never leaves his ship."

When the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, local leaders found themselves thrust onto the frontlines of both military defense and environmental catastrophe. Coupled with untold amounts of human suffering, the war has inflicted deep environmental scars - from the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam to the corrosion of municipal water pipes - which many Ukrainian officials refer to as "ecocide." Yet, amidst daily bombardment, energy blackouts, and severed water su...

20 MIN