Ep 127 - The Invention of the Future: How Cities Shape Society w/ Bruno Carvalho

In this insightful interview, Bruno Carvalho discusses the invention of the future, urban development, and the impact of technological and societal changes on cities from Lisbon to the US. Trent and Bruno explore how history, religion, law, and innovation shape our cities and societies, with a focus on creating sustainable, inclusive, and adaptable urban environments. More about is new book: THE INVENTION OF THE FUTURE: A History of Cities in the Modern World . The future has always been inextricable from urban planning. As the sea level rises and the effects of climate change become harder to ignore, plans for futuristic urban centers like Saudi Arabia’s mirrored megacity (The Line) and a floating city in the Maldives make for splashy headlines. Our modern cities—sources of greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution, overcrowding and urban sprawl—pale in comparison. Bruno Carvalho argues in THE INVENTION OF THE FUTURE that while modern-day New York City may not be designed for a period of climate emergency, its nineteenth-century architects certainly had the future in mind when laying out the plans. Carvalho details the feats of engineering that restored Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake, transformed Paris from a medieval city into a grand metropolis, and made sprawling cities like Manhattan easier to plan and develop via the implementation of a grid system. He considers how technological innovations (steel, steam-powered engines, automobiles) and social change (the abolition of slavery, the overthrow of colonial rule) led to the rapid growth and expansion of cities in the global South, from Buenos Aires to Brasilia to Lagos. The future may appear bleak from our vantage point, but “there is a lot of space for reinvention,” Carvalho writes, “and if we must reinvent, there might be no better place to look than the history of the future.” Bruno Carvalho is a professor at Harvard University, where he teaches courses on cities. He is the author of Porous City: A Cultural History of Rio de Janeiro. More from us: Website: Instagram: Apple Podcast: Spotify:

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Ep 127 - The Invention of the Future: How Cities Shape Society w/ Bruno Carvalho is an episode from Architecture, Design & Photography by Trent Bell.

This episode is 01:08:51 long.

This episode was published on Apr 3, 2026.

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