Do you wonder why certain cities and small towns around the world give you a different feeling than your day to day at home? It turns out, our built environment has a lot to do with how we feel and surprise… we let the spreadsheet people get in the way again and ruin the vibe 😅
Show Notes:
In this episode, Simone interviews Nujuma Ibrahim, a Dubai-based director of built environment strategy and creator of the Beneath the Concrete podcast, about how modern success and city design have become overly efficiency-driven and often hostile to human flourishing. They discuss why change must involve more stakeholders and explore how Africa can develop differently by drawing on local context and ancestral building knowledge instead of copying Western models.
00:00 Welcome to Meaningful Shift
01:13 Meet Nujuma Ibrahim
04:06 Reclaim Human Centered Design
12:02 New York Community Lessons
18:33 Africa Already Has Answers
26:49 Redefining Success Personally
33:37 Closing Reflections and Next Steps
Follow Nujuma and her work | Substack | Instagram
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If you have a comment, question, or any recommended guests hit me on Substack or DM me on Instagram, I would love to chat :)
The Meaningful Shift Newsletter
Music by Auxjack from Epidemic Sound
Special thanks to Hiwote Getaneh and the Emerging Voices Podcast Accelerator. Interested in starting your own podcast? Book a call with Hiwote.
Resources
Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery by Brianna Wiest
