Season 3, Episode 2 – Skye Duncan

Season 3, Episode 2

How Skye Duncan is Globally Multiplying Lessons She Learned in NYC

Our guest this month is Skye Duncan, a brilliant communicator who is Executive Director of the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI).

This innovative and impactful organisation is primarily funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies with a worldwide team of over 45 expert staff. It has its roots in New York City, stemming from the era when Mike Bloomberg was mayor and oversaw huge advances in active transportation and liveable street design.

Skye was “inside the tent” holding a key design role within the NYC administration for much of this time. After Bloomberg’s term in office ended, Skye moved to NACTO (the National Association of City Transportation Officials) from which the GDCI was eventually spun off as a stand-alone entity.

Throughout all three of these organisations, a common thread has been Skye working with Janette Sadik-Khan, who was NYC Transportation Commissioner and is now Board Chair at GDCI.

Skye’s life has been full of adventure from day one, having been born in Papua New Guinea. This very poor developing South East Asian island nation would have only had a population of about 3 million at that time, of which a fraction of 1% at any time were “expats” from other countries and a much smaller subset again would have their children there.

After being raised in New Zealand, graduating in architecture and winning a major design competition, Skye successfully applied for a Fulbright Scholarship.

Sponsored by US government since 1946, only about 4,000 foreign students per year win Fullbright scholarships to attend some of the most prestigious USA universities. So the competition is intense and only about 20 New Zealanders are successful each year.

After graduating with master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City, Skye joined the NYC administration during the Mike Bloomberg mayoral era when dramatic changes were made, often using a “quick, light, cheap” strategy to prove their concept, such as most famously depicted here in Times Square.

After Bloomberg finished his final term, Skye moved to NACTO, then to head up the Global Designing Cities Initiative that has published three major global guides: the Global Street Design Guide, the Designing Streets for Kids Guide and the Designing for Safe Speeds.

In our interview, Skye gives unique perspectives on what we need to do to make our cities work better for everyone. As Skye’s presentation slide above so graphically illustrates, different members of our communities have widely varying needs from our city designs and transportation options. After graduating with master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City, Skye joined the NYC administration during the Mike Bloomberg mayoral era when dramatic changes were made, often using a “quick, light, cheap” strategy to prove their concept, such as most famously depicted here in Times Square.

What’s Up?

In our “What’s Up” section at the end of this podcast, Phil talks about riding the newly opened Iris Dixon Veloway, that includes this dramatic bright green curving bridge. Not surprisingly, it has been unofficially named “The Caterpillar”.

As always, we’d love to hear from you with guest suggestions or any other feedback. Please use the Contact Us page on this website.

Until next month, keep squeaking!