De Dépendance Podcast
De Dépendance Podcast addresses the complex issues of our time and how they manifest themselves in cities and urban regions. The show is based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which as Europe's biggest port is intrinsically connected to global trends and transformations. In each episode, the hosts interview writers, scholars, and thought leaders to critically reflect on these connections and their implications for urban life.
Afleveringen
Ingrid Robeyns & Guido Alfani on Extreme Wealth
How rich is too rich? In this episode, we revisit a conversation recorded at De Dépendance in 2024 with philosopher Ingrid Robeyns and economic historian Guido Alfani, two leading thinkers on wealth, inequality, and the history of capitalism.The discussion took place on the occasion of the publication of Robeyns' book Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth and Alfani's As Gods Amon
Arnaud Orain & Caroline de Gruyter on Finitude Capitalism
In this episode, we bring you a recording of a special event we hosted with economic historian Arnaud Orain, whose work offers a new perspective on the history and future of capitalism. He is joined by journalist and European affairs commentator Caroline de Gruyter, one of Europe's most perceptive observers of politics and the liberal order.The conversation took place on the occasion of the Du
Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff on Muskism
In this episode, we bring you a recording of a conversation hosted by De Dépendance with historian Quinn Slobodian and writer and technologist Ben Tarnoff, co-authors of the new book Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed.Quinn Slobodian is Professor of International History at Boston University and the author of Crack-Up Capitalism, Hayek's Bastards, and Globalists. Ben Tarnoff is the author of I
Anna Tsing on the Patchy Anthropocene
In this episode we are bringing you a recording of a special event we hosted with anthropologist Anna Tsing, whose work has reshaped how we think about capitalism, ecology, and life in a damaged world. Anna Tsing is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Aarhus University. She is the acclaimed author of In the Realm of the Diamond Queen, Friction, and The Mushro
Ruha Benjamin on Imagination
In this episode, acclaimed sociologist and Princeton professor Ruha Benjamin joins De Dépendance Podcast for a compelling conversation on the occasion of her new book, Imagination: A Manifesto. Interviewed by historian Marianne Klerk, Benjamin explores how emerging technologies—especially algorithms and AI—shape inequality, and why we must treat imagination as a powerful site of struggle and possi
Lea Ypi on Indignity and the Fragility of Truth
In this episode, political scientist and philosopher Lea Ypi joins us to discuss the ideas behind her new book Indignity: A Life Reimagined. Named one of the world’s top ten thinkers by Prospect magazine, Ypi draws on her upbringing in communist Albania to examine the intertwined questions of freedom, democracy, memory, and political change. Building on the success of her memoir Free, Indignity bl
Grace Blakeley on Vulture Capitalism
In this episode, De Dépendance editor Hani Salih sits down with political commentator, economist, and author Grace Blakeley to delve into the ideas behind her new book Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom. Blakeley argues that today’s economic, social, and democratic crises aren’t signs of a system in collapse, but the intended outcomes of a capitalist m
Nikole Hannah-Jones on Democracy, Resistance and the Politics of Memory
In this episode, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and creator of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones, joins us for a powerful conversation on the state of American democracy. At a moment when history itself is being rewritten for political ends, Hannah-Jones reflects on how the stories a nation tells — and those it chooses to forget — shape its democratic foundations. Together with moderator Ha
Meredith Whittaker on Signal, Surveillance & AI
In this episode, we welcome Meredith Whittaker, President of the Signal Foundation and one of the world’s leading tech critics, for a powerful conversation on privacy, surveillance, and the future of technology. Whittaker, who also co-founded the AI Now Institute, shares her insights on how surveillance and AI are deeply intertwined, and how tech giants profit from large-scale data extraction. She
LIVE: The Big Con w/ Rosie Collington
In this episode, we dive into The Big Con, the provocative book by economists Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington, which exposes the deep entanglement between the consulting industry and the modern management of business and government. From McKinsey to PwC, the authors argue that these firms don’t just advise—they shape policy, stifle innovation, and erode accountability. In this lecture by Ro
LIVE: The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule w/ Angela Saini
In this episode, we’re joined by award-winning science journalist Angela Saini to discuss her bold and timely book: The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule. In this interview with historian Marianne Klerk, Saini traces the deep and complex roots of patriarchy — from the world’s earliest known human settlements to modern-day societies. Drawing on cutting-edge research in archaeology, history, and scie
LIVE: The Suspicion Machine w/ Gabriel Geiger, Miriyam Aouragh & Sofia Ranchordas
Across the world, experimental predictive algorithms are being deployed that promise to prevent welfare fraud. Now for the first time, an international team of journalists gained unprecedented access to one of these "suspicion machines" in the city of Rotterdam. An investigation by Lighthouse Reports, WIRED and Vers Beton demonstrates how governments all over Europe - and municipalities li
LIVE: The 1619 Project w/ Nikole Hannah-Jones
In this episode we talk to Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones on her groundbreaking 1619 Project. The 1619 Project is The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning reframing of American history that places slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of the countries’ national narrative. It offers a revealing new origin story for the United States, one that helps explain not only
LIVE: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities w/ Davarian Baldwin
In this episode we listen to a lecture by and interview with urbanist and historian Davarian L. Baldwin on the occasion of his highly acclaimed book In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities. Urban universities play an important and outsized role in cities. They bring diverse ideas and people together and they generate new innovations. But they also gentrify neig
LIVE: How Food Can Save the World w/ Carolyn Steel
In this podcast we will listen to a lecture by Carolyn Steel, architect and author of the award-winning Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives and Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World. From our foraging hunter-gatherer ancestors to the enormous appetites of modern cities, food has shaped our bodies and homes, our politics and trade, and our climate. Whether it’s the daily decision of what to eat,
LIVE: Climate Politics w/ Heleen de Coninck
Twelve months. That is the time the world now has for global greenhouse gas emissions to start to fall. If not, we will miss the chance to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. According to the 2022 report on mitigation by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the world can still hope to stave off the worst ravages of climate breakdown, but only through a “now or never” das
LIVE: Invisible Child w/ Andrea Elliott, Bowen Paulle & Cody Hochstenbach
In this live episode we talk to Andrea Elliott on the occasion of her Pulitzer Prize winning book 'Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City'. Elliott is an investigative journalist for The New York Times whose work documents the lives of people on the margins of power. Based on nearly a decade of reporting, Invisible Child follows eight dramatic years in the life o
LIVE: The Precariat w/ Guy Standing
In this live edition of De Dépendance Podcast labour economist Guy Standing gives a short lecture on his book ‘The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class’. In it he provides a detailed understanding of how the situation of precarious employment affects the lives of the “Precariat”: the rapidly growing number of people facing lives of insecurity, on zero-hour contracts, moving in and out of jobs that g
LIVE: Work Won't Love You Back w/ Sarah Jaffe
In this live edition of De Dépendance Podcast we listen to a short lecture by journalist Sarah Jaffe on her book Work Won’t Love You Back – How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted and Alone. The last decade has seen a seismic shift in attitudes towards work and the idea of labour. Whether it is through the rise of the gig economy, the rapid proliferation of the new creator economy,
LIVE: Educational Inequality w/ Bowen Paulle
In this special live edition of De Dépendance Podcast we listen to a short lecture by sociologist Bowen Paulle on one of the most pressing social issues of our time: educational inequality. In the past education has long served the function of being the 'great equaliser': not your origin or social class, but your talent and effort would determine your level of schooling and future prospect
Big Ship Capitalism w/ Laleh Khalili
In this episode we talk to Professor of International Politics Laleh Khalili on the occasion of her latest book Sinews of War and Trade, Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula. Khalili travelled the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean aboard gigantic container ships to investigate the secretive and sometimes dangerous world of maritime trade. What she discovered was strangel
The Housing Crisis w/ Leilani Farha
In this episode we will talk about one of the most pressing urban issues of our time: the housing crisis. Our guest is Leilani Farha, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and director of The Shift, a global movement to secure the human right to housing. Farha is also the central character in the acclaimed documentary PUSH regarding the financialization of housing. We will discuss w
Automation and the Future of Work w/ Aaron Benanav
In this episode we talk to economic historian Aaron Benanav, researcher at Humboldt University Berlin, where he studies the history of unemployment and global labour markets. We will discuss his latest book, Automation and the Future of Work, which is a consensus-shattering account of automation technologies and the falling demand for labour. Benanav argues that Silicon Valley titans, techno-futur
Building for Hope w/ Marwa al-Sabouni
In this episode we talk to Syrian architect and urban thinker Marwa-al-Sabouni. When war enveloped her city, Homs, she refused to leave and remained a virtual prisoner in her home for two years. In her autobiography, The Battle for Home: The Vision of a Young Architect in Syria, al-Sabouni analyses how architecture and city planning have played a role in fueling violence and civil conflict by dist
Islands of Abandonment w/ Cal Flyn
In this episode we talk to journalist and author Cal Flyn on the occasion of her book Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape. In the book Flyn travels to the most desolate places on earth: ghost towns and exclusion zones, no man’s lands and post-industrial hinterlands – and describes what happens when nature is allowed to reclaim its space. She offers profound insight and new eco
The Innovation Complex w/ Sharon Zukin
In this episode we talk to sociologist Sharon Zukin about an intrinsically urban phenomenon we have been witnessing all around us over the past decade: The rise of start-up ecosystems, tech hubs, accelerators, and venture capital investors which have transformed the city into what Zukin calls an ‘Innovation Complex’, which is also the title of her latest book. We will be talking about its origins
The Good Ancestor w/ Roman Krznaric
In this episode we talk to philosopher Roman Krznaric on the occasion of his latest book The Good Ancestor – How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World. In the book he argues that we live in an age dominated by the tyranny of short-term thinking. We have unlearned how to empathize with future generations and suffer from political presentism: a bias towards prioritizing short-term political inter
The Feminist City w/ Leslie Kern
In this episode we will be talking to Leslie Kern, associate Professor of Geography and Environment at Mount Allison University, on her latest book Feminist City, Claiming Space in a Man-made World. In the book Kern offers a way of understanding how gender bias and sexism functions in the built environment, and how this environment has been set up to support and facilitate traditional gender roles
The Future We Choose w/ Christiana Figueres & Tom Rivett-Carnac
In this episode we talk to Christiana Figueres and Tom-Rivett-Carnac. Christiana Figueres is the former UN climate chief and the architect and public face of the most pivotal climate agreement in history, the Paris Agreement. Tom Rivett-Carnac was Chief Political Strategist for this same agreement. Together they wrote a book – The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis – on what can still
Rentier Capitalism w/ Brett Christophers
In this first episode we talk to Brett Christophers, Professor of Social and Economic Geography at Uppsala University, on his latest book Rentier Capitalism. The book is a sweeping critique of early twenty-first-century capitalism in which ownership of key types of scarce assets - such as land, intellectual property, natural resources, or digital platforms - is dominated by a few unfathomably weal
