# What smart cities know about you before you do | Alice Charles | Transform Gov

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/transform-gov-the-digital-government-podcast-6921732/what-smart-cities-know-about-you-before-you-do-alice-charles-transform-gov
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/transform-gov-the-digital-government-podcast-6921732/what-smart-cities-know-about-you-before-you-do-alice-charles-transform-gov.md
Podcast: [Transform Gov - the digital government podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/transform-gov-the-digital-government-podcast-6921732)
Published: 2026-03-13T12:16:06+00:00
Episode link: https://digitalgovawards.com/podcast/
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6654b705d950260012df3b93/e/69b400067ebe44dc8b0c21b0/media.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/transform-gov-the-digital-government-podcast-6921732/episodes/what-smart-cities-know-about-you-before-you-do-alice-charles-transform-gov
Duration seconds: 2077

## Resource

What if a city already knew your child was starting school — and simply sent you a text asking if you agreed with the proposed school? That already happens in Helsinki. In this episode of Transform Gov, infrastructure expert Alice Charles from Arup explains how some cities are using data, digital twins and AI to plan transport, housing and infrastructure far more intelligently. You will hear: How Helsinki predicts school demand using data Why digital twins allow cities to test developments instantly Why surveys often get transport data wrong How Copenhagen paid for its metro by building housing around stations Why Dublin sometimes loses international meetings to cities with better transport How electricity data can reveal vacant homes This conversation shows how data is quietly changing how cities function. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:05 Helsinki’s predictive public services 04:00 Digital twins explained 05:30 Why visual planning wins public support 06:30 AI and planning systems 08:40 Human intelligence vs AI 11:10 Why surveys fail 12:10 Copenhagen’s real cycling data 15:30 MetroLink and global infrastructure firms 17:30 Metro funding through housing 20:40 Why Dublin loses business to Amsterdam 23:30 All-island infrastructure planning 26:00 Finding vacant homes using electricity data Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/transform-gov-the-digital-government-podcast-6921732/episodes/what-smart-cities-know-about-you-before-you-do-alice-charles-transform-gov/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/transform-gov-the-digital-government-podcast-6921732/what-smart-cities-know-about-you-before-you-do-alice-charles-transform-gov.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.