John O’Callaghan designs interactive and fun ways to engage with urban planning.
As a young planner, John O’Callaghan created a buzz in the industry. Instead of rules, regulations and tedious town hall meetings, he kickstarted initiatives like Idea Bombing Sydney, online blogs and social media to get his peers engaged with cities. Now, after ten years leading strategic planning and engagement company JOC Consulting, John shares how he learnt to slow down, find his voice and focus his energy in order to have the greatest impact.
Find out how to disrupt a highly regulated industry and harness the latest tech for powerful engagement, plus what John really thinks about planning jargon.
Show Notes
- 3:25 Leaving the farm for the big smoke
- 5:17 Finding your voice
- 8:32 Planning jargon face-off
- 10:21 Engagement as play
- 12:58 What on earth is idea bombing?
- 17:17 The life of an urban influencer
- 19:02 Prepping for public talks and panels
- 22:54 Managing a room full of rage
- 27:21 Why every town needs a night time economy
- 29:11 Reflecting on ten years of practice
- 32:53 What young planners need to know
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Dig Beneath Design: John O’Callaghan designs interactive and fun ways to engage with urban planning.
~16:14… Connecting ideas and trying to “just move those ideas forward as much as possible.” A really simple but important takeaway John… I really feel that those in planning, be it the statutory side or engagement side you describe, need to be creative in how they can be active in the process they are involved. Even if the next step isn’t a planning related one!