Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: The City the BABA Podcast where we bring together top actors in the smart city arena, sparking dialogues and interactions around the stakeholders and themes most prevalent for today's citizens and tomorrow's generations.
I am your host Tamlin Shimizu and I hope you will enjoy this episode and gain knowledge and connections to accelerate the change for a better urban life.
Smart in the City is brought to you by Babel Smart Cities. We enable processes from research and strategy development to co creation and implementation. To learn more about us, please visit the Babel platform at babel-smartcities eu so welcome back everyone. We are back with our Mayors series where we talk to mayors of towns and cities of all sizes from all different places and we're trying to understand how their leadership is shaping different initiatives, different programs going on in their places.
And how is this progressing? The the really the goals of the city. So we're traveling virtually to a town today in a country that we have yet to explore much on the podcast, so I'm really excited for this one. We're going to talk about participatory budgeting and more of course. So if you're intrigued, make sure to stick around.
Without further ado, I'd love to introduce you to our guest today.
His name is David Mihalyczka. He's the mayor of Rychani, Czech Republic. Welcome David.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: Hello everybody and hello from Rychany, Czech Republic.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: Welcome onto the show. I was just trying to think and I don't think I've had anybody or at least maybe it's been a long time since I had anyone from the Czech Republic. So I'm really, really excited to dig in and you're doing really cool stuff. So thank you for being here today.
I like to get us started with a bit of a tease question and that teaser question for you today is if Richani were an animal, which animal would it be and why?
[00:02:09] Speaker A: I'm pretty sure we would be a bird, a very nice little bird flying in the sky quite high, really high above the earth. And why?
It's simple. We are small town like 17,000 people only, but we are really fast. We are really fast growing and fast implementing all new things which we which we find anywhere in the world. So we would be a bird which wants to be as high as possible. And that's our goal, to be the best town in the world for living.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: Awesome flying high. I like it.
David, can you tell me about your background? What led you into your role as mayor? Where did you come from?
Give me a little backstory about you.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Okay, at the moment I'm a mayor of this town, Riccione, but originally I am a civil engineer. That means I studied statics of buildings and I also worked as a designer of these structures made of concrete. Concrete or wood or steel. Originally I'm civil engineer and in my CV I've got also other jobs such as director of a small company dealing with renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics, heat pumps and etc. And then I worked as a director of bigger company, international company, building railways.
I also did the railway construction before and now I've been working at the town hall for 10 years already. So that's my very short CV.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: How did you go from engineering kind of very hands on work to now the mayor? Like what made you make this transition? And also I guess what lessons are you taking from your background into your role as mayor?
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Yeah, in fact I didn't see. I have never thought about becoming a mayor. It was quite slow process and in fact there was no one else to do it at some moment. So that's why I really was elected as mayor. But yes, I have always been active in public.
I organized cultural sports events in my town. And that's why I was asked at some moment in 2010 by a group of people who were building a new party in our local election.
And in 2010 we won the election.
Our leader was TV Star, very popular in our country.
And he worked as a mayor since then for 10 years. And I started as a regular member of the city council.
And after four years I became hire member of the city committee.
And after that I worked as a vice mayor. And then this colleague, this TV star said, okay, I've done enough, 10 years is enough and I'm looking for someone to take it after me. So I was the first in the row and that's why I became a mayor. It's five years ago.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: Very interesting. There's been a number of mayors on this mayor series who have told me basically that they did not ever plan on doing this and they somehow ended up in the role. So I think it's a common thread here.
To start us off also we have this picture now of Richani as like this bird flying high in the sky. And of course when people hear Czech Republic, they probably just think of Prague.
So can you paint a little bit more of a picture for us on what makes your town unique? What are you most proud of? Where is it also to start off?
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Okay, let's start with Czech Republic because some people may not know where exactly Czech Republic is? And simply, it is in the heart of Europe. So we are said to be heart of Europe then when you paint the shape of our country in the middle of Europe. So in the middle of the country is our capital, Prague.
It's in the middle. It's in the heart of Czech Republic is Prague. And we are just on the border of Prague. So on one side we've got big capital city and on other side we've got very nice woods, forest, some very small villages and river and beautiful nature. So we are in the middle of or between big city and beautiful nature. So that's our position.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Yeah, very nice. And maybe a little bit about the history of the town, like what really makes it unique.
What have you been really proud of to do in the city?
[00:07:55] Speaker A: Yeah, actually we are not a historical city or town.
Our city was founded sometime in the 13th century, which is 700 years ago. But we have never been important.
Like we were just little, little town.
And our uniqueness at this time is that we are close enough to the capital, to Prague, but we are really in beautiful nature. And we also have a perfect connection from our town to Prague by train and by motorway. So it's really easy to get to Prague in less than 30 minutes, like 25 minutes by train. You are in the very city center of Prague. But if I run from my home to I am in two minutes I am in the middle of the forest and it's like some. It's like paradise of nature, trees, quiet and so on.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: Yeah, lovely. It sounds really nice. I'm going to have to come visit next time I'm in Prague.
I love the Czech Republic, but I have not ventured yet to your town. So I will definitely have to come.
When I spoke to you the first time, you brought up a really interesting initiative and project that you guys have been really successful at around participatory budgeting. And so we thought that this would be a good case to share with the rest of the world, with our listeners on what you guys are doing there.
So first of all, for those that don't know what is participatory budgeting and why did you decide to implement it?
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Okay.
I would describe it as way to motivate people to be more active on public.
So we just. We don't want them only to go for election every four years, but we offer that they can change things more often so they can invent some projects, they can come with their own ideas. And if these ideas are good enough, then we help them with execution. Of these little projects and ideas and people really like changing their neighborhood. So yeah, it's about activity of people. And when they find that it works, then next year and next year they are even more active and more people try to do the same.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Yeah. What have you seen as. So you've seen this kind of domino effect is what you're saying, with more and more people wanting to do it, et cetera. What other outcomes have you really seen with ensuring that participatory budgeting is really integrated into your overall strategy?
[00:11:25] Speaker A: In fact, I think that the domino effect is not from the first year, not from 2016, but let's say after two or three years, when people really could see the real things which are finished, which are the project are ready to use. So that's when more people became interested in this pb PB we call participatory budgeting. And yeah, that's it. You must see the results. And once you see them, then you say, okay, it makes sense and why should we not take part as well?
[00:12:20] Speaker B: Yeah. So maybe as an advice would be to don't get too impatient that it takes a couple of years to really see the results, but then it does create this domino effect of more and more people being passionate and getting engaged.
I want to talk a little bit also about the fact that you've spread this also within the youth. So a couple years ago you launched PPE specifically for young people with the Change IT project in partnership with Student council.
Can you talk a little bit about what inspired this and how have young people really responded to this initiative?
[00:12:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I think this was one of the best ideas of last five years.
It was not my my idea. It was my friend and colleague who came with this PB4 young and it works perfect.
The idea started when we were thinking how to motivate young people to come to our local election.
Because normally young people go to concerts, they go for some fun, but they were not much interested in local politics. But when we came with this one million crowns for your project for young projects, then it changed a lot and now we see that it already is maybe stronger or bigger emotion than the regular PB for all, because young people always have more energy, more invention, more enthusiasm than our generation. So I really like it and I like that these young people are coming with very, very special ideas which normally we would never find out.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I'm a big fan as well. And apparently also you were recently a finalist, right, with this ChangeIt project for the Innovation in Politics Award for Democracy Technologies.
What do you think really sets this apart from other youth engagement initiatives that you've seen.
What have you received also as feedback, any of that?
[00:15:05] Speaker A: We were at this award ceremony in Barcelona last year, and it was good to see other models of this participation in other countries in Europe.
And what we brought back home from there was that we can do the same for scenarios for elderly people, for people who are very experienced, but maybe they already don't have so much energy, but they have got this life experience. So our next project in this participation will probably be PB for old people. So that's the other side of the life. We need projects and ideas from young people, but I think we should not forget these.
Our parents, our grandparents. And they also have good ideas which are different from. From these young ones, but they are also valuable.
[00:16:20] Speaker B: Have you received any criticism, skepticism, resistance from adults or other city leaders about you know, giving. I guess, giving teenagers so much control or.
Yeah, it leading to maybe them prioritizing projects that you wouldn't naturally.
Have you received skepticism?
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Not much. Not much. With this young project, this changed. It was taken more or less positively from all sides. But in the past, when we started this PB for all people, for all inhabitants, we had a lot of skepticism because people said, well, it's only 10% people who vote for these projects.
It's just 1 10th, which is little, and unless you have 50%, it doesn't make sense, and so on. But I think that 10% of the town is really a lot of people. And so in the first years there was a lot of skepticism, but now I don't see it anymore.
[00:17:40] Speaker B: Yeah, that's good. You've convinced them, I guess, with the outcomes and the changes. Yeah, yeah, that's good. That always helps.
Once you have the outcomes, then it's easier to convince them later on.
Yeah. So what do you think about.
So you're offering this concept, you're actually giving trainings now to other municipalities, correct. Around pb?
[00:18:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: Which I think is amazing, because at Babel, we're all about how do we disseminate better, you know, the learnings from one city to another. And you're doing this really well.
So what are the biggest challenges that you're seeing with other municipalities when they get started and what advice can you offer them?
[00:18:30] Speaker A: Yeah, first of all, they must find some leader of this project within the politicians, because unless there is some man, mayor or vice mayor, who says we want to do it, then it doesn't happen. So first of all, you must find this person, this person who will Take it as his own responsibility and project. And after that there are two, two things. One is like technical process with some tool for. For project collection, for. For the voting and etc. And the other part is the team, the people who organize this participation. And once you find motivated people, it always works because people want to be part of what's happening around. And if you get this training from.
From us or from anyone else, then it always works.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's great that you're doing this. I really love, really love that you're trying to also share these with. With others.
I also wanted to ask you, I'm very curious, what are some of the projects that have come out of this from. I'm very curious on what type of projects have been. Have been funded because of the PB approach.
[00:20:12] Speaker A: You mean some examples. Okay. We've got already more than 30 finished projects from the previous nine years of this PB. So one of the most successful was charity shop which we ran on our main square.
It was idea of an old woman who saw it somewhere in England and she came with this idea to Riccione and all of us said, it will not work here.
It's different and people will not bring their things to get them renovated and sell again.
And it works so nice. It's really nice place where not only it earns money for this charity and it also became a place where people meet each other, where these old people already retired. So they work on renovation of old things and they sell it. And it's really perfect. Nice place for all community events. So this was very special, special project which I can remember the other projects can be from the. From the field of sports and playground. So we've got a new adventure, mini golf playground.
We've got a new.
It's quite ordinary. We have got a new children's playground, but with some special things like.
I can't. I can't say it in English, sorry, but.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: No, that's okay. Yeah.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: So many, many playgrounds for. For children activities. Then. Then there are many projects which are connected to environment.
So new trees, new alleys, new water ponds, small lakes.
Then some of the projects were also suggesting new places to sit somewhere in nature just to have some rest and have nice view in nature. So some of the projects are these like nice things which are, let's say addition to normal.
But we also have more normal projects such as pavement, new road and so on.
[00:23:31] Speaker B: Yeah, really interesting. I really like this approach with this. I'm sure you've.
You're doing Amazing things. But you must still have some challenges left that you're dealing with. So I want to ask you, what do you think are kind of some of the main challenges that you're tackling? What tools do you feel like are missing to be able to tackle those challenges? So a lot of cities, for example, might say funding as one of their main challenges, or procurement.
What do you think are your main challenges?
[00:24:03] Speaker A: Well, as the world is changing and the technologies are changing a lot very fast, so we must consider changing the tool for voting in this participation. Because in the past nine years ago we came with some tool, some voting app, but nowadays it should be improved, I think. And so that's our idea to change it in the next year because we want to involve even more people. So it must be easier and faster to get in.
So that's what we plan for next year.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Yeah, sounds good. With that, I'd like to give you the open floor. We got to talk about some interesting examples and your PB approach and all of this, but there might be some things that we missed that you think are really important to get out there to our listeners. Is there anything that you want to mention for the open floor?
[00:25:13] Speaker A: I think that most important is always to start.
Don't wait until you have everything on 100%. It never comes and you must start somehow. And then it's a process. So maybe next year you improve it, next year you find some other things you want to change. But you already have the two, three years of experience and it's definitely worth it. So don't hesitate, don't be afraid to start and start as early as possible.
[00:25:48] Speaker B: Very good message. I like that a lot. Because we see these delays so much with public sector especially. Right. Of course with other actors as well, that they want everything to be perfect and line up before getting going. So really love that message.
Now we get to go to one of our fun segments and the segment that we have for you today is called Shout Out.
Shout Out.
Mention a person, an organization, or a city you think deserves more recognition in the field.
Have an idea who you want to shout out today?
[00:26:28] Speaker A: Yes, I think I would like to mention two cities. One of them is Cascai in Portugal. It's a suburb of Lisbon where we went to study participation 10 years ago before we started in Vichen. So that's definitely the place where they are probably the best in the world in participation.
And the other town I would like to mention is in Germany, it's called Lindao and it Lindao and it's I think the best or the town with the best public transport system within the small towns, I mean in the world they've got very good public buses organization and we want to be as good as them.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Okay, very good. Yeah, thanks for, thanks for doing the shout outs. Good. Two recognitions there.
Now that brings us to our final question. It's the question that we ask every single guest that comes onto the show.
It is to you, what is a smart city?
[00:27:38] Speaker A: Smart city is a place where people use their own brain and do things very simple and do things which work. So for me it doesn't mean technology or something very clever and sophisticated. It means something simple, clever and like natural normal life natural. So don't try to be too sophisticated. Just try to be what we know from prehistoric.
[00:28:19] Speaker B: Smart is simple. I like that.
Yeah, very good.
All right. With that I just have to give you a big, big thank you David for coming on, sharing your expertise, sharing all about participatory budgeting. It was really interesting to learn more from you so than thank you very much for coming on.
[00:28:35] Speaker A: Thank you very much for invitation and have a nice rest of the day.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: Thank you. You as well. And of course I have to thank all of our listeners. This wouldn't happen without you as well. Don't forget you can always create a free account on Baba SmartCities EU. You can find out more about smart city projects, solutions, implementations and more. Thank you very much.
Thank you all for listening. I'll see you at the next stop on the journey to a better urban life.
[00:29:03] Speaker A: Facebook.
