97. Productized Cities: Activism's role in innovative policy creation with Ksenia Ashrafullina

In the 5th episode of Productized Podcast S11: Future Cities André talks to Ksenia Ashrafullina. Ksenia is an activist, the Founder of Invisible City non-profit organization. Invisible City is a cultural app that turns smartphones into an up-to-date cultural agenda. Ksenia is helping emerging artists to perform more and get paid fairly. She graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations (part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) with a major in Spanish and Latin American History and Diplomacy. Ksenia got her Bachelor’s degree in Spain and her Master’s degree in the University College London. She is a co-founder of the civic movement Lisboa Possivel for inclusive mobility in Lisbon. And she calls herself a “self-employed diplomat” for the virtual embassy of the wonderful Russia of the future in Portugal.

Time stamps:
Introduction of the guest [1:20]
How did Ksenia start her path in activism [5:00]
Ksenia moved to Europe from Russia - what was the reason for that? [6:40]
How did Ksenia learn Spanish (Ksenia speaks about her mad obsession with southern countries) [9:30]
Self-employed diplomat for Russia - what is this title about? [13:30]
How did Ksenia learn 9 languages [16:30]
What TV hosts are expecting Ksenia to stand for [18:00]
Is there a democratic deficit in Portuguese society? [19:40]
Invisible City NPO development [24:00]

https://invisiblecity.eu/

Organization of events for solidarity [26:15]
What's the connection of Invisible City and Lisboa Possível [29:20]

https://lisboapossivel.pt/

Work towards mobility improvement in Lisbon [31:00]
Bike lane in Almirante Reis [32:00]
How to start on being an activist? An activist guide with all the information [37:00]
Ksenia is organising an event about petition writing[41:20]
Problem of the bike lanes in Baixa downtown [43:30]
You need to adapt yourself to the product that you are building.
Ksenia's event pitch - feel free to join at A Mata and register [47:05]
Engaging youth in activism [50:00]
What is Ksenia the most passionate about in her job [51:00]
Besides work and activism, what are Ksenia's hobbies [53:20]
Which technology would Ksenia learn if she had to choose one? [55:10]
What kind of innovation tech-people could create to make activist's life easier? [57:00]
What words of advice would Ksenia give her younger self [59:00]
Book recommendations [1:00:30]

Ksenia recommends:
📕 Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoğlu
📕 Raised From the Ground by José Saramago
📕 Letters From a Stoic by Seneca
📕 The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins


PRODUCTION
This podcast was hosted by André Marquet, with research by Evelina Bogdiun and sound editing by Miguel Sousa.

🎙 The Productized Cities Podcast is produced by Productized - a series of 12 interviews with product city innovators, successful makers, and entrepreneurs. We hope those who listen to the ideas on this show are inspired to productize their cities and communities. For show notes and additional resources related to the Productized Podcast visit https://medium.com/@Productized.

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