This week we're back at NACTO 2017 in Chicago with a series of speakers that did quick presentations on how the work we do as advocates to change minds. Skye Duncan hosts and starts off with a discussion of the NACTO Global Designing Cities Initiative. Chris Bruntlett talks about the work he and his family do at Modacity "marketing the lifestyle of cycling". Ed Solis of The City of San Jose describes Viva Calle, San Jose's Cyclovia. Kris Carter of the City of Boston talks about the safety compet...
Jan 11, 2018•1 hr 7 min
This week we’re back at the NACTO Designing Cities conference for the closing plenary. Paris’ Deputy Mayor for Transportation and Public Space Christophe Najdovski discusses all the improvements that are being made to the city’s transportation network. He chats about expanding the subway and tram networks, improving cycling infrastructure, creating more space for people in public squares and pedestrianizing the left bank of the River Seine.
Dec 21, 2017•39 min
This week we’re chatting again with Jonn Ellege of CityMetric. This time it’s my turn to interview and we cover a lot of ground. We talk about housing in London and out including the basics of council housing. We chat about major transportation projects including Crossrail and high speed rail while also discuss what’s happening to the buses on Oxford street and how Transport for London is regulating Uber.
Dec 14, 2017•42 min
This week we're joined by Breen Masciotra, TOD Manager for the Port Authorty of Allegheny County and Karina Ricks, Director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure at The City of Pittsburgh. We discuss transportation in Pittsburgh and the challenges they face including topography, new technologies, and hostile streets. We also talk about awesome improvements to the system including new bus rapid transit, transit oriented development, eco innovation districts, and connecting multiple mob...
Dec 07, 2017•49 min
This week we're at the NACTO Designing Cities Conference in Chicago and hear keynotes from Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Department of Transportation's Director of Planning and Programming Erin Aleman. The Mayor discusses Chicago's distinct advantages compared to other cities as well as improvements that have been made to the cities transportation system. He also talks about new funding sources including a ride hailing fee for transit capital and why those things are related. In her discussion...
Nov 30, 2017•33 min
This week we’re joined by James Corless, CEO of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the Sacramento area’s MPO and COG. We chat with James about the Sacramento region and its connections to both urban and rural economies, his past working on federal transportation policy in Washington DC, why it’s kind of ridiculous to do 30 year regional long range transportation plans, and why mid-sized cities are part of a whole new space race for providing jobs and housing around the United States....
Nov 16, 2017•40 min
This week we chat with Benjamin De La Pena, Deputy Director for Policy, Planning, Mobility, and Right of Way at Seattle DOT. We talk about SDOT’s New Mobility Playbook which offers strategies for future transportation that focuses on people first. Benjamin also discusses his affinity for international transportation, how we help the unbanked with transportation solutions, and how organizations can get ahead on policy during this whirlwind time for new mobility.
Nov 09, 2017•26 min
This week we’re sharing the last plenary session of the Rail~volution conference which was a panel discussion of three current mayors of major United States cities hosted by Maurice Jones of LISC. Mayor Libby Schaaf of Oakland, Mayor Bill Peduto of Pittsburgh, and Mayor Michael Hancock of Denver discuss transportation and innovation in their cities including civic focused non-profits, public-private partnerships, neighborhoods pressures and resilience.
Oct 26, 2017•1 hr 10 min
This week we’re back again at Rail~Volution and joined by Diana Mendes, Transit/Rail Practice Leader and Vice President at HNTB. We talk about how Diana met the author of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and what needs to change about environmental planning. She talks about the environmental planning process for the Lower Manhattan Recovery after 9-11 in addition to early use of GIS.
Oct 19, 2017•21 min
This week we’re back at the Rail~Volution conference in Denver talking with Congressman Earl Blumenauer who represents Oregon’s 3rd District which includes parts of Portland. Congressman Blumenauer discusses how Rail~Volution got its start, how we can use congestion pricing and road user charges to pay for transportation, Vision Zero, and why urbanists should be thinking about the Farm Bill
Oct 12, 2017•35 min
This week we’re joined by Tony Dutzik of the Frontier Group and Steven Higashide of TransitCenter to discuss their new report entitled Who Pays for Parking? We discuss where these parking tax subsidies come from, what are some case studies of cities that have learned how to create value from parking, and who benefits from these parking subsidies.
Oct 05, 2017•45 min
This week on the podcast we’re bringing you an episode we recorded at Rail~Volution in Denver in front of a live audience. I was joined by transit advocate and Maryland local Dan Reed to talk about the Purple Line light rail project. After 31 years of discussion the Purple Line is finally under construction and Dan gives us some background on the project including where the project goes, how the public private partnership was put together and how lawsuits just couldn’t keep a good line down. We ...
Sep 28, 2017•36 min
This week we’re joined by Abby Thorne Lyman, the Transit Oriented Development Program Manager at BART. Abby discusses BART’s new TOD Guidelines and the group of agency policies they pull together. We talk about the importance of reduced parking, the ridership benefits, and expectations transit agencies should have for property developers.
Sep 14, 2017•36 min
This week we are back at the UITP Global Public Transport Summit in Montreal. We recorded this session on Land Value Capture featuring Julian Ware of Transport for London, Sharon Liu of Hong Kong’s MTR, and Iain Dobson of Strategic Regional Research Associates in Toronto. Each of them discuss how each of their organizations looks at land value capture as a specific tool for transport development.
Sep 07, 2017•26 min
This week we’re chatting with Nico Larco, an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Oregon and Co-Director of the Sustainable Cities Initiative. We talk about the secondary effects of autonomous vehicles and e-commerce such as street design, parking, and land values. We also talk about terrestrial drones, zombie cars, delivery bee hives, and the fact that cities just aren’t ready yet for an autonomous future.
Aug 24, 2017•37 min
This week Robin Rather of Collective Strength joins the podcast to talk about missteps in the planning profession. She discusses how she got to thinking about urban issues and why she believes current planning practice is stuck in the 1990s. We also talk about the often jargon filled language the profession uses and use an example paragraph from Austin’s current code rewrite to illustrate.
Aug 17, 2017•36 min
This week is the first part of two where I chat with Jonn Elledge, the editor of City Metric and the host of the Skylines podcast. In this episode Jonn interviews me about US transportation, particularly the history of urban subways and light rail and we also talk about transport politics and possible futures.
Aug 10, 2017•36 min
This week we welcome back Tanya Snyder of Politico Magazine for the 150th episode of Talking Headways. We discuss aviation legislation in the house of representatives including what it means for drones and whether private jets should pay more for air traffic control. We also talk about legislation on self-driving vehicles and all of the smaller details you might not have heard before including state versus federal regulations of vehicles and children’s safety.
Aug 03, 2017•39 min
This week we’re joined by Lee Einsweiler of Code Studio in Austin Texas. We talk about all things land use codes and zoning including what goes into a zoning code, different countries approaches to zoning, the dreaded topic of parking, as well as why they usually haven’t been updated for 50 years.
Jul 20, 2017•37 min
This week on Talking Headways we’re joined by Zack Wasserman, Head of Global Business Development at Via, a ride sharing company headquartered in New York. We talk about Via’s role as a ride sharing provider and software builder for transit agencies and how we can get more people sharing rides. We also discuss how future transportation will likely change in lower density places and the role of innovation in both the public and private sector transportation space.
Jul 13, 2017•31 min
This week we’re coming to you from the UITP Global Transport Summit in Montreal with guest Projjal Dutta, the Director of Sustainability at the NYMTA. We chat about the idea of transit avoided carbon, how you measure emissions, and the impact of Superstorm Sandy on sustainability thinking in the NY region.
Jul 06, 2017•25 min
This week on the podcast we’re chatting with Beth Osborne of T4America and Kevin DeGood of The Center for American Progress about infrastructure plans of the new administration. We talk about the budget process skinny or thick, the possible benefits and drawbacks of public private partnerships, the difference between funding and financing, and what this means for transportation in rural areas.
Jun 29, 2017•37 min
This week we’re joined by Patrick Oliva, the Co-Founder of the Paris Process on Mobility and Climate to talk about decarbonization of transport. We chat about electrification of the transport sector and what it means for climate change, the role cities need to play in the Paris process and what levels of government work best, and the what the focus should be for mayors in the coming decade.
Jun 22, 2017•15 min
This week we’re joined by Matthew Heins to talk about his book The Globalization of American Infrastructure: The Shipping Container and Freight Transportation. Matthew talks about how the American highway and rail systems created a global standard for shipping containers, the local actors shaping globalization, containerization’s effects on labor and relevance to an automated trucking future, and the massive intermodal terminals in cities like Chicago.
Jun 09, 2017•31 min
This week we’re back with part 2 of our discussion with Dr. Lisa Schweitzer of USC’s Price School of Public Policy. We talk about the idea of jobs housing balance, her blog post on the Smartest Boy Urbanist, her favorite planning books and mentors, and we get a preview of her upcoming book on firearms and cities.
May 31, 2017•38 min
This week we're joined by Dr. Lisa Schweitzer of USC's Sol Price School of Public Policy. For this first episode of two with Dr. Schweitzer we chat about how her students respond to urban planning classes, the recent dustup between bike advocates during a city council election in Los Angeles, and autonomous vehicles and land policy.
May 25, 2017•38 min
This week we chat with Streetfilms own Clarence Eckerson Jr. We chat about how he started making films and his beginnings with BikeTV. Additionally, we talk about the best way to make films and what some of recommendations are for approaching people on the street. There might also be a few stories about Veronica Moss, The Zozo, and The Color Gurple.
May 04, 2017•41 min
This week we’re joined by Shelley Poticha, Director of NRDC’s Urban Solutions Program. We chat about a couple of programs she’s working on at NRDC including SPARCC and the City Energy Project. I ask about the Clean Power Plan and we talk about how FTA and HUD were finally connected as well as the 1993 book she wrote with Peter Calthorpe about TOD called The Next American Metropolis.
Apr 27, 2017•37 min
This week we’re chatting with Matt Horton of Proterra, a company that designs and manufactures battery powered electric buses. We chat about the basics of electric buses, power consumption and recharging, the benefits and costs, as well as possible environmental outcomes.
Apr 20, 2017•39 min
This week we’re chatting with Chuck Wolfe about his new book Seeing the Better City. We discuss how he makes his own urban diaries with images, the ability to sense events long passed in places we know, the best way for bloggers and urbanists to use pictures in their work and advocacy, and a future where images are data mined hopefully not resulting in the extermination of humans by our AI overlords.
Apr 13, 2017•38 min
