Urbanism Speakeasy

More than street photography. Chuck’s latest book is Seeing the Better City: How to Explore, Observe, and Improve Urban Space [pre-order on Amazon]. He loves street photography, but Chuck’s not interested in persuading us to amass a digital photo album just because it’s fun. He’s trying to motivate us to get beyond observation for observation’s sake. […] The post Seeing better cities through your urban diary, with Chuck Wolfe appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Bike Detroit? If we’re playing word association, you say Detroit, I’m gonna say cars. David Sands joins the podcast to talk about transportation advocacy – basically how to get people motivated to improve their communities. He’s a journalist who’s been working with Mode Shift, an online hub for people ready to make Michigan communities more walkable, bikeable, […] The post Persuading people to embrace multimodal systems, with David Sands appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

The relationship between cities and hinterlands Katrina likes to figure out what makes people tick. More specifically, she’s intrigued by how people interact with the built and natural environment. How do we translate the old hunter/gatherer habits into modern contexts? Americans are congregating in metropolitan areas more than ever. There’s a growing debate in professional […] The post Anthropology (the fine art of people watching), with Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Street design didn’t give me the flu, but it does contribute to my health. It impacts all of us, whether or not we realize it.   Active Living – it’s not just for health nuts I enjoy walking and riding bikes, but I wouldn’t consider myself a health nut. I never count calories and I […] The post Connection between street design and public health appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Warning: Don shares my bias for streets that are safe and comfortable for people of all ages. In other words, he’s not part of the modern infrastructure cult that is so good at destroying communities across America. Like so many other guests of Urbanism Speakeasy, we met online. (Twitter, not Tinder.) Don has excellent taste […] The post Bicycling as transportation, with Don Kostelec appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

The Twitterverse. A vast expanse where I have connected with all sorts of great people. Dena Driscoll and Marni Duffy are two such people. I’m pretty sure it was Dena who first caught my attention with a photo of her young kids packed in a bucket in front of a huge bicycle. Kids on bikes? That’s […] The post Give mom a bike lane, with Dena Driscoll & Marni Duffy appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

  If you keep quiet, they’ll assume you agree. Kevin Posey is an advocate for sustainable transportation policy. He lives in Alexandria, VA (just outside Washington, DC). It’s a city that has a lot of great streets and architecture, but like most places in America, still deals with the political arguments about what type of […] The post Convincing politicians to do the right thing, with Kevin Posey appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Adam Millard-Ball is an assistant professor at the University of California in Santa Cruz. Before that, Adam worked as a transportation planner. So naturally, one of his focus areas of academic research is derived from his experiences. We’re going to focus on an issue that has huge impacts on the built environment: trip generation.   Gypsy Fortune Tellers […] The post How traffic engineers predict the future, with Adam Millard-Ball appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

“So do you sell your work on Etsy?” Howard Blackson is probably best described as a placemaker. A what? For you planners or engineers out there, that’s a familiar term. Have you looked around LinkedIn recently? Even place-destroyers are using placemaking as part of their professional experience to get attention. Howard starts off our conversation describing […] The post Steps to designing great places, with Howard Blackson appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

The Invisible Visible Man Robert Wright is the U.S. industry correspondent for the Financial Times. A journalist! He wasn’t trained to be a road designer or a pro-bike lobbyist. So why feature him on Urbanism Speakeasy? I think the best way to answer that question is in Robert’s own words. Here’s a quote from his […] The post When bicycling makes you invisible to motorists, with Robert Wright appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Lisa Nisenson is on the show this week because she wants to save you and me from horrible places. Or maybe save us professional planners from ourselves. Or maybe both. She and some other do-gooders are raising money to change the world. What happens if they don’t raise the money? Neighborhoods everywhere will decline into […] The post Cards Against Urbanity, with Lisa Nisenson appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Bill Lindeke started blogging about sidewalks and cities almost 10 years ago. The catalyst was reading Jane Jacobs. When we spoke, Bill was working on his dissertation about bicycling and cities. He’s a native of Minnesota and serves on the St. Paul Planning Commission and Transportation Committee.   the great anti-planner Professional planners have grown to love […] The post Placemaking and street design for conservatives, with Bill Lindeke appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Chris Bruntlett joins Urbanism Speakeasy this week. Chris has all sorts of interesting stories, so it’s convenient that he enjoys writing and photography so he can document what’s happening around him. And it’s not just his work that’s interesting. Chris and his wife and kids had a pretty dramatic lifestyle shift not long ago. You may […] The post Biking as a viable transportation mode, with Chris Bruntlett appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

  Streetsblog is on a mission to improve infrastructure for people who walk, ride a bike, or hop on a bus. Streetsblog USA covers federal transportation and land use policy, as well as trends from around the country. That’s where you can find Tanya Snyder. Tanya’s been the editor since 2010. Late in 2013, she […] The post Fixing our mean streets, with Tanya Snyder [Streetsblog USA] appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Josh Paget is a comedian living in Los Angeles. Joel Karahadian is a musician and doesn’t always wear socks. These guys created the New Urbanism Film Festival – an event to showcase films about the built environment and its connection to human living. You’ll hear us talking about their recent Kickstarter project. It closed on July 3, […] The post New Urbanism Film Festival, with creators Josh & Joel appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Peter Norton was a guest host for WMAR’s Virginia Insights, a regular NPR show. (You may remember hearing Peter interviewed by me in this episode.) Peter invited Fionnula Quinn and me to talk about the connection between transportation networks and community life. Or in geek speak: placemaking and livability. Obviously you can’t call in live to […] The post Designing community streets for people [NPR broadcast] appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

  Many of you know that Congress for the New Urbanism was a major inspiration for this show. Not the national conference itself — but the tribe of people who are eager to challenge the status quo and actually do something to make their cities and towns more vibrant. So it’s only fitting that one […] The post Street design is the secret to great cities and towns, with Victor Dover appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Michael Lewyn has been teaching at numerous law schools for 14 years, and has written extensively about urban and suburban development. Like several other guests on Urbanism Speakeasy, we first met through Congress for the New Urbanism.   Does your local government policy promote sprawl? Michael and I began our conversation with a blog post he […] The post Government’s role in sprawl development, with Michael Lewyn appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

Todd Drezner is a New Yorker who wants to create a documentary for anyone who’s ever been stuck in traffic. So I’m going to make the educated guess that if you’re listening to this show, this documentary is for you. But here’s the catch. Todd needs help. He launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds, […] The post “In Transit” – a documentary for anyone who’s been stuck in traffic appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.

 photo by Laura Pfeifer Laura Pfeifer is an urban planner living in Toronto, Canada. (Ignore what you hear me say on the show. She used to live in Montreal.) She’s been involved in community projects like Park(ing) Day — which is where parking spaces are temporarily converted to miniature parks — and Jane’s Walk — an event […] The post Professional planners guide to tactical urbanism, with Laura Pfeifer appeared first on Urbanism Speakeasy.