Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast

This Week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Bill Fulton who has worn many hats including mayor, planning director, think tank director, publisher, professor and currently can be found writing on Substack at The Future of Where. We chat the impacts of work from home on cities, changing migration patterns and the south's new role as the "National Suburb", tax policy and burdens, 100 ye...

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Greg Shill, Professor of Law at the University of Iowa, and Jonathan Levine, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan to talk about their paper, First Principals of Transportation Law and Policy. We talk about how to rethink transportation metrics towards accessibility, how the law has embedded mobility in tran...

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire, Tracy McMillan is back on the show to talk about a number of items including a piece on the role of the built environment in population decline, the kids of the Netherlands taking part in a four day national walking festival, the prevalence of growing vehicles in the United States and in Europe, and a signification pollution reduction in London on account...

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Will Poff-Webster of the Institute for Progress to talk about their new collection of ideas to bring transit project costs down entitled the Transit Abundance Playbook. We discuss how to translate ideas into legislation, how these ideas fit into the current transportation bill, the importance of building public sector capacity, and how to c...

This week we're joined by Ryan Puzycki, who writes at The City of Yes.  We have a discussion on urban disorder, how it manifests, and how to address the upstream impacts instead of when it's too late. We also talk about enforcing norms and the impacts of media on our perceptions. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Thread...

This week on the Mondays show we're joined by Kate Gasparro of the Building Better Cities podcast. We talk about the potential for land value taxes, research on car commutes from the Pottsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 15 minute cities and the importance of destinations, and big Japanese megadevelopments. Main Stories A potential for land value taxes - Sightline Institute A new approac...

This week we're joined by Professor Eric Dumbaugh of Florida Atlantic University to share his new paper on Land Use and Road Safety: Understanding the Persistence of Vulnerable Road User Deaths and Injuries in the United States. We discuss the connections between the siting of destinations and deaths of vulnerable road users as well as a long game needed for true road safety. +++ Get the show ad f...

This week we're joined by Ryan Avent to discuss his new book In Good Faith: How the Nature of Belief Shapes the Fate of Societies. We discuss human evolution and the impact of collective knowledge and culture and the need to create a new story about the future of society. We also discuss grass is greener thinking on infrastructure, the nature of belief without the need for evidence, and the fact t...

Chrissy Mancini Nichols joins the show again and we have a blast talking about all kinds of urban topics.  We discuss the rise of electro-states, a new way to measure accessibility from Wendy Zhao, short versus long term thinking on BRT alignments, and thoughts on how we should fund transportation considering our new world of deliveries and electric vehicles. Lots of great stuff, listen in here.  ...

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Jaime Benavides and Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou of Brown University to discuss their new paper showing how community severance by road infrastructure and traffic has led to more mental health related hospital visits in New York City. We talk about the role of roads cutting people off from social connections and how impacts of roads on me...

This week we're joined by Dabney Sanders, Project Manager of the Greensboro Downtown Greenway. We chat about opening the final section of the Greenway after 25 years of work, the amazing art projects on the route, and lessons for other cities wanting to build greenways. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagr...

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Cardozo Law professor Michael Pollack to talk about his new book Sidewalk Nation: The Life and Law of America's Most Overlooked Resource. Michael discusses who manages, owns, and feels ownership of sidewalks and advocates for a Department dedicated to them. We also talk about the nexus between sidewalks and roads, the impact of the American...

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're joined once again by Tracy McMillan to discuss a number of super interesting news items.  We discuss the future of New Orleans in a time of Sea Level rise, getting amphibians across the road safely during mating season, food insecurity amidst transit deserts, the importance of weekend transit service, and a bit on meeting people where they are when p...

This week we're joined by Stephanie Dockery to discuss the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge.  Stephanie discusses how a bus art can get a cult following, how artists are creating attention in their cities with temporary art, and what happens after the projects disappear. Find the Bloomberg Connects art app here which contains audio, video, and written resources. +++ Get the show ad fr...

We're doing a bit of a crossover episode this week as I wanted to do two things, promote the amazing podcast The Brake hosted by Kea Wilson at Streetsblog USA and Dr. Anat Caspi at The University of Washington and her work focused on creating a platform that inventories Washington State's sidewalks. This is a reproduction of The Brake's February 24th episode What It Would Take to Map Every Sidewal...

This week we're joined by Arizona State Professor Benjamin Fong to discuss an item he wrote in Urban Omnibus entitled Where's My Package? We discuss his work trying to suss out how e-commerce companies like Amazon have built their logistics systems and the difficulties of last mile deliveries. Benjamin also shares potentially beneficial legislation, movements that could benefit workers, and the pr...

This week we're Han Solo, but have a lot of great news items to share including SRO legislation, Japan's rail expertise, the idea of onboarding residents to a city, and the quiet that came from the solar eclipse. Below are the show notes including links to the articles that we discussed. MAIN ITEMS SRO legislation - Niskanen Center Older drivers - Carbon Upfront! Japan's railways - Works in Progre...

This week we're joined by Tom Flood, Grant Ennis, and Brent Toderian to discuss their new communications project, The Urban Truth Collective.  We discuss pushing back on falsehoods and conspiracies through positive messaging around cities. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube! Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, Substack ....

This week on The Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Calvin Thigpen of Toole Design and Ysabel Hoogeveen of Upway to discuss a report entitled Refurbished E-bikes: An Affordable Transportation Solution for Cities and Consumers. We chat about costs for used e-bikes and what could help grow the industry. +++ Get the show ad free on Patreon! Find out about our newsletter and archive on YouTube!...

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're Han Solo, but got some great and interesting news for everyone. We look at a model base for disabled Olympians in Milan, the economic security of American households, and how reverse game theory can create win win situations in cities.  All the items we covered are in the notes below. Main items: Accessible cities can exist - Teen Vogue Economic secu...

Hey everyone!  We're on Spring Break this week (and posting a little early) but I wanted to do a fun flashback so here we're chatting with David Hensher of the University of Sydney (Episode 425) about his thoughts on Mobility as a Service renamed mobility as a feature.  It's super interesting and thought provoking so I hope you enjoy it.  We'll see you next week! +++ Get the show ad free on Patreo...

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined once again by Laurel Paget-Seekins of Public Advocates. Laurel discusses transit agency power dynamics, loss of public sector capacity, and how the administration is looking to gut civil rights enforcement mechanisms for transportation projects. Links to Laurel's website Laurel in Transit and the Transit Data Primer +++ Get the show ad free on...

This week we're joined by Stephen Crim, Director, Policy & Analytical Reporting, Central Business District Tolling Program (CBDTP) at the NYMTA. We chat about the MTA's one year data report on congestion pricing including some of the results and how the data was collected. Stephen also discusses the numerous government data partnerships and enhancements including air quality monitoring and what ot...

This week on Mondays at the Overhead Wire we're joined once again by Chrissy Mancini Nichols and Tracy McMillan to tackle a whole host of topics including the connection between VMT and safety, chrono urbanism, how navigating cities protects your brain, and Austin's housing construction success.   Main Discussion Chrono urbanism - Landzine Lower VMT means safer roads - SSTI Austin housing growth -...

This week we're joined by Vanessa Cooksey, President and CEO of the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis and Chris Hansen, Executive Director at Kranzberg Arts Foundation. We chat about growth and investment in St. Louis' Grand Center Arts District and talk about the people that make it work. We also discuss ensuring that the public can enjoy the arts while making sure artists benefit from their...