good traffic.

Amy Tomasso — Policy + Partnerships at Ivory Innovations — is in good traffic this week from Salt Lake City for a walkthrough of the Ivory Prize: a $1.5 million annual award celebrating housing innovation across policy, finance, construction, and design. Ivory Innovations operates as a nonprofit foundation connected to Utah's largest homebuilder, meaning that their awards fund housing solution...

Bobby Fijan — founder of The American Housing Corporation — is in good traffic this week for a conversation on rowhomes as the ideal American family housing typology, why density and family-friendliness aren't contradictory, and how to communicate housing solutions to folks in the States. We also touch on: Philadelphia's multi-generational neighborhoods. Brooklyn Heights, Highland Park, an...

In Portland for the summer and reflecting once more on the most underrated piece of bike infrastructure: parking. While we rightfully obsess over bike lanes and protected paths, we ignore the fact that transportation sits parked 95% of the time. This quick-hit episode breaks down what makes a good rack, why installation matters, and why bike parking is actually a gateway to widening bike culture....

Alkarim Devani — developer and founder of mddl — is in good traffic this week for a conversation on how Canada's housing realities compare/contrast with that of the U.S., and how we can better prepare developers to address our continental crisis. Timeline: 00:00 Alkarim Devani is in good traffic. 02:47 Canada's housing crisis. 04:36 Cities not sharing solutions with each other. 05:14 The c...

Avani Adhikari — head of insights at GatherGov — is in good traffic this week for a conversation about mapping America's data center development pipeline, what happens when you analyze millions of hours of municipal meeting recordings, and the most controversial topics in local government. As cities hear proposals they don't fully understand and residents voice opposition to infrastructure they've...

Paul Stout — urbanist creator and landscape designer — is back in good traffic this week for a conversation about making urbanism foundational, why the most successful design work often goes unnoticed, and what it takes to translate complex spatial ideas into social media messages that resonate. After a content hiatus and returning with videos that've caught fire, Paul reflects on how the standard...

Caitlin Taylor — architect, farmer, and founder of Midcourse Design & Development — is in good traffic this week for a conversation about the missing middle of America's food system, and why architects need to understand farming, supply chains, and retail, en route to rebuilding regional infrastructure. We also touch on: Why architects rarely work on food infrastructure. The lived experience o...

Tahra Hoops — director of economic analysis at the Chamber of Progress and writer of The Rebuild — is back in good traffic this week for a conversation about financial nihilism, what happens when an entire generation stops believing homeownership is possible, and why the definition of "starter home" desperately needs an update. As Gen-Z watches record spending on concerts and short-term...

Ben Wolf — cinematographer and director of the documentary Changing Lanes — is in good traffic this week for a conversation about using a Brooklyn bike lane project as a lens for understanding democracy, infrastructure, and why America feels politically stuck. As the documentary begins its theatrical release in Los Angeles and prepares to stream on major platforms, Ben reflects on what local stori...

Back stateside after a week in Scandinavia, and ready to share some field notes! Rather than just repeating what urbanists already know about Nordic bike infrastructure and cafe culture, we'll walk through the specific design choices that make these cities work, the surprising ways they differ from each other, and the sobering reality that even the best examples aren't perfect. For America...

Rachel Booth — U.S. social policy writer at Vox — is in good traffic this week for a conversation about what happens when cities bet on millennials but forget they eventually have kids, why upzoning alone won't solve the family-sized housing shortage, and how to tell complex urban stories to audiences who need them most. As someone who has covered housing and homelessness for 15 years and is n...

Forth Bagley — Principal Architect at KPF (Kohn Pedersen Fox) — is in good traffic this week for a conversation about designing at scale, threading the needle between progressive design and commercial realities, and why tall buildings owe a responsibility to the cities they define. As an architect involved in transforming places from Covent Garden, to Changi Airport, to Hudson Yards, to Central Ho...

Dominic Leonardo — the urban planner and creator behind CityGlowUp — is back in good traffic this week for a conversation about the hidden costs of hosting major sporting events, why cities keep building stadiums they can't afford, and what a leaked 2013 Super Bowl bid book reveals about the NFL's demands. As cities across the country bond for billions to build new facilities hoping for ec...

Diana Lind — urbanist, author, and writer of The New Urban Order newsletter — is back in good traffic this week for a wide-ranging conversation about municipal public land, the loneliness epidemic, and why threading the needle between instant reactions and thoughtful responses matters more than ever. Diana's newsletter has become essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of urbanism&#3...

Juan Pablo Garnham — Communications and Policy Engagement Manager at the ⁠ Princeton Eviction Lab ⁠ — is in good traffic this week for a conversation about the hidden scale of America's eviction crisis and why the data didn't exist until recently. Before 2018, there was no way to answer a simple question: how many evictions happen in the United States each year? The lab, founded by Matthew...

As much of the northern U.S. shivers through subzero wind chills, this episode argues that waiting for ideal conditions is exactly what keeps most people from ever establishing durable mobility habits at all. We touch on the psychology of habit formation, explaining why starting a walking routine during perfect weather in May or September sets you up for abandonment when conditions change. If you...

WE'RE BACK from our December break. At the end of '25, Kemp Gregory — CEO and co-founder of Renewal — joined good traffic for a conversation about energy infrastructure, the hidden potential of idle oil wells, and why the future of renewable energy storage might already be in the ground. As cities debate electric cars, housing development, and transit expansion, energy remains the crucial...

Who doesn't love a Halloween post-mortem on the week of Thanksgiving? Aly is back, and we dig into the rise of trunk-or-treat events, what gets lost when Halloween moves from sidewalks to parking lots, and how this one holiday reveals so much about walkability, safety, protectionism, and kids’ independence in American car-dependent neighborhoods. Timeline: 00:00 Aly's back. 00:56 What trun...

Nolan Gray — Senior Director of Legislation and Research at California YIMBY — is in good traffic this week for a discussion on how the state with America’s biggest housing problem has become a national leader in reforming the rules of the built environment. California is often treated as both a cautionary tale and a blueprint — derided for its crises yet envied for its innovation. Nolan walks us...

Ryan Short — author of the new book The Civic Brand , and founder of place-branding firm Civic Brand — joins the show this week for a discussion on how cities can more meaningfully define their brand. The term has been used and overused in almost every industry imaginable, and yet, Ryan argues the importance of the idea at its root. Particularly, for places. Through this, we spend time on the life...

An opinion brief, on defining and messaging urban design's healthcare-equivalent issue. Democrats are centering the current government shutdown showdown around a salient issue: healthcare. It's a smart framework, as the issue has long been a winner for them, and it benefits large swathes of folks across the political aisle. We need to do a better job of strategizing our shorthand, and comm...

Davis Obst — author of the new book Saving Ourselves from Big Car , and former literary agent best known his work on All the President’s Men — is in good traffic this week. His career has spanned some of the most pivotal exposés in modern history — from the Pentagon Papers to Watergate. Now, Obst turns his focus to corruption of the American auto lobby. In the conversation, David traces the deep h...

What do Albuquerque, Anchorage, and Albany have in common? Beyond cultural and climate differences, each city — like countless others in the U.S. — has given over about a third of its downtown land to off-street parking. This week, we reframe the way we talk about infrastructure investment. Rather than citing too few users as a reason not to invest in better infrastructure, what if we saw the folk...

This week, we spend time on the hype (and the pitfalls) of those endless “top ten cities for ...” lists. They’re catchy, shareable, and often the first thing people see when they think about moving or traveling. But do they actually tell us much about what it’s like to live car-lite or car-free in American cities? So, instead of telling you our top ten cities to move to, we came up with a differen...

Matt McPheely — developer of the Union House project in Greenville, South Carolina — is in good traffic this week to talk about building flexible housing that helps move a city's workforce closer to jobs, in a city not usually known for experimental cohousing developments. From navigating zoning codes and neighborhood opposition to designing adaptable homes that work for both single families a...