Seth Zeren

The New School for City Builders

Society EN ↓ 7 episodes

Welcome to The New School for City Builders, a conversation about how we teach, train, and educate the people who build and steward our cities and towns. America is struggling: a housing crisis, climate change, forty thousand of our fellow citizens killed in car crashes each year, insolvent city budgets, sclerotic government, an epidemic of ugly buildings and streets and places not worth caring for. At the end of the day, our cities and towns are only as good as the people who build them and maintain them. If we want to change how our cities and towns work, we need to bring up a new generation...

Author

Seth Zeren

Episodes

Practice Before Theory: A Different Blueprint for Teaching City Builders 07.07.2026 47:44

Show Notes: * Aaron’s Substack: On Housing * Aaron’s architecture & development practice (with Jenn Truman): Rocket Shop * Olin College * Deep Springs College * Front Porch Republic * Shop Class as Soulcraft , by Matt Crawford * YIMBYtown 2026 in Raleigh NC Build the Next Right Thing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subsc...

Anne Haynes on the Hidden Curriculum of City Building 30.06.2026 50:27

Show notes: * Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein * 70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green * Third Ward TX * Here Comes the Neighborhood * MassDevelopment's Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) * CitySeed (New Haven) * BU Metropolitan College — City Planning & Urban Affairs Edited Transcript Seth Zeren: Hello and welcome to The New School for City Builders. I’m your host, Seth Zeren, a re...

Building a New School for City Builders in Florida 23.06.2026 1:00:39

This week on The New School for City Builders, I’m joined by my good friend Nathan Norris to talk about our work together designing a new degree program for Lake Sumter State College in Florida. I hope you enjoy it! Seth Zeren: Hello and welcome to the New School for City Builders. I’m your host, Seth Zeren, a recovering city planner turned neighborhood developer in Providence, Rhode Island. This...

Why the New School for City Builders 16.06.2026 1:00:37

This week friend of the pod Aaron Lubeck joins to interview me about the origins of this podcast, and in particular my piece: Toward a New School of City Builders . Thanks for listening! Seth Zeren: Hello and welcome to The New School for City Builders. I’m your host, Seth Zeren, a recovering city planner turned neighborhood developer in Providence, Rhode Island. Joining me today is Aaron Lubeck,...

Learning to herd the goat parade of development 09.06.2026 49:27

Thank you for joining me for the second installment of The New School for City Builders as I interview Sara Bega and Jack Duncan on Las Catalinas, studio education, building new architecture schools, and more. Please like and subscribe! Build the Next Right Thing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The following...

Welcome to the New School for City Builders 02.06.2026 4:36

Hello and Welcome to the New School for City Builders. I’m your host, Seth Zeren. I’m a recovering city planner turned neighborhood developer living in Providence, Rhode Island. Build the Next Right Thing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I love cities. I’ve always wanted to know why most old places feel great...

The Big Lie of Architectural Education 02.06.2026 46:17

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. Seth Zeren: Hello and welcome to the New School for City Builders. I’m your host Seth Zeren, a recovering city planner turned neighborhood developer in Providence, Rhode Island. This is a podcast about how we can transform the education of city builders. If we want to change how our cities and towns work, we need to change the people wh...