x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

good traffic.

A workshop for American urban design and urban planning. Join a prolific collective of city and neighborhood staples as we look to better brand American urbanism. New conversations, each week.

society & culture places & travel

All Episodes

00:28:26

106 / Field notes from Oslo, Stockholm, & Copenhagen.

good traffic. ·

2026/04/06

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 Americans dissatisfied but optimistic about what their cities could become, this audio offers part blueprint,

en

00:58:33

105 / Cities bet on millennials, but forgot they'd...

good traffic. ·

2026/03/14

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 now 38.5 weeks pregnant while living in D.C. as a renter, Rachel brings both professional expertise and

en

00:50:28

104 / Large-scale architecture's role &...

good traffic. ·

2026/03/05

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 Hong Kong, Forth brings a strong perspective on what it takes to actually get ambitious projects built,

en

01:10:18

103 / Super bowl economics, stadium financing, &...

good traffic. ·

2026/02/25

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 economic windfalls, Dominic's recent videos expose financial inconsistencies that rarely make

en

00:56:11

102 / Public land, Ruben Gallego and federal housing...

good traffic. ·

2026/02/13

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's role in the cultural moment, and this episode breaks down several recent pieces that reveal how much

en

00:54:15

101 / Understanding eviction data / with Juan Pablo...

good traffic. ·

2026/02/05

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 Desmond after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Evicted, set out to change that — and in doing so, revealed

en

00:23:28

100 / Winter is the best time to start walking...

good traffic. ·

2026/01/23

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 can walk in January, February becomes manageable. March feels like a gift. By the time summer arrives,

en

00:52:38

99 / A second life for America's abandoned oil wells...

good traffic. ·

2026/01/07

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 constraint — one that demands innovation beyond conventional batteries and solar panels.Kemp walks us

en

00:17:20

98 / Trunk-or-treats, & the irony of safetyism.

good traffic. ·

2025/12/01

Who doesn't love a Halloween pot-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 trunk-or-treat is replacing.03:32 Kids losing low-stakes social interaction.04:33 Gamifying community

en

01:08:05

97 / Is California (finally) ready to build enough...

good traffic. ·

2025/11/13

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 through California’s last decade of housing policy evolution — from failed early bills like SB 827 and

en

00:56:33

96 / How cities avoid becoming clichés / with Ryan Short

good traffic. ·

2025/10/29

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 lifecycle of a cliché, and how cities of various sizes can and should) go about avoiding becoming one.The new

en

00:12:23

95 / What is our healthcare equivalent?

good traffic. ·

2025/10/15

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 communicating accordingly. Timeline:00:00 The urbanist wish list.00:33 Strategy.01:29 Lessons from the

en

00:48:21

94 / A new book on Big Car / with David Obst

good traffic. ·

2025/09/28

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 history of how corporate and political power entrenched car dependence in America — from the invention of

en

00:14:00

93 / The pretext for infrastructure investment is there.

good traffic. ·

2025/09/18

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 folks persisting in spite of lacking infrastructure as a signal and hunger for more?Timeline:00:00 A

en

00:27:14

92 / The problem with those “most walkable cities”...

good traffic. ·

2025/09/06

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 different list: five practical protocols to quickly gauge walkability when visiting a new city.Timeline:00:00 Why

en

00:44:34

91 / A model for communal workforce housing / with...

good traffic. ·

2025/08/28

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 and roommates, Matt shares on what it takes for small-scale developers to build solutions in places like

en

00:54:34

90 / Public space design, on the U.S. + Mexico border...

good traffic. ·

2025/08/14

Miguel Mendoza — founder and director of Nómada Estudio Urbano in Ciudad Juárez — is in good traffic this week for a conversation on tactical urbanism, placemaking, and cross-border design between Mexico and the United States.From wooden pallet furniture in one of the most violent cities in the world, to Bloomberg Philanthropies–supported park and street projects, Miguel’s work in Ciudad Juárez and El Paso shows how small-scale public space interventions can improve safety, foster community

en

00:51:07

89 / How Cambridge gets stuff done / with Burhan Azeem

good traffic. ·

2025/08/07

Burhan Azeem — the youngest Cambridge City Councilor ever elected — is in good traffic this week for a dive on effective local politics, building bike infrastructure quickly in the states, and being elected to office at 24. The city — home of Harvard and MIT — is getting a ton done, and fast. Burhan's work focuses on housing, transit, and actually completing ambitious infrastructure projects for his Cambridge constituents (outcomes > process). We also underscore the powerful influence of

en

00:51:54

88 / Why Bentonville (& NWA) is booming / with Sophie...

good traffic. ·

2025/07/17

Sophie McAdara — Programs and Operations Manager for Bring It Home, and former City of Bentonville urban planner — is in good traffic this week to discuss just what the heck is going on down in Northwest Arkansas. Bentonville, and neighboring towns, have been part of a regional boom in recent years. National attention has followed, and much praise has been given.From mountain bike lanes alongside local roads, to robust greenway projects, and urban integration with natural surroundings, the area has

en

00:31:25

87 / Summer festivals are a gateway to urbanism.

good traffic. ·

2025/07/13

This week, we discuss the potency of urbanism's gateway drug: summer festivals. Culturally, Americans love to frequent farmer's markets, watch fireworks, and attend live arts shows in the park. We often don't realize that these are all functions of a walkable environment (even if often temporary). Vendor tents are proxies for small shops, food trucks could be permanent neighborhood eateries, and running into friends could be a norm rather than a novelty.Instead of closing a parking lot

en

107 results

Similar Podcasts

Voices of Life

APG Mannheim

Promo Estereo Podcast

Promo Estereo

Talking Timelines Podcast

Talkingtimelines

גיקונומי

ראם שרמן ודורון ניר

Drømmefanger

Drømmefanger