Active Towns

In this episode, I reconnect with Sarah Frey, Development and Marketing Director with the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick, for an in-depth conversation about the Trail and the impact it has had on the health and vitality of the city and its residents.Landing page on the Active Towns website for access to videos and photos of the trailIn June 2021, I had the honor of attending the Walk Bike Places conference in Indianapolis, Indiana and one of the things I was most looking forward to was re-visiting the Indy Cultural Trail, one of the most extraordinary and impactful activity assets I have ever experienced and documented. The Trail did not disappoint, in fact, it had gotten even more impressive in the three years since my previous visit.In addition to using the Trail every day during my nearly week-long stay to get to and from the convention center and various conference-related activities, I was able to participate in a fabulous workshop tour led by Sarah Frey, Director of Development and Marketing, for the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick.As part of that workshop, I produced this video and I planted the seed with Sarah to eventually get her on the podcast because this is a powerful story that needs to be told and many communities around the world can benefit from it.I hope you enjoy it.Cheers!John Additional Helpful Links:Walk Bike Places Conference produced by PPS-Project for Public Spaces and presented by PeopleForBikesTrail expansion articleTrail Art InstallationsIndy Canal and Open SpacesWhite River TrailMonon TrailCity of Indianapolis Bikeways and MapIndy Trails and GreenwaysOur Carmel, IN videoArleigh Greenwald - Bike Shop GirlStreetfilmsFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Various mixes also by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, I reconnect with Mike Lydon for an 18-month update from our last episode in the early days of the pandemic. We discuss some of the amazing street transformations underway around the globe, including in NYC with projects such as the Little Prince Plaza.And here's our landing page for this episode - for access to the videos and photosPop-up protected bike lanes, separated cycle tracks, open streets, and even plazas are some of the pilot projects that we have seen over the past ten years but even more so in the past 18 months as cities around the world strive to redefine public space to be more accommodating for people versus the easy movement of motor vehicles.Mike Lydon is co-founder of Street Plans and co-author of the book on Tactical Urbanism and he has been at the forefront of not only moving these concepts forward but hands-on in their implementation. We also discuss some of the encouraging trends he's seeing around the world and he shares some observations from his recent trip to France, including a first hand look at the cycling revolution taking place right now on the streets of Paris. Clearly the enthusiasm is there, at this moment in time and the City is trying to build out a comprehensive cycle network similar to those seen in The Netherlands. Some of the videos we've seen in fact remind us of typical Dutch cycling scenes.And we talk about some of the exciting work his firm is doing here in the states, including plazas in NYC, an active transportation plan for New Haven, and a corridor project in Culver City, CA in the LA area.Opening video sequence used with permission from Streetfilms. Congress for the New UrbanismOur episode with Victor Dover was mentionedFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Various mixes also by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, I welcome back Victor Dover of South Miami's Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning for an in-depth discussion about why starting with the green parts, the parks, greenways, open spaces, wilderness, and even street trees when planning our communities is critical. We also talk about the importance of getting our streets designed right and how that can help more people feel more comfortable while walking and riding a bike.This episode has been produced as a video with some rich visuals, so to get to the full experience, click on this linkLanding page for this episodeThis episode has been produced as a video with some rich visuals, so to get to the full experience, click on this linkVictor Dover made the move from Alexandria, VA to Miami to co-launch the firm Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning with his business partner Joe Kohl some 34 years ago. Victor is a charter member of the Congress for the New Urbanism and has worked for many public agencies, developers, and citizen groups to create appropriate methods of land development regulations.The two main inter-related themes Victor presents in this episode are when planning a community, start first with the “green parts”, the parks, greenways, and parkways and then shape the rest of the city around these accordingly and second, street design is the thing we can least afford to get wrong. It becomes obvious how these two themes are intimately related when we consider that our streets should be traffic-calmed people-oriented places, featuring beautiful tree canopies, frequently referred to as the lungs of the city.And speaking of street design, that happens to be the title of the fabulous book Victor co-wrote along with John Massengale seven years ago and the truly big, breaking news is that Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns will be coming out as new, completely refreshed second edition in 2022. Here’s the first edition link if you can’t wait and want to get the original, which is highly recommended.We also discuss the need to make our streets safe and inviting for “All Ages & Abilities” across all mobility modes drawing inspiration from Dutch cycling network design and from public spaces in Copenhagen and other beloved cities in Europe as well as historic places right here in the United States such as Alexandria, VA, Charleston, SC, and even Buffalo, NY.We talk about normalizing the act of riding a bike to carry our everyday activities by creating environments that are comfortable for everyone through the implementation of protected and separated infrastructure paired with ultra-low speed shared spaces.Additional Helpful Links:Dover Kohl YouTube Channel – for an entire series of brilliant guidanceBarnes Dance or Pedestrian ScrambleCities Aren't Loud, Cars Are Loud - NJB videoDesigning Cities by Starting with the Green Parts - Frederick Law OlmstedThe Underline TrailLudlam TrailEast Coast GreenwayMiami Dade Parks Foundation - #LiveAParkLife National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA)Missoula Montana Downtown Master Plan and the Dover Kohl UpdateBenton MacKaye - helped pioneer the idea of land preservation for recreation and conservation purposesGabe Klein - a good on article about GabeIncremental Development AllianceRoss Chapin: Pocket Neighborhoods - Our Episode featuring Ross and our award winning video on Pocket NeighborhoodsClimate Planner book by Jason KingSteve Wright - a writer advising on issues of accessibilityFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Various mixes also by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of A...

In this episode, I speak with Michael Williams about Edge Lane Roads, also commonly referred to by some people as Bicycle Advisory Lanes - a name you'll soon learn Michael doesn't particularly prefer. The type of bicycle infrastructure is quite common in The Netherlands and in Denmark and, when done well in the proper context, can serve as a critical part of an "All Ages & Abilities" network.Our YouTube video version of this episode for the full visual experienceLanding Page for this episode When we think of the safe and inviting cycle networks in The Netherlands and in Copenhagen, what likely comes to mind are the protected and separated cycle tracks and bike lanes. But these typically only account for 30-40% of the typical city cycling network, the rest, the majority of the networks are comprised of different forms of shared space including Woonerfs (ultra-slow speed streets), Feitsstraats (or bicycle priority streets), and even Edge Lane Roads also commonly known in some locations as Advisory Bike Lanes.Michael Williams has taken upon himself during his self-proclaimed third career to be the pied piper of Edge Lane Roads here in North America. I wanted to talk with him about ELR's and how he became fascinated with them because I too have been intrigued by these often forgotten and misunderstood cycle network infrastructure treatments.The design of these facilities is almost too simple and they work. The safety profile of the Dutch, Danish and even North American installations is extremely encouraging. Given what I've seen, I believe we will see many more cities decide to adopt these facilities in the future.For more information on all things Edge Lane Roads please visit Michael's website here: https://www.advisorybikelanes.com/The Ottawa video: https://youtu.be/0zdDIvKXMxYThe New Hampshire video: https://vimeo.com/198050122Vail Advisory Bike Lane featured in this recent ITE report: https://www.ite.org/technical-resources/topics/transportation-safety/pedestriian-safety-month/A report Michael helped contribute to: https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/1925-Pande-Safety-Edge-Lane-Roads.pdfThe Active Towns video on Vail's Gore Valley Trail (mentioned by John in the episode): https://vimeo.com/177494585Comments provided by Michael about the safety data he mentioned in the episode: "The study on US ELR safety looked at crash data on 11 ELRs all over the country that had been installed for at least 3 years. Crash data for the 5 years previous to the installation was used in an Empirical Bayes analysis (the gold standard for this type of analysis according to the Highway Safety Manual). The complete report is available at https://transweb.sjsu.edu/research/1925-Safety-Edge-Lane-Roads. Aggregated results over these 11 facilities showed a 44% crash rate reduction in motor vehicle crashes. Data was not available to evaluate safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. Reduced vehicular speeds, lower crash rates, horizontal separation of VRUs and cars all point to a safer, more comfortable environment for vulnerable road users."Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Various mixes also by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, I had the honor of speaking with Ken Rose, Chief of the Physical Activity and Health Branch, within the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the Active People, Healthy Nation Initiative which was launched in early 2020. We also discuss some of the underlying challenges and barriers making physical activity difficult for far too many people, such as lack of access to activity assets like parks and trails and limited safe and inviting active mobility choices.Active Towns landing page for this episode - for access to photos, videos, and additional contentActive People, Healthy Nation℠ is a national initiative led by CDC to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027. Increased physical activity can improve health, quality of life, and reduce healthcare costs. These improvements can help reduce the risk of at least 20 chronic diseases and conditions and provide effective treatment for many of these conditions. Other potential benefits include better school performance and improved military readiness. Building active and walkable communities can help support local economies, result in less air pollution, and create more cohesive communities.Additional Helpful Links:Strategies to Increase Physical ActivityEveryone Can Be Involved – What’s Your Role?Data, Trends and MapsPhysical Activity Fact Sheets and InfographicsPhysical Activity BasicsPhysical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd EditionState and Community Health Media Center#activepeople hashtag for social mediaProclamation templateemail: activepeople@cdc.govSafe Routes to Schools Report CardActivity-Friendly Routes to Everyday Destinations - Complete StreetsTide to TownFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Various mixes also by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, I reconnect with Cara Seiderman, Transportation Program Manager with the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to get an update on the newly revised bike plan and discuss some of the exciting developments currently underway to create safe and inviting active mobility environments for all ages, abilities, and identities. Active Towns Landing Page for this Episode to access photos and videosIn June 2021, the City of Cambridge published Cambridge Bicycle Plan 2020, an update to the 2015 Cambridge Bicycle Plan: Toward a Bikeable Future. The Bicycle Plan lays out a vision for where they as a City want to be, with the guiding principle to enable people of all ages, abilities, and identities to bike safely and comfortably throughout Cambridge. It provides the framework for developing a network of bicycle-friendly streets and supporting programs and policies that will help meet this goal.We also discuss some of the history and context behind the efforts to make walking and biking easier, safer, and more comfortable in the city. Cara also provides an update on the newly rewritten bike plan and she highlights some of the new infrastructure and programming being initiated. Ultimately Cambridge is a fabulous example for other cities to look towards for inspiration and learnings. They have some amazing high comfort infrastructure on the ground with more coming and many impressive programming efforts to make walking, biking, and taking transit more enjoyable for everyday trips.Additional Helpful Links:Jan Gehl founder of the firm Gehl PeoplePreston Tyree co-host of the Growing Older Podcast Bike Plan Update VideoActive Towns Video from 2019 visitMama Agata video  - Amsterdam program to help migrant women learn to cycleLeague of American BicyclistsPeter Furth Blue BikesCycling Safety OrdinanceAeronaut Brew PubNew Harvard Bikeways - 2020 Winkelerf - A  Shared Commercial StreetFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Various mixes also by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, I connect with Bianca Shulaker, Associate Director of National Programs at The Trust for Public Land, for a discussion about their Park Score Index, the 10-Minute Walk Campaign, and the exciting opportunity to leverage qualitative data to meet the needs of the community.The Trust for Public Land was founded in 1972 on the conviction that all people need and deserve access to nature and the outdoors, close to home, in the cities and communities where they live, as a matter of health, equity, and justice.While many conservation organizations set aside wild-lands for biodiversity or habitat restoration, the founders of TPL sought to bring the benefits of parks and nature to the places, people, and communities that needed them most.Signature initiatives and programs include ParkScore, ParkServe, and the 10-Minute Walk campaignParkScore: The ParkScore index provides in-depth data to make the case for park investment and guide local park improvement efforts. The ParkScore index is the most comprehensive rating system ever developed to measure how well the 100 largest U.S. cities are meeting the need for parks. To determine a city’s ParkScore rating, we assign points for 14 measures across five categories: acreage, investment, amenities, access, and equity. Recent analysis of data revealed significant disparities in park space across racial and economic lines. Find more here: Equitable Recovery ReportParkServe: ParkServe helps cities visualize their park system and inform decisions by identifying areas most in need of new parks. This tool and comprehensive database, developed by The Trust for Public Land, includes park data from 14,000 cities, towns, and communities. ParkServe analyzes the 10-minute walk serviceable areas for each park in the database, and includes demographic data, certain climate and health layers, and schoolyards and certain park amenities. Data is freely available to download, and an interactive map and Park Elevator tool can help assess locations for new parks.10-Minute Walk: We believe all people in US cities should have access to a quality park within a 10-minute walk of their home. Today, 100 million people living in the U.S. don’t have a park close to home.10-Minute Walk, an initiative led by The Trust for Public Land, calls on mayors and gives them the resources needed to accelerate the creation of parks that drive equitable, healthy, and thriving communities. Working with cities, communities, and partners, we seek to identify and support actions that help close the nation's park equity gap. On Twitter at https://twitter.com/10minwalk or @10minwalkDirect contact/email: 10minutewalk@tpl.org *NEW* Community Schoolyards Report: Joint use - including with schools - is an important tool for providing access to recreation and greenspace. Currently, public school districts own an astonishing two million acres of underused land across America. By transforming these blacktop public schoolyards into living, recreational spaces open to the community, 20 million more people would have access to a park space within a 10-minute walk of home. This new report highlights the positive effects that result from providing students and nearby communities multi-functional parks that double as tranquil oases in their neighborhoodsAdditional Helpful Links:Dr. Richard "Dick" JacksonSOPARC the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities Tool - used in direct observation to assess number of park users and levels of physical activity:Community Park Audit Tool: one of the tools that has informed observations of the characteristics of park spacesWe All Need Parks Video10-Minute Walk VideoSafe Routes to School PartnershipComplete StreetsColorado Springs Trails and Open Space CoalitionFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Various mixes also by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found...

In this episode, I connect with Jeff Bagg, the City Planner for Easthampton, MA, for a discussion about how this historic mill town is striving to connect people to meaningful destinations by leveraging its beloved Manhan Rail Trail while expanding its connectivity and reach through new infrastructure, creative installations, and traffic calming measures.Episode Landing page for access to more information and photosEasthampton, Massachusetts and Jeffrey Bagg, City Planner were suggested for the Podcast by one our listeners. The following is a brief description that was provided as part of this suggestion:"Easthampton's a small Western Mass city that's more aptly a dense village. They're trailblazing out there doing amazing work that other small-scale communities should try and replicate; investing in a fantastic rail trail, a pedestrian boardwalk, traffic calming roundabouts, raised crosswalks, and new trailheads. It's also surrounded by jaw-dropping natural beauty."In the conversation, Jeff also discusses some of the challenges and opportunities the city is facing as they move to relocate an elementary school, leverage connectivity through the existing popular Manhan Rail Trail, and work to slow motor vehicles speeds in the vital downtown areas where people are likely to be walking, cycling, and lingering.Additional Helpful Links:Easthampton Planning DepartmentMt Tom North Trailhead ParkEasthampton Planning Dept Facebook PageEasthampton Planning Dept InstagramMassDOT Shared StreetsMill Pond LiveTactical UrbanismFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Various mixes also by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, I reconnect with Charles Marohn, Founder of Strong Towns and author of the new book Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town for a discussion about the compelling need to reform both our transportation systems and how those systems are planned and designed. Landing page for this episodeVideo version of the episodeIn 2010 Charles Marohn, Founder of the Strong Towns organization sat down to create a computerized animated cartoon video called Conversation with an Engineer. As he says in this podcast episode the dialog just flowed out of him, he didn't have to think hard about it, because he had already had many such conversations in his relatively short time as a practicing engineer. He brings this video back to life in the first chapter of Confessions as a way to set the premise of the book. He had behaved in this way and this is his confession. And he was wrong.The new book Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town published by Wiley is available on September 8, 2021.Additional Helpful Links:Chuck’s Presentation in Austin Our first interview with Chuck – Episode 13 of the Active Towns PodcastNot Just Bikes - our episode w/ Jason SlaughterFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Various mixes also by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, I connect with Ann Sussman, co-author along with Justin B Hollander, of the intriguing book Cognitive Architecture: Designing for How We Respond to the Built Environment for a discussion about how we can shape behavior in a positive by understanding a few key concepts related to our psychology, genetics, and how we evolved.  Landing page for this episode to access the visuals associated with the discussionThe book Cognitive Architecture by Ann Sussman and Justin Hollander published by Routledge, now in its second edition, has helped refine what we know and understand about how we humans respond to our surroundings, from nature to the built environment, including building, streets, and public places. Thus we highly recommend it to anyone curious about or doing work in any field where you're hoping to influence human behavior.A brief video on how you really know something is wrong with Modern Architecture…when you do biometric analyses contrasting it with traditional, is hereAs mentioned, here’s the PDF from the OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation + Development) based out of Paris, which declared out time, the 21st-century the New AGE of BIOLOGY in 2012 A brief overview of the 2nd editionAdditional Helpful Links:The Hapi.org - The Human Architecture and Planning Institute, IncBuilt Beautiful videoStrong Towns and the Strong Towns PodcastJan GehlDaniel LiebermanWalk Bike Places Conference Indy Cultural Trail and our video of the Cultural Trail experienceFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Various mixes also by John SimmermanResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★