The Urbanist Agenda

Former die-hard truck driver turned cargo-bike riding urbanist, American Fietser, discusses his transition, the transformative experience of Dutch bike culture, embracing electric cargo bikes, practicality vs status symbols of trucks, marketing strategies of car manufacturers, frustrations with Amtrak, and future travel plans, all with humorous disclaimers about promoting anything.

Diana, a City Simulators expert, discusses the limitations of city-building games and their impact on understanding real cities. The topics covered include the divisive opinions on tree placement in Cities: Skylines 2, the historical development of US cities around walkable neighborhoods, challenges in creating realistic cities in the game, cultural assumptions in the game's design, and the lack of diversity in player-created cities.

Doug Gordon from the War on Cars podcast discusses the origins of the 'War on Cars' phrase, the history of the war on motorists, opposition to public transportation, the impact of municipal elections, and the importance of voting.

Podcast discusses the flaws and limitations of the Amsterdam Metro system, including the need for high frequency and convenient transfers, the shortcomings of train frequency and lack of information. They propose potential changes and the construction of a circle line. Challenges of public transportation in Amsterdam for tourists are also explored. The disadvantages of the Amsterdam Metro compared to cycling and the advantages of the extensive tram system are highlighted. The significance of trams in cities and their influence on urbanism are discussed, along with the fare box recovery and operational efficiency of the Amsterdam Metro. The chapter concludes with a conversation about Nebula and content creation.

Join Jason and Steph as they discuss the myopic approach of Traffic Engineers in America, and how it ruins cities. They explore the flaws in the profession, critique street-road hybrids, and highlight the loss of historic downtowns due to traffic planning. They emphasize the lack of prioritization for pedestrian safety and the overshadowing of national monuments by car infrastructure.

In this episode, Mrs. NJB shares her experiences living in the Netherlands for 5 years. They discuss bike parking convenience, HEMA stores' variety of products, independence of children in the Netherlands, safety concerns in Toronto, multicultural food scene in Toronto, cleanliness in Tokyo, weather in the Netherlands, and efficient train travel in the Netherlands.

Adam Something, a certified European, discusses the differences between car usage in Europe and Canada. Topics include contrasting attitudes on car ownership, racial segregation in Canada, the car-centric push in Europe, the overlap between rejection of good urbanism and climate change denialism, and the influence of car and oil industries on anti-urbanist politicians.

In this conversation, Justin Roczniak, a co-host from the Well There's Your Problem podcast, advocates for the timeless charm of rowhouses, a housing style prevalent in cities like Philadelphia. He explores their historic significance, unique community dynamics, and the practicality they offer compared to single-family homes. The discussion also highlights the potential for 'gentle density' in urban planning and argues for the legalization of rowhouses in North America to tackle the housing crisis and enhance urban living.

Paying for public transit is way too complicated, especially if you're an occasional user or tourist. Can open payments make this process easier for everyone?In this conversation, Jason from Not Just Bikes and Thea from Urban Caffeine discuss recent developments in open payments. If we're going to charge for public transit (which is a whole other conversation), how should payments be collected? Why are we still using obtuse way s of paying when credit cards and debit cards exist?References and further reading:https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-better-payment-systems-can-improve-public-transportation/https://www.bytemark.co/bytes-of-knowledge/what-are-open-loop-payments-in-public-transithttps://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-articles/78096/open-loop-payments-united-states/Directly support the production of this podcast, and listen to every episode early (and without ads!) by subscribing to Nebula: https://nebula.tv/agendaNot Just Bikes: https://youtube.com/@notjusbikesUrban Caffeine: https://youtube.com/@urbancaffeineSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Toronto's mayor stepped down, which gives the city a unique opportunity to make a meaningful change. Without an incumbent in the race, the field is wide open for someone new to take charge. Will Toronto choose good urbanism, or will it continue down its car-centric trajectory?In this episode, Jason from Not Just Bikes and Reece from RMTransit go through the top candidates in the Toronto mayoral election and give our takes on who we think should be (or shouldn't be) the next mayor of Toronto.Relevant articles:https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/06/11/toronto-election-reality-check-how-the-mayoral-hopefuls-would-unclog-city-streets.htmlhttps://toronto.ctvnews.ca/why-does-doug-ford-care-who-becomes-mayor-of-toronto-1.6436389Directly support the production of this podcast, and listen to every episode early (and without ads!) by subscribing to Nebula: https://nebula.tv/agendaNot Just Bikes: https://youtube.com/@notjustbikesRMTransit: https://youtube.com/@rmtransitSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.