Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast

This week on Talking Headways we’re joined by Bridget Marquis, Director of Reimagining the Civic Commons. Bridget chats with us about connecting public assets, the importance of creating metrics that matter, and better ways to think about community engagement. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

We're Han Solo this week but have a lot to share from the end of December and the start of 2025.  As we get back into the new year we cover new ways to think about housing construction, transit expansion from Yonah Freemark, and worries about the brightness of headlights. Check out the show notes below.  Transit Openings 2025 - Transport Politic Radical construction rethink - Common Edge  Property tax rethink - Slate Intergenerational living arrangement - Maclean's Canada Forever chemicals in drinking water - New York Times Why it's hard to stop driving - Slate Headlights getting brighter - The Ringer The great abandonment - The Guardian Hidden cause of Food Deserts - The Atlantic Bonus Items Virtual power purchase agreements - Smart Cities Dive Car dependence and life satisfaction - Travel Behavior and Society Illegal to stop in Philly bike lanes - Philadelphia Inquirer Location key to walking more - Men's Health DC tackled a child care crunch - NPR Universal Pre-K - New York Magazine Miami condos sinking - Miami Herald AT&T to end landline service - Urban Milwaukee MNDOT won't remove I-94 - Minneapolis Star Tribune Corn isn't a good solar panel - Need to Know NACTO Launches urban bikeway guide - NACTO Raleigh can't find BRT contractor - News and Observer +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Ben Ross and Joe Cortright to discuss their article in Dissent Magazine discussing how modeling is being used to expand highways around the country. We chat about their critiques of highway modeling, politics, and some potential solutions to the problem. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week we’re joined by Professor Sara Bronin to talk about her book Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World. We chat about all the ways that land is regulated. And why zoning is an opportunity for people to reshape their communities. We also chat about food policy, connecting the street to property, and the relationship between land and natural systems. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week for our holiday break we’re going back in time to episode 108 which we recorded in Cambridge England with Daniele Quercia and Luca Aiello of Bell Labs. We chatted about using social media to map sensory experiences in cities including smells and soundscapes. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week we’re joined by Austin Gibble, currently of Stantec but formerly of the City of Indianapolis and IndyGo. We chat about the history of planning for BRT in Indy, the Cultural Trail bike network, transit and infrastructure costs, and the interpersonal relationships that can make or break projects. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week we’re going back to 2021 to chat with Professor Andres Sevtsuk of MIT about his book Street Commerce: Creating Vibrant Urban Sidewalks.  I really liked this discussion and he just had an MIT News profile out yesterday about his work so I thought it might be of interest to folks.  We chat the importance of location in urban retail, the city factors that might determine a store’s success, and why urban retail should be studied more in planning school. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com  

This week we’re back at the Mpact conference in Philadelphia and joined by Ruth Miller of Jawnt. Ruth shares her superhero origin story and how employer transit pass programs like SEPTA’s Key Advantage Program work to support employees, agencies, and the region overall. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week we’re at Mpact in Philadelphia chatting with King County Metro’s Rachel DeCordoba about her work educating the next generation of transit riders. She chats about transit education and curriculum and the importance of learning with peers. Also apologies for the audio difficulties 2/3rds of the way though. You can read the transcript of this episode at http://theoverheadwire.com +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're Han Solo, but that doesn't stop us from sharing upcoming episodes of Talking Headways and news from the last month or so.  We chat about greening concrete, a car free Congress Avenue, Hamburg's green space compact, and rainways in Vancouver BC. Links from the Show! Reimagining Congress Ave - KUT Greening Concrete - Yale e360 Greening Asphalt and Concrete - TOW on Substack Hamburg green contract - Guardian Roads Taken - Baker Institute Rainway vs atmospheric river - The Tyee Philly self storage - Philadelphia Inquirer Preventing street takeovers - Jalopnik Daylighing intersections in SF - SF Standard Failures of urban governance - Vital City Mexico all in on housing - Newsweek Alabama zombie highway - Inside Climate News Spokane comfort network - Range Media State DOTs hiding emissions - Streetsblog USA Toronto bike lanes - Guardian Housing instability - Decibel TfL seizes cars - Guardian Deteriorating housing - NPR Bus depot energy hubs - Press Wire 100K bike ride - Guardian Relaunching congestion pricing - Gothamist Insurance climate change - Louisiana Illuminator SEPTA transfer funding - Philadelphia Inquirer Caltrain ridership high - Mass Transit Magazine Puppies and Butterflies A Lego Tram - Associated Press +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr ... @theoverheadwire Follow us on Mastadon theoverheadwire@sfba.social Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!  And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public! And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com