Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast

This week on the podcast we’re joined by Joe DiStefano of Urban Footprint.  We talk about Joe’s work with Calthorpe Associates doing regional planning as well as creating digital tools for big planning ideas.  Joe also talks about the importance of planners having information at their fingertips in order to make decisions as well as being the ones in the room to remind everyone plans are about people.

This week we're joined by Shannon Mattern, Associate Professor of Media Studies at the New School in New York City. Shannon discusses her new book Code+Clay ... Data+Dirt: 5,000 Years of Urban Media. We talk about how she came up with the idea to teach a class on the intersection of media studies, architecture, and cities, her favorite research, and how the perfect future interface humans are looking for does not exist. There's also a discussion about mapping and how digital mapping can leave out aspects of space that should be considered.

This week, we’re joined by Somerville MA Mayor Joseph Curtatone. The mayor talks about Somerville’s proximity to Boston, its amazing density and variable housing types, and how the community is working together on plans for future transit-oriented development around the Green Line Extension. Mayor Curtatone also talks about how that process is being monitored and can be recreated in the future. Finally, the mayor looks back at how the city has transformed yet maintained its unique character over his 14 years in office.

This week we're joined again by Mariia Zimmerman of MZ Strategies. Mariia discusses how she got into transportation and urban planning after growing up in rural Minnesota and how livability policy has changed over time at the federal level. She also talks about the evolution of discussions about transit oriented development from initial proof of concept to a greater discussion on equity.

This week we’re joined by Los Angeles DOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds.  We chat about how she got into transportation planning and how we can innovate for everyone.  There’s also a discussion about the future of streets, air rights of way, and how cities can handle partnerships with mobility providers that benefit cities.  And finally we talk about pricing and what that means for cities as well as how to address changing revenue sources as cities evolve.

This week we're joined by Daniel Sperling to talk about his new book Three Revolutions. We talk about the possible sea changes happening in the transportation world with electrification, automation, and shared rides. I ask him about the importance of regulations, how he got his epiphany that shared rides are the future, and what this revolutions means for auto manufacturers.

This week Jarrett Walker of Jarrett Walker and Associates joins the podcast to talk about communicating difficult issues in transportation and planning. We talk about Jarrett’s excitement about urban change in Portland Oregon where he grew up and the importance of humanities majors in the transportation profession. We also talk about why NIMBYs feel the way they do and how we can think differently about our language and approach to housing and transportation.

This week we’re at the National Shared Mobility Summit in Chicago.  Jeff Tumlin of Nelson Nygaard moderates a panel of experts on new mobility including Carla Bailo from the Center for Automotive Research, Krista Huhtala-Jenks from the Finland Ministry of Transport and Communications, Dick Alexander from Trandev, and Justin Erlich from Uber.  They talk about the new business model of shared mobility, actually moving people versus selling things, what are the pieces that go into transportation and mobility services as well as the future of moving people around.  You might also hear amazing references to MacGyver and heavy metal bands.

This week we chat with Brian Reilly, former Economic Development Director in Buffalo, NY and Cleveland, OH and the Principal of the planning consultancy Doing Good, about integrating transportation and land use in Albuquerque. As Reilly explains, the city’s new bus rapid transit line ART is just one project but it forms a frequent and reliable backbone for Albuquerque's entire transportation system. Today, the city is focused on redevelopment along the Central Avenue corridor where ART runs, part of the historic Route 66. Reilly also talks about how the city is approaching poverty reduction from a transportation angle.

This week we’re joined by Jonathan Sage Martinson, former Director of the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative in the Twin Cities.  We talk about how the collaborative got started, how they supported planning in the Green Line light rail corridor between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and how one member even got the FTA to change a much discussed cost effectiveness rule.