Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast

We're Han Solo this week on Mondays at the Overhead Wire!  We talk about Jennifer Homendy and the 94% rule, the need to stop fetishizing old buildings, Donald Shoup's sidewalk fix, and how some non-profits and foundations are taking a greater governmental role as governments atrophy.  We also talk about moving the capital of Indonesia away from Jakarta, the future of underground cities, concrete block alternatives, and Fort Worth's river redevelopment plan.    Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire

This week we’re joined by Anna Zivarts from Disability Rights Washington and Paulo Nunes-Ueno from Front and Centered. They join us to talk about the Disability Mobility Initiative and story map, as well as the Mobility Bill of Rights.  We also chat about why mobility experiments might make travel harder for disabled travelers and why a core part of anyone’s civil rights should be the ability to be safe on the road.   Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon. http://Patreon.com/theoverheadwire

This week we’re joined by Shannon Mattern, professor of Anthropology at the New School for Social Research. Shannon talks with us about her new book A City is Not a Computer: Other Urban Intelligences.  We discuss the ideas of smartness versus wisdom, the idea of maintenance as a way of absorbing information, and the city as a processing machine, just not in the ways you might automatically think.   Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon: Http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire  

This week we're on our own talking about empty storefronts (NYT), whether transit should be run like a business (Laurel in Transit), the ethics of building multifamily housing on arterial streets (Slate), and Tri-Rail's problems pulling into the station (Miami Herald).  All that right here on Mondays at The Overhead Wire.

This week on the podcast, we’re back at last fall’s virtual Railvolution conference.  Former BART GM Grace Crunican moderates a panel discussing the role of board members in transit agencies with Former MBTA board member Monica Tibbits-Nutt and former Houston Metro board member Christof Spieler. They talk about how to deal with board members with opposite ideas, how to help agency staff, and using the budget as a policy document.   Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon. http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire    

This week we’re flashing back to an episode in March where we were joined by Karel Martens, Associate Professor of Architecture and Town Planning at Technion – Isreal Insitute of Technology. Karel talks with us about the philosophy underpinning the idea of sufficient accessibility and how he got to the idea in his book Transport Justice.

This week we’re joined by Michael Spotts, a senior visiting research fellow at ULI’s Terwiliger Center for Housing and head of Neighborhood Fundamentals. Michael chats with us about takeaways from the Shaw Symposium on Urban Community Issues, the definition of infrastructure, and the importance of taking a systems approach to important interconnected topics like transportation, education, and health care.   Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire

Our last show of the year!  Chrissy Mancini Nichols and Tracy McMillan join the show with an overarching theme of public health. We talk LA street vending carts, climate impacts of shipping, transportation insecurity, drought and water shortages, and Christmas markets in Germany.   Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire  

This week we’re joined by University of Virginia Associate Professor Peter Norton, to talk about his new book Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.  Peter discusses the false promises of auto makers and technologists and the mobility solutions that are already in front of us.   Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire    

This episode of Mondays we're joined by Gabrielle Esperdy, a professor of architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a contributing writer for Places. This episode was produced in partnership with Places Journal. Gabrielle discusses her piece 'Twilight of Autopia' in Places, which includes a deep dive into nostalgia, thoughts on the word sprawl, and the ultimate cultural impact of the 1970s oil crisis.

This week we’re joined by Linda Samuels, associate professor of urban design at Washington University in St. Louis to talk about her book Infrastructural Optimism. We chat about how growth for growth’s sake is not the answer, learn from post modernist urbanism, and why systems should be more connected.   Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire  

This week we’re at the 2021 Virtual Railvolution conference.  Adelee Le Grand, CEO of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit System in Tampa moderates a panel featuring Debra Johnson, GM and CEO of RTD in Denver and Peter Rogoff, CEO of Sound Transit in Seattle. Johnson and Rogoff discuss transit expansion plans and progress in their respective regions as well as how they kept things going during the pandemic.   Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show at http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire And visit Railvolution at http://Railvolution.org  

This week we’re joined by Miami of Ohio Geography Professor David Prytherch. David chats with us about his recent journal article in Urban Geography: Reimagining the physical/social infrastructure of the American street.  We talk about businesses newfound interest in the street, equity and ethical discussions about rights to the street, and the new pandemic paradigm of open streets. Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon. http://Patreon.com/theoverheadwire  

Well it's finally infrastructure week. We definitely timed it to coincide with our 100th episode of Mondays. Tracy and I get into some of the lesser discussed details of the IIJA bill while also covering a few stores from the newsletter including, French bookshop protection, Vienna's urban flood protection, housing rejection in SF, indoor methane issues, and the idea of cluster commutes. And Chrissy joins us towards the end to celebrate it being episode 100. Infrastructure details from the National Association of Counties. Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire

This week we’re joined by Jannet Walker-Ford, National Transit and Rail Lead at WSP.  We chat about high speed rail around the country, the benefits of trade and research groups, escalating transit project costs, and our current transport policy environment.    Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon. http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire  

This week we’re joined by Dutch architect Ton Venhoeven.  We chat about Utrecht’s new tram station TOD, the difference between the 15 minute and Micro City, planning policy and its history in the Netherlands, and the future of cities. Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon: http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire Get our Bus Only Scarf!

This week we're joined by Josh Fairchild, Co-Founder of Transit Matters, a transit advocacy organization in Boston. Josh tells us about his recent trip to California and his experience with BART after a long flight. We also talk about our slate of news including the end of Alitalia Airlines, the idea of Planet City, Seattle's experiment with e-bike deliveries, and how the human brain navigates cities.   Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show on Patreon by going to http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire  

This week we're joined by Kelcie Ralph, Nick Klein, and Calvin Thigpen to talk about their recent paper 'Political Partisanship and Transportation Reform' written with Anne Brown in the Journal of The American Planning Association.  We chat about why they wrote the paper, what they found out about partisanship and transportation policy, and why all sides of the political spectrum have little understanding of induced demand.  

This week we’re joined by Kenneth O’Reilly to talk about his book Asphalt: A History. We chat about what asphalt is, how it was used for building, war, and economic expansion and how it impacts the future of the planet.    Follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire Support the show at http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

This week on Mondays we're joined by Chrissy Mancini Nichols to talk about a number of different topics including climate migration, low traffic neighborhoods in Birmingham UK, and reforming mega project contracts.   News Climate Proof Duluth - MPR News Birmingham Low Traffic Neighborhood - The Guardian Yemen's Ancient Cities - BBC Travel No More Mega Contracts for Mega Projects - Eno Center Livability Awards for Highways - Washington Post   Puppies and Butterflies Boji the Istanbul Transit Dog - Reuters How Clement Street Survived - New York Times