Active Towns

Mar 27 2025 294 ep. 58 mins 81
Active Towns Podcast artwork

Conversations about Creating a Culture of Activity: Profiling the people, places, programs, and policies that help to promote a culture of activity within our communities.

  Society & Culture  Education
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Psychology & Transportation Engineering w/ Patricia Tice

Mar 27 2025 61 mins  
In this episode, I connect with Dr. Patricia Tice, Ph.D., for a conversation about the role of psychology (or lack thereof) in transportation engineering and in designing our streets to be welcoming for "All Ages & Abilities" across modes of mobility. Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and subscribe to the podcast on your

Motonormativity w/ Prof. Ian Walker & Prof. Marco Te Brömmelstroet

Mar 25 2025 68 mins  
This is a "can't miss" discussion featuring Professor Ian Walker from Swansea University in Wales and Professor Marco te Brömmelstroet from the University of Amsterdam about their recent paper on Motonormativity, also known as "car brain" or "windshield bias." Among other topics, we discuss Pluralistic Ignorance, which is a social psychology phenomenon where people mistakenly beli

Accelerating Seattle's Mobility Options w/ Greg Spotts

Mar 20 2025 52 mins  
In this episode, I connect with Greg Spotts for a conversation about his tenure serving the city of Seattle, WA and the active mobility projects his team completed during this period and a handful of the ones he is most proud of. We discuss the prioritization of hardening of protection in bike lanes previously "protected" by only flex posts and paint, a new protected intersection,

Building Optimism w/ Coby Lefkowitz

Mar 18 2025 62 mins  
In this episode, I connect with Coby Lefkowitz, author of Building Optimism, for a conversation about creating people-oriented communities, some of the Dutch cities that inspire his work, and why places like Santa Barbara look the way they do.#streetsareforpeople #allagesandabilities #bicycleinfrastructure #architecture #cityplanning Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed

NACTO and It's New Bikeway Design Guide w/ Executive Director Ryan Russo

Mar 13 2025 59 mins  
In this episode, you'll learn all about National Association for Transportation Officials (NACTO) and their new Urban Bikeway Design Guide from Executive Director, Ryan Russo. Ryan starts by sharing his origin story working for NYC DOT doing bicycle and pedestrian planning and executing the PlaNYC vision for the better part of 14 years before leaving for Oakland, California to laun

Shoup's Legacy of Parking Reform w/ Tony Jordan

Mar 06 2025 54 mins  
🅿️ Parking Reform Network founder, Tony Jordan shares how PRN is continuing Prof Donald Shoup's work and more.Cities around the globe, inspired by the ground-breaking work of Prof. Donald Shoup, who recently passed, are beginning to reform their parking codes, drop parking minimums, and address land use codes that perpetuate car dependency, and PRN helps support and track thei

Human Transit w/ Jarrett Walker

Feb 27 2025 57 mins  
In this episode, I connect with Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit, revised edition. This book, aimed at a nontechnical reader, explores the challenging questions that you must think about when planning or advocating for public transit in your community. We discuss what aspects of the public transit landscape have changed since the first edition in 2011, such as the rise of sm

Creating People-Centered & Nature-Based Cities w/ Reena Mahajan

Feb 20 2025 59 mins  
In this episode, I connect with Reena Mahajan, founder of Paris-based Studio Divercity, to discuss creating people-centered and nature-based cities and reducing car dependency in cities around the globe. Studio Divercity envisions a world where people-centered & nature-positive cities replace car-centric urban sprawl. Reena is an architect, urban planner, and mobility advocate

Car Free Challenge in Los Angeles w/ Phil Burns

Feb 13 2025 63 mins  
In this episode, I connect with Phil Burns, Managing Principal of the Pasadena-based Arroyo Group, for a discussion about his six-week trial of going car-free this past summer and the people-oriented street transformations in the Los Angeles area that the Arroyo Group is involved with. Phil provides a comprehensive breakdown of his modal mix during his car-free experience, includin

Bike Bus & A Culture of Activity with Jessica Tillyer

Feb 06 2025 59 mins  
In this episode, I'm honored to connect with Jessica Tillyer, one of the volunteers who jumped in to start the Montclair bike bus efforts that provide multiple bike buses across this New Jersey township every Friday. We also discuss the potential of school street initiatives and how the Montclair bike bus is helping to change the narrative of what streets are for and helping to kic