Active Towns

In this special election bonus episode, I connect with a dedicated Houston-based freeway fighter and ER Nurse, Molly Cook, who is running to fill the recently vacated Texas State Senate District 15 position. We talk about what inspired her to get involved at the community level and ultimately run for state office.Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please

In this episode, I reconnect with Timur Ender, who is running for city council in Portland, Oregon's newly created East Portland District. Timur has a long history of public service and was instrumental in launching the buildout of the high-comfort cycle network on the eastside, in addition to countless other infrastructure projects, including sidewalks, street trees, and safer ped

In this episode, I connect with Peter Flax, author of the fabulous new book Live To Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle. We discuss the fact that if you're riding a bike, you're doing it right and what can be done to get more people riding more often. Along the way, we channel the Dutch and Danish experiences and successes in making riding a bike just a natural part of daily

In this episode, I speak with Bryn Grunwald on RMI's Carbon Free Transport Team about their new tools and calculators for measuring the benefits and impacts of shifting typical car trips to bikes and e-bikes across several environmental and economic metrics. Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and subscribe to the podcast on y

In this episode, you'll meet the duo behind the newest urbanism super-firm, Speck Dempsey, Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City, and Chris Dempsey, former Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Massachusetts. We talk about what prompted them to partner up and how they plan to help cities and towns create more walkable and bikeable environments. I hope you enjoy it.Thank you so mu

In this episode, I connect with Petru Sofio, a passionate young transportation prodigy who is currently a high school senior in Arlington, MA, a small Boston area community next to Cambridge and Somerville. We discuss why and how he got engaged in advocating for Dutch-inspired cycle network and intersection signal design. Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode

In the episode, I welcome back Cathy Tuttle, an anthropologist and planner, currently living in Utrecht in The Netherlands, to discuss her recent work in and studies of the values and cultural norms influencing the Dutch built environment we've become accustomed to, including the overlapping mobility networks and their current approach to public space.Thank you so much for tuning i

Ethically, we should reduce highway lane miles, not expand them. In this episode, I chat with Jeanie Ward-Waller, who made national news last fall when she was let go from Caltrans, the California state DOT (Department of Transportation), after she blew the whistle on a process being employed to cut corners and add an additional freeway lane. Thank you so much for tuning in! If you

In this episode, I connect with Austin-based journalist and the author of the new book City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways, Megan Kimble. In the book, she follows the story of three major freeway fights playing out in the state of Texas over the period of about four years while channeling the movement of freeway removals and reparations nat

In this episode, I talk with Mike West about his quest to import proven Dutch sustainable safety mobility design concepts into his home state of Utah. Mike is a city planner working for Lehi, UT, while living in the planned community of Daybreak in South Jordan, UT, which features an impressive network of off-street pathways. Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this epi