The immediacy of writing online has become part of my brain.

Urban journalist and advocate Alissa Walker abandoned her car ten years ago in favor of a pedestrian lifestyle, a move which led to an expansive career as an urbanist and urban advocate that coincides with watershed moments in online journalism and the urban renaissance. What sets Alissa apart, though, is her dedication to online discourse and general optimism about how we can solve our urban issues set her apart. In a time where tribalism reigns, Alissa welcomes the immediacy of online engagement with people of differing opinions “because it only makes me want to find even better solutions to problems.” Listen to Alissa talk about her journalistic practice dedicated to “looking at LA problems and trying to figure out how we can solve problems in a way that help the most people, whether it’s homelessness or transportation or housing or trying to get a ferry running in Santa Monica Bay” and how she “welcome[s] people to challenge my ideas, to tell me that I’m wrong, because it only makes me want to find even better solutions to problems.”

For links to some of the things we talked about, check out the showpage.