Active Towns
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.
Episodes
In this episode, I welcome back Tim Gill, the author of the book Urban Playground, for an encore conversation about the need for more family friendly places that reduce car dependency and return independence to roam to our children, elderly, and those unable to drive a motor vehicle.
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In this episode, I connect with Seth Kaplan, author of the recent book "Fragile Neighborhoods" and a recent article "The Real User Interface: Recovering Our Neighborhoods," for a conversation about the challenges of our current community designs and how we can make our neighborhoods less fragile, or to channel Nassim Taleb, make our neighborhoods "Anti-Fragile" once again.
Seth argues that our planners and engineers have bu...
In this episode, I finally connect with Beth Osborne with Smart Growth America for an in-depth conversation about the Transportation For America Program. Note: A few days after recording this episode, Beth stepped in to serve as the Interim CEO of Smart Growth America.
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In this episode, I connect with Cyprine Odada Mitchell, the former Director of the Nairobi Critical Mass and a passionate advocate for more livable communities that promote active mobility and independence for All Ages & Abilities.
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In this episode, I connect with Chelsea Ritter-Soronen, owner and principal artist at Chalk Riot, a mural company specializing in vibrant pavement art increasingly used to make streets safer for all users.
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In this episode, I speak with Scott Snodgrass and Clayton Garrett, founders of Meristem Communities, the developers of Indigo, a people-first community that will provide a car-lite lifestyle plus the added bonus of integrated agriculture and open space.
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In this episode, I connect with Isabelle Clement, Director of Wheels for Wellbeing, a UK-based charity with a mission to enhance disabled people’s lives by ensuring that anyone can access the physical, emotional, practical, and social benefits of cycling.
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In this episode, we reconnect with Kyle Wagenschutz and Zoe Kirkos with City Thread for an update on the new cohort of cities engaged in their Accelerated Mobility Playbook (AMP) Technical Assistance Grant Process. The AMP Technical Assistance Grant recipients for 2025 are Burlingame, CA; Columbus, OH; and Hood River, OR.
These three forward-thinking cities join the likes of Austin, TX; Bainbridge Island, WA; Bentonville, ...
In this episode, I welcome back Avi Stopper, Founder of Denver's BikeStreets.com, for an update on their new mobile app, routing tools, community adventure rides, and the exciting Destinations initiative.
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In this episode, I connect with Cllr James McAsh for a conversation about a series of safer streets initiatives London's Borough of Southwark has implemented. We'll discuss how they've navigated through resistance to change, and we'll hear from some residents about their thoughts about car-free streets and the ability to walk to school.
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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.
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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 believe that their own private opinions differ ...
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, and he prioritized connecting with the com...
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
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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 launch a new Department of Transportation Depa...
🅿️ 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 their efforts. Tony also shares how he discovered ...
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 small shared personal mobility options like ...
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 with a strong background in low-impact, wa...
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, including transit, walking, and cycling with a ren...
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 kickstart an emerging culture of activity tha...
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