Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 521: Why Stores Require You to Drive Feb 20, 2025

Show notes

This week we're chatting with Stacy Mitchell of the Institute of Local Self Reliance about her recent article in the Atlantic entitled The Great Grocery Squeeze. We chat about the deregulation mood of the 70s and 80s and what that's meant for shopping, access, and how much we drive.

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Episode 520: The Cognitive Experience of a Transit User Feb 13, 2025

Show notes

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Ren Yee of UN Studio at the Mpact Transit + Community conference in Philadelphia. We chat about the cognitive workload of pedestrians and creating safe opportunities for mind wandering and absorbing information.

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And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

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Episode 165: Mondays at The Overhead Wire - Memos within Memos Feb 11, 2025

Show notes

This week at Mondays at The Overhead Wire, we're joined by Streetsblog USA's Kea Wilson to chat about the new USDOT directives from the Trump administration. We talk about rescinded memos, funding memos, and Kea thinks Jeff might be trying to hard to find logic in the reasoning for using birth and marriage rates to steer transportation funding.

Below are items we chatted about on the show....

Donald Shoup was about more than just parking - CPDR

Unflooding the zone - T4America

Why DOT is promising more money for higher birthrates - Streetsblog USA

Rescinding DOT policy Memo - USDOT

Weird funding mechanisms and edicts Memo - USDOT

Social cost of carbon - Washington Post

Birth rate funding would leave communities behind - Urban Institute

The Brake Podcast at Streetsblog USA

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Support the show on Patreon

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Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 519: 20 is Plenty Feb 06, 2025

Show notes

This week on Talking Headways we're joined by Member of the Welsh Senedd (Parliament) Lee Waters and Dr. Jennifer Kent of The University of Sydney. They talk about how Wales set climate targets, did a roads review, got to a 20 mile per hour speed limit across the country, and what it might take for other places to do the same. They share the importance of leadership, the data around benefits related to 20mph, and how waiting to long for change might doom it.

Some relevant items:

Wales 2021 Transport Strategy - Wales

Welsh roads review - Wales

Welsh roads review - Streetsblog

Lee Waters' blog on the process - Lee Waters

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Support the show on Patreon

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Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 518: Not Eating Exhaust with Your Beer Jan 30, 2025

Show notes

This week on Talking Headways we're joined by Mike Eliason of larch lab to discuss his new book Building for People: Designing Livable, Affordable, Low-Carbon Communities. We chat about single stair buildings, development on arterials, building back after climate disasters, and the problem with RFPs.

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Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 164: Mondays at The Overhead Wire - Learning from the Redwoods Jan 28, 2025

Show notes

This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we're Han Solo, but that doesn't stop us from talking about all the podcasts we've got coming up, news about the LA wildfires, modular homes, and surveillance technology. More news than you can use this week on the Talking Headways podcast feed.

Main News Items

Essential eternal apartment - JSTOR Daily

Rethining wildfires - Slate

Experts on the wildfires - LA Times

Modular homes - Marketplace

Surveillance changing brains - The Conversation

100 year anniversary of auto dependence - Streetsblog USA

Rethinking e-bike regulations - Carbon Upfront!

Weak web of LA Government - New York Times

MDUs - Sightline

Bonus Items

Montreal drivers get huge bills - CBC News

City grocery Stores - Governing

Pricing stems traffic - Streetsblog NYC

Walgreens admits failures - Huffpost

GM banned from sharing driving data - Reuters

Property tax system reform - Brookings

LBJ cancelled moon base for subways - Jalopnik

Berlin housing loophole - Guardian

Austin rents fall on home building - Texas Tribune

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Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 517: Intern to CEO Jan 23, 2025

Show notes

This week on Talking Headways we're joined by Jon Kramer, CEO of engineering and planning firm OHM Advisors. Jon chats about going from Intern to CEO over a 30 year period, competing against large engineering firms, and the state of engineering education.

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Support the show on Patreon

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Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 516: Reimagining the Civic Commons Jan 16, 2025

Show notes

This week on Talking Headways we're joined by Bridget Marquis, Director of Reimagining the Civic Commons. Bridget chats with us about connecting public assets, the importance of creating metrics that matter, and better ways to think about community engagement.

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Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 163: Mondays at The Overhead Wire - Welcome to 2025 Jan 14, 2025

Show notes

We're Han Solo this week but have a lot to share from the end of December and the start of 2025. As we get back into the new year we cover new ways to think about housing construction, transit expansion from Yonah Freemark, and worries about the brightness of headlights.

Check out the show notes below.

Transit Openings 2025 - Transport Politic

Radical construction rethink - Common Edge

Property tax rethink - Slate

Intergenerational living arrangement - Maclean's Canada

Forever chemicals in drinking water - New York Times

Why it's hard to stop driving - Slate

Headlights getting brighter - The Ringer

The great abandonment - The Guardian

Hidden cause of Food Deserts - The Atlantic

Bonus Items

Virtual power purchase agreements - Smart Cities Dive

Car dependence and life satisfaction - Travel Behavior and Society

Illegal to stop in Philly bike lanes - Philadelphia Inquirer

Location key to walking more - Men's Health

DC tackled a child care crunch - NPR

Universal Pre-K - New York Magazine

Miami condos sinking - Miami Herald

AT&T to end landline service - Urban Milwaukee

MNDOT won't remove I-94 - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Corn isn't a good solar panel - Need to Know

NACTO Launches urban bikeway guide - NACTO

Raleigh can't find BRT contractor - News and Observer

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Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com

Episode 515: Highway Robbery Jan 09, 2025

Show notes

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we're joined by Ben Ross and Joe Cortright to discuss their article in Dissent Magazine discussing how modeling is being used to expand highways around the country. We chat about their critiques of highway modeling, politics, and some potential solutions to the problem.

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Support the show on Patreon

http://patreon.com/theoverheadwire

Buy books on our Bookshop.org Affiliate site!

And get our Cars are Cholesterol shirt at Tee-Public!

And everything else at http://theoverheadwire.com