The Urbanist Agenda – Details, episodes & analysis

Trams are great. They create and enable some of the best urbanism around. And yet the streetcars in Toronto are slow and unreliable and painful to take. What is Toronto doing wrong, and what could other "streetcar" cities learn from their mistakes?

Financial capital of Canada pauses so streetcar driver can move tracks with big stick: https://www.thebeaverton.com/2016/06/financial-capital-of-canada-pauses-so-streetcar-driver-can-move-tracks-with-big-stick/

Directly support the production of this podcast, and listen to every episode ad-free and sponsor-free, by subscribing to Nebula: https://nebula.tv/agenda

Not Just Bikes: https://youtube.com/@notjustbikes

RMTransit: https://youtube.com/@rmtransit

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What should you do when your city won't fix things, even after years of advocacy? The answer might be guerrilla urbanism, aka tactical urbanism. I talk to Bike Curious about the people who are tired of waiting, and just get things done by themselves. Is it legal? Well ... it's sometimes better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.

Tactical urbanism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_urbanism

Explainer: Tactical Urbanism - https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2022/09/explainer-tactical-urbanism.49521

Tactical Urbanism: Short-Term Action for Long-Term Change - https://issuu.com/streetplanscollaborative/docs/tactical_urbanism

Manchester man draws penises around potholes so the city will fix them - https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/2/8535259/penis-pothole-activism-wanksy-england

Safe Street Rebel - https://www.safestreetrebel.com/

A Slower Safer Wiggle - https://www.safestreetrebel.com/blog/a-slower-safer-wiggle/

Safety Activists Close a Lane on Franklin - https://sf.streetsblog.org/2024/03/14/safety-activists-close-a-lane-on-franklin

City Wide Slow Rides - https://www.safestreetrebel.com/slow-rides/

People Protected Bike Lane (Polk) - https://www.safestreetrebel.com/polk/

Just A Minute (Valencia) - https://www.safestreetrebel.com/valencia/

Crosswalk Collective - https://crosswalksla.org/our-crosswalks.html

Guerrilla bus stop benches - https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/guerilla-bus-stop-benches-are-spurring-berkeley-officials-to-install-official-seating-for-transit-passengers/

Directly support the production of this podcast, and listen to every episode early (and without ads!) by subscribing to Nebula: https://nebula.tv/agenda

Bike Curious: https://twitch.tv/bikecurious

Not Just Bikes: https://nebula.tv/notjustbikes

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Can rural people understand city folk and vice-versa? American Fietser thinks so. He went from being a die-hard truck driver to a cargo-bike riding urbanist, and it all started with a trip to the Netherlands.

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American Fietser: https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanFietser

American Fietser (Twitter): https://twitter.com/AmericanFietser

Not Just Bikes: https://nebula.tv/notjustbikes

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City Simulators, such as SimCity and Cities: Skylines are very popular, both among gamers and the general public. But these are just games: they don't accurately model real cities, and that can result in misleading assumptions about what a city is, and how it functions.

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Cities by Diana: https://www.youtube.com/@CitiesByDiana

Not Just Bikes: https://nebula.tv/notjustbikes

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The "War on Cars" is a phrase that comes up every few years whenever some right-wing politician wants to get elected. But this phrase is nothing new, and has been around almost as long as cars themselves. In this episode, I talk to Doug Gordon from the War on Cars podcast, who has been following this phrase in the media for several years.

https://thewaroncars.org/2021/11/30/not-just-bikes-with-jason-slaughter/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/28/the-war-on-motorists-the-secret-history-of-a-myth-as-old-as-cars-themselves

https://nebula.tv/agenda/toronto-needs-a-new-mayor-with-rmtransit

https://art19.com/shows/the-urbanist-agenda/episodes/d6da1bc2-eb11-48f3-8512-90cafdaaa7b2

Directly support the production of this podcast, and listen to every episode early (and without ads!) by subscribing to Nebula: https://nebula.tv/agenda

Not Just Bikes: https://youtube.com/notjustbikes

The War on Cars Podcast: https://thewaroncars.org/

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Not Just Bikes, normally a champion of all things Amsterdam, talks to RMTransit about why the Amsterdam Metro isn't good enough. And if GVB has their way, it might become even worse.

https://www.at5.nl/artikelen/219864/metrolijnen-50-en-53-worden-samengevoegd-30000-passagiers-zullen-moeten-overstappen

https://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-info/dutch-expat-news/major-overhaul-amsterdam-public-transport-fewer-trams-more-transfers

https://www.dewestkrant.nl/tram-19-en-3-voorlopig-gered-gvb-broedt-op-ander-plan/

https://over.gvb.nl/nieuws/geen-netwerkwijzigingen-in-aangepast-vervoerplan-2024/

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RMTransit: https://youtube.com/@rmtransit

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America has Traffic Engineers. The Netherlands has Transportation Engineers. One is concerned with moving as many cars as possible, the other builds transportation systems. In this podcast, I'm joined by Steffen Berr, an American Traffic Engineer turned Transportation Engineer who now lives in the Netherlands. We discuss the myopic approach taken by Traffic Engineers in America, and how it ultimately ruins cities.

Steffen has a great article that is worth reading:

https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/america-has-no-transportation-engineers

Strong Towns Conversation with an Engineer: https://youtu.be/P9BUyWVg1xI

Wonderland Road: https://youtu.be/Ds-v2-qyCc8

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Build the Lanes: https://www.youtube.com/@buildthelanes

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Our family has lived in the Netherlands for 5 years now. In this episode, I have a conversation with my wife, Mrs. NJB, about our experiences and how it compares to other places we've lived before.

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I was recently asked to comment on a news story in my hometown of Fake London in Canada: a single mom had her car break down and she couldn't afford to fix it, so she asked people how feasible it was to go car-free. In the end, she had to spend $6000 on a new transmission because living car-free was effectively impossible.

It got me thinking how crazy this situation is, especially compared to where I've lived in Europe. So I've brought back certified European Adam Something to discuss how this is unlikely to happen to most Europeans, but how that could change, if right wing politicians get their way.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-would-you-give-up-your-car-1.6877193

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/26/cyclists-berlin-right-wing-mayor-bans-new-cycle-paths/

https://www.world-today-news.com/data-prague-has-twice-as-many-cars-per-inhabitant-as-vienna-or-berlin-and-they-are-old/

Directly support the production of this podcast, and listen to every episode early (and without ads!) by subscribing to Nebula: https://nebula.tv/agenda

Not Just Bikes: https://youtube.com/@notjustbikes

Adam Something: https://youtube.com/@adamsomething

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Rowhouses have been around for literally thousands of years: a house that's connected to the house next to it. This type of housing is illegal in huge swaths of the US and Canada, but it's extremely common elsewhere because it is the greatest form of housing.

Jason from Not Just Bikes is joined by Justin Roczniak from the Well There's Your Problem podcast to discuss why rowhouses are the superior form of housing, and why we should bulldoze every city to build them.

References and further reading:

https://statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/Pennsylvania/Philadelphia/East-Passyunk/Population

https://www.phila.gov/media/20190521124726/Philadelphia_Rowhouse_Manual.pdf

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