The Urbanist Agenda

During the covid-19 pandemic, many US cities made streets off-limits to cars and opened them to people walking an cycling. These "open streets" were loved by urbanists everywhere, but now that the lockdowns are over, many of these places are being given back to motor vehicle traffic. In this episode, I talk to Dave from the YouTube channel City Beautiful about these closed open streets and what the future of "open streets" might look like in the US and Canada.

How New York City Lost 63 Miles of Pedestrian-Friendly 'Open Streets'

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/11/nyregion/open-streets-nyc.html

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

City Beautiful: https://youtube.com/@citybeautiful

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Toronto has almost completely stopped issuing parking tickets to drivers, even as it faces critical budget problems. But this is just one more decision in a long line that allow drivers in Toronto to get away with almost any behaviour. From running red lights to driving literally twice the speed limit, the Toronto Police have proven, time and time again, that Toronto drivers are above the law.

• https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2023/03/07/the-number-of-parking-tickets-has-plunged-in-cash-strapped-toronto-why-the-lax-enforcement.html
• https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/11/22/even-as-collisions-rise-toronto-police-traffic-enforcement-falls-to-lowest-level-since-amalgamation.html
• https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2023/03/15/ttcs-fare-crackdown-demands-vigilance.html
• https://www.narcity.com/toronto/toronto-police-officer-sparks-debate-over-ttc-fare-evasion-people-think-fines-are-too-high

Want to do something about it? Join Friends and Families for Safe Streets: https://www.cycleto.ca/friends-and-families-safe-streets

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The 15-minute cities conspiracy has almost nothing to do with urban planning, and everything to do with climate change denialism. Urban planning has just become the latest topic to get caught up in the culture war.

Relevant articles & links:

• https://www.desmog.com/2023/02/16/revealed-the-science-denial-network-behind-oxfords-climate-lockdown-backlash/
• https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/02/21/what-is-a-15-minute-city-the-eco-concept-that-has-been-jumped-on-by-conspiracy-theorists
• https://twitter.com/AdamBarnett13/status/1626188798269747201
• https://twitter.com/davidrvetter/status/1626962580190248961

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

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

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Toronto's mayor stepped down, which gives the city a unique opportunity to make a meaningful change. Without an incumbent in the race, the field is wide open for someone new to take charge. Will Toronto choose good urbanism, or will it continue down its car-centric trajectory?

In this episode, Jason from Not Just Bikes and Reece from RMTransit go through the top candidates in the Toronto mayoral election and give our takes on who we think should be (or shouldn't be) the next mayor of Toronto.

Relevant articles:

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/06/11/toronto-election-reality-check-how-the-mayoral-hopefuls-would-unclog-city-streets.html

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/why-does-doug-ford-care-who-becomes-mayor-of-toronto-1.6436389

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

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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For most of us, autonomous vehicles are this nebulous concept that might appear some time in our future, but there are other people living with this reality today - whether they like it or not. In this episode, I talk to Jon from the Twitch channel Bike Curious about what it's like to live in San Francisco, where autonomous vehicles are around you every single day and there's nothing you can do about it - except put a traffic cone on their hood.

Driverless car startup Cruise's no good, terrible year

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/30/1222083720/driverless-cars-gm-cruise-waymo-san-francisco-accidents

Driverless Car Gets Stuck in Wet Concrete in San Francisco

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/us/driverless-car-accident-sf.html

Waymo robotaxi accident with San Francisco cyclist draws regulatory review

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/driverless-waymo-car-hits-cyclist-san-francisco-causes-minor-scratches-2024-02-07/

Dead-End SF Street Plagued With Confused Waymo Cars Trying To Turn Around 'Every 5 Minutes'

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/dead-end-sf-street-plagued-with-confused-waymo-cars-trying-to-turn-around-every-5-minutes/

Cruise vehicle gets stuck in wet concrete while driving in San Francisco

https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/cruise-stuck-wet-concrete-sf-18297946.php

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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