Active Towns

In this episode, I connect with Bianca Shulaker, Associate Director of National Programs at The Trust for Public Land, for a discussion about their Park Score Index, the 10-Minute Walk Campaign, and the exciting opportunity to leverage qualitative data to meet the needs of the community.

The Trust for Public Land was founded in 1972 on the conviction that all people need and deserve access to nature and the outdoors, close to home, in the cities and communities where they live, as a matter of health, equity, and justice.

While many conservation organizations set aside wild-lands for biodiversity or habitat restoration, the founders of TPL sought to bring the benefits of parks and nature to the places, people, and communities that needed them most.

Signature initiatives and programs include ParkScore, ParkServe, and the 10-Minute Walk campaign

ParkScore: The ParkScore index provides in-depth data to make the case for park investment and guide local park improvement efforts. The ParkScore index is the most comprehensive rating system ever developed to measure how well the 100 largest U.S. cities are meeting the need for parks. To determine a city’s ParkScore rating, we assign points for 14 measures across five categories: acreage, investment, amenities, access, and equity. Recent analysis of data revealed significant disparities in park space across racial and economic lines. Find more here: Equitable Recovery Report

ParkServe: ParkServe helps cities visualize their park system and inform decisions by identifying areas most in need of new parks. This tool and comprehensive database, developed by The Trust for Public Land, includes park data from 14,000 cities, towns, and communities. ParkServe analyzes the 10-minute walk serviceable areas for each park in the database, and includes demographic data, certain climate and health layers, and schoolyards and certain park amenities. Data is freely available to download, and an interactive map and Park Elevator tool can help assess locations for new parks.

10-Minute Walk: We believe all people in US cities should have access to a quality park within a 10-minute walk of their home. Today, 100 million people living in the U.S. don’t have a park close to home.10-Minute Walk, an initiative led by The Trust for Public Land, calls on mayors and gives them the resources needed to accelerate the creation of parks that drive equitable, healthy, and thriving communities. Working with cities, communities, and partners, we seek to identify and support actions that help close the nation's park equity gap. 

• On Twitter at https://twitter.com/10minwalk or @10minwalk
• Direct contact/email: [email protected] 

*NEW* Community Schoolyards Report: Joint use - including with schools - is an important tool for providing access to recreation and greenspace. Currently, public school districts own an astonishing two million acres of underused land across America. By transforming these blacktop public schoolyards into living, recreational spaces open to the community, 20 million more people would have access to a park space within a 10-minute walk of home. This new report highlights the positive effects that result from providing students and nearby communities multi-functional parks that double as tranquil oases in their neighborhoods

Additional Helpful Links:

Dr. Richard "Dick" Jackson

SOPARC the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities Tool - used in direct observation to assess number of park users and levels of physical activity:

Community Park Audit Tool: one of the tools that has informed observations of the characteristics of park spaces

We All Need Parks Video

10-Minute Walk Video

Safe Routes to School Partnership

Complete Streets

Colorado Springs Trails and Open Space Coalition

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found...

In this episode, I connect with Jeff Bagg, the City Planner for Easthampton, MA, for a discussion about how this historic mill town is striving to connect people to meaningful destinations by leveraging its beloved Manhan Rail Trail while expanding its connectivity and reach through new infrastructure, creative installations, and traffic calming measures.

Episode Landing page for access to more information and photos

Easthampton, Massachusetts and Jeffrey Bagg, City Planner were suggested for the Podcast by one our listeners. The following is a brief description that was provided as part of this suggestion:

"Easthampton's a small Western Mass city that's more aptly a dense village. They're trailblazing out there doing amazing work that other small-scale communities should try and replicate; investing in a fantastic rail trail, a pedestrian boardwalk, traffic calming roundabouts, raised crosswalks, and new trailheads. It's also surrounded by jaw-dropping natural beauty."

In the conversation, Jeff also discusses some of the challenges and opportunities the city is facing as they move to relocate an elementary school, leverage connectivity through the existing popular Manhan Rail Trail, and work to slow motor vehicles speeds in the vital downtown areas where people are likely to be walking, cycling, and lingering.

Additional Helpful Links:

Easthampton Planning Department

Mt Tom North Trailhead Park

Easthampton Planning Dept Facebook Page

Easthampton Planning Dept Instagram

MassDOT Shared Streets

Mill Pond Live

Tactical Urbanism

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I reconnect with Charles Marohn, Founder of Strong Towns and author of the new book Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town for a discussion about the compelling need to reform both our transportation systems and how those systems are planned and designed.

Landing page for this episode

Video version of the episode

In 2010 Charles Marohn, Founder of the Strong Towns organization sat down to create a computerized animated cartoon video called Conversation with an Engineer. As he says in this podcast episode the dialog just flowed out of him, he didn't have to think hard about it, because he had already had many such conversations in his relatively short time as a practicing engineer. He brings this video back to life in the first chapter of Confessions as a way to set the premise of the book. He had behaved in this way and this is his confession. And he was wrong.

The new book Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town published by Wiley is available on September 8, 2021.

Additional Helpful Links:

Chuck’s Presentation in Austin 

Our first interview with Chuck – Episode 13 of the Active Towns Podcast

Not Just Bikes - our episode w/ Jason Slaughter

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I connect with Ann Sussman, co-author along with Justin B Hollander, of the intriguing book Cognitive Architecture: Designing for How We Respond to the Built Environment for a discussion about how we can shape behavior in a positive by understanding a few key concepts related to our psychology, genetics, and how we evolved. 

Landing page for this episode to access the visuals associated with the discussion

The book Cognitive Architecture by Ann Sussman and Justin Hollander published by Routledge, now in its second edition, has helped refine what we know and understand about how we humans respond to our surroundings, from nature to the built environment, including building, streets, and public places. Thus we highly recommend it to anyone curious about or doing work in any field where you're hoping to influence human behavior.

A brief video on how you really know something is wrong with Modern Architecture…when you do biometric analyses contrasting it with traditional, is here

As mentioned, here’s the PDF from the OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation + Development) based out of Paris, which declared out time, the 21st-century the New AGE of BIOLOGY in 2012

A brief overview of the 2nd edition

Additional Helpful Links:

The Hapi.org - The Human Architecture and Planning Institute, Inc

Built Beautiful video

Strong Towns and the Strong Towns Podcast

Jan Gehl

Daniel Lieberman

Walk Bike Places Conference

Indy Cultural Trail and our video of the Cultural Trail experience

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I connect with Abby Kinney, a Kansas City-based Urban Designer with Gould Evans and the host of the Strong Towns Upzoned Podcast, for a conversation about KC, the unique structure of the podcast, and some critical new protected cycling infrastructure that has opened up the city for her and some many others.

Active Towns Landing Page for this episode for access to more photos, videos

Every week on the Strong Towns Upzoned Podcast, Abby Kinney and most frequently, Chuck Marohn, Founder of Strong Towns have a discussion about a relevant article in some way connected to the Strong Towns message and movement. The thoughtful analysis of the content of the selected article is then balanced out with a segment they call the "Downzone" when they share what they've been reading, watching, or anything else that's been occupying their time.

Additional Helpful Links:

Gould Evans Studio for City Design

BikeWalkKC - Active Towns Podcast episode featuring Michael Kelley and Laura Steele

Active Towns Podcast with Kea Wilson original host of Upzoned

Gillham Cycletrack

Cliff Drive - Historical Video

Kevin Klinkenberg - Midtown KC Now

Incremental Development Alliance

Joe Minicozzi - Urban 3

Eldorado Canyon - Climbing

Pearl Street Mall - History

Bentonville, AR

Active Towns Dutch Cycling video montage

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I connect with Doogie Roux, a micro-mobility consultant, brand ambassador, and bicycle advocate based in Houston, Texas for a discussion of a couple of truly innovative projects he's involved with that leverage electric assist bike technology to encourage more people to ride more often. 

It's not an understatement to say that Houston is one of the most challenged cities in North America when it comes to it's sprawling size, at 670+ square miles (1,739.69 km2) in the city limits and 10,062 square miles (26,060 km2) at the metro level, car-centric infrastructure, and climate, with months on end of hot humid weather, but what the city does have in impressive numbers are passionate people like Doogie Roux who are working hard to make this proud southern city more livable, beautiful, and fun.

You'll also soon learn from this episode, Doogie has a background in engineering and a deep love for cycling that turned into a new career direction, which included several years working Houston's B-Cycle Bikeshare program. Recently he has transitioned into a role as a micro-mobility consultant, brand ambassador, and active advocate for getting more people on bikes more often.

Additional Helpful Links:

Active Towns Landing Page for this Episode - for additional photos, content, and links

Follow Doogie on:

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

Bosch eBike Systems

The Houston by eBike Travel Guide was created in collaboration with Houston resident and Micromobility consultant, Doogie Roux and highlights how to enjoy all the city has to offer by eBike, pointing to ride-sharing resources like Houston BCycle which has over 120 eBike share stations in the area. In addition, the guide offers a local’s view of Houston including: 

·       Bike-friendly restaurants and coffee stops encouraging stops at local favorites like El Tiempo for sizzling fajitas or visit The Original Ninfa's, a legendary hot-spot for Mexican fare 

·       Art scene exploration by eBike of places likeThe Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern, a decommissioned underground reservoir built in 1926 that currently features the art installation Time No Longer by Anri Sala 

·       Iconic views and historical locations such as Emancipation Park 

·       Adventure trails and calorie-burning activities like the Columbia Tap trail 

·       Music-themed rides like the 3rd Ward Tours 

·       Resources for eBike lovers such as Blue Line Bike Lab in the Heights, host of the Wednesday Night Bike Fight, a ride all about clipping in and going fast

“Bike Through H-Town” mural by mother-son artist duo Donkeeboy and Donkeemom. The mural was commissioned by Bosch eBike Systems to celebrate Houston’s rapid ascend to one of America’s most bike-friendly cities. To further encourage eBike adoption, Bosch launched an eBike travel series today, featuring Houston as its first city. Doogie's YouTube video of the unveiling.

Bike Houston

Active Towns Episode 38 featuring Commissioner Ellis and Fernando Martinez

Active Towns Episode 82 featuring Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

In this episode, I connect with Dr. Jen Roberts, an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, in the Department of Kinesiology, within the School of Public Health, for a detailed discussion about her work and study at the intersection of health and the built environment.

Active Towns Landing page for this episode for additional photos and content

Public health is and has been top of mind ever since the global coronavirus pandemic took hold, but there's a side to the study of public health that might not be as salient in our thoughts and that is the impact that our built environment has on our health, wellbeing, and specifically in encouraging and promoting healthy, active living.

Dr. Roberts didn't specifically set out to be an academic and researcher in this arena, but we are grateful that she found her way to this work, which includes serving as the Director of the Public Health Outcomes and Effects of the Built Environment (PHOEBE) Laboratory, leading the Purple Line Light Rail Impact on Neighborhood, Health and Transit (PLIGHT) Study, and heading up the NatureRX@UMD initiative on the campus of the University of Maryland.

Additional Helpful Links:

University of Maryland – School of Public Health

Professor Robert’s website and Twitter account

Richard Louv – Nature Deficit Disorder

ParkRX – Robert Zarr, MD, MPH

Campus NatureRX

NatureRX at Cornell

UC Davis Peer Program – NatureRXhttps://healthy.ucdavis.edu/healthy-campus-resources

Red Lining and Lack of Tree Canopy – NYT article

Rain gardens and nature integration – Active Towns video of the Indy Cultural Trail

Transit catchments areas: The Magic Hand of the Bike – Episode w/ Roland Kager

Health Belief Model – Dr. Marshall Becker

Active Towns Podcast episode w/ Charles T. Brown

Active Towns Podcast episode w/ Kelly Rodgers

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I connect with cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Robin Mazumder, Ph.D., for a discussion about how we as humans respond to our built environments and how we make that experience pleasurable and equitable.

Dr. Robin Mazumder, recently (October 2020) received his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo in cognitive neuroscience studying the impacts of urban design on our health and wellbeing.

Among other things, John and Robin talk about how we as humans respond to our built environments, what role access to nature plays in our cities, and how we can perhaps better understand and work productively to address our dependency on automobiles.

When we think of our cities and public spaces we probably have an intuitive sense as to what places are pleasant, welcoming, and interesting but we probably don’t really think too deeply about it. Well, we hope this conversation with Robin about his work to better understand our urban experience serves to be a thought-provoking and engaging experience.

Additional Helpful Links:

Robin's Website

Twitter

Instagram

Robin's Addicted to Cars post

Dignity and Health Forbes article

Places of the Heart book by Colin Ellard

Cities for People book by Jan Gehl

Happy City book by Charles Montgomery

Curbing Traffic and Building the Cycling City books by Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

Ada County article about bike lanes in Boise and surrounding suburbs

Cognitive Architecture book by Ann Sussman & Justin Hollander

Shinrin-yoku - Forest Bathing

Indy Cultural Trail

Jason Slaughter's Not Just Bikes episode

Jonathan Fertig's Taking Action episode

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I connect with Martina Haggerty, Director of Special Projects in the Planning Department for the City of Providence, Rhode Island, for a discussion about the status of the city's active mobility initiatives, including the completion of a major signature project the Van Leesten Memorial Bridge built upon the footings of the relocated Interstate 195.

Active Towns Landing page for this episode - for additional content and photos

Providence, Rhode Island is one of our oldest cities in North America and one of the original 13 Colonies, but just like so many others post world war two they transformed their historic built form into an automobile-dependent environment which drained it of life and vitality. The good news is that they realized relatively early on where things went wrong and set out to fix the damage, bigging in the early '80s with the uncovering of the Providence River.

More recently they tore down and relocated I-195 and then reused the footings to create an amazing activity asset in the Van Leesten Memorial Bridge.

Additional Helpful Links:

PeopleForBikes Big Jump Project

PeopleForBikes Five Cities Breaking Down Barriers

PeopleForBikes Best New Bikeways 2020

PVD Streets

PVD Affordable Housing

Providence River Relocation

Providence Great Streets Master Plan

Providence Bike-Ped Commission

East Bay Bike Path

Washington Secondary Trail

Zoning Rewrite article

E-Scooter Pilot

E-bikes Return - Spin

Active Towns Podcast Episode w/ Jon Larsen - Salt Lake City

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I connect with Ben Holland, Senior Associate at RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute), for a conversation about why we need fewer motor vehicles, not just electric vehicles, and the inherent fragility of car-centric cities.

Active Towns Landing Page for this Episode (for additional photos and content)

In order to combat climate change, we know that we must electrify the motor vehicle fleet (and other fossil fuel burning engines for that matter) as soon as possible, but what we also need is far fewer motor vehicles on our roads (not to mention far fewer lane miles), especially in our cities.

We also discuss the critical role that walkable urbanism, better land-use patterns, and active mobility networks appropriate for "All Ages & Abilities" play in our quest for sustainable, successful, equitable, and livable communities.

Additional Helpful Links:

Electric Cars Are Great, But Even Better: No Cars an article with Beth Osborne, Director of Transportation for America

Transportation for America: Driving Down Emissions

RMI's Coming Back Stronger Report

RMI: Building Urbanism into Climate Policy

RMI: We Need New Housing

RMI: The Pandemic and Fragility of Auto-Centric Cities

RMI: Bringing Back Clean Air 

Bloomberg Newsletter: Need To Think Outside the Electric Car

Ben's Guest Opinion regarding opening up West Pearl Street to Diners

CNU - Congress for the New Urbanism

CNU - Central Texas Chapter

Strong Towns

NRDC - (Natural Resources Defense Council)

World Resource Institute (WRI)

IPCC: Mitigation pathways compatible with 1.5°C in the context of sustainable development

Better Boulder

Bedrooms for People

Southwest Energy Efficiency Project

UC Davis VMT Induced Demand Calculator 

RMI Colorado Induced Demand Calculator

UC Davis National Zero Carbon Plan

Smart Growth America

Martha Roskowski - Further Strategies

Constantine Samaras - Low Carbon Transportation researcher

Talking Headways/Overhead Wire Podcast Episode: Jeff Wood and Ben

Chuck Marohn and James Howard Kunstler - Strong Towns Podcast: "Why can't we just have corner stores again..." @41:50

Active Towns Podcast Episode w/ Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett's Active Towns Podcast episode and their new book Curbing Traffic

Indianapolis Cultural Trail

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.