Active Towns

In this episode, I reconnect with the Bike Train Guru of The Netherlands, Roland Kager, with the consulting firm Studio Bereikbaar 

One of the very first things I noticed upon my initial visit to The Netherlands in 2015 was the seamless connection and synergistic coordination between the national transit system and the bicycle network, both of which we experienced every single day, usually multiple times each day. It wasn't until subsequent return trips that I realized how well thought out and studied this phenomenon actually is.

In 2019 I had the pleasure of meeting Roland Kager of Studio Bereikbaar while tagging along with a PeopleForBikes Study Tour. His presentation and analysis of the data that he's collected drove home just how these relationships are and the powerful potential that these hold for other cities around the world.

So we have your complimentary transit card ready for you, climb aboard, tune in and enjoy the ride.

Additional Helpful Links:

This episode's landing page on the Active Towns website for embedded video

Dutch Cycling Embassy Knowledge Clip pdf on the Synergies Between Cycling, Public Transport, and Urban Planning 

Dutch Cycling Embassy Video featuring Roland

Follow Roland on Twitter @BikeTrainGuru

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 Doug "Mr. BrooklynSpoke" Gordon, one of three co-hosts of The War on Cars Podcast, for a conversation about the battle to create safer streets and more livable communities for everyone.

You can pretty much count on it - anytime there's a proposal to install a bike lane or pedestrian crossing that might inconvenience or slow down motor vehicle traffic in any amount, no matter how small, there's a chorus of screams from a vocal minority of haters that this is clearly evidence of a vicious "A War on Cars" most likely being waged upon an unsuspecting and helpless public by the "All-Powerful Bicycle Lobby". 

It would be such silly laughable bluster if it wasn't so important and serious that we take immediate strides in this fight to create safer more vibrant environments for everyone, including our most vulnerable roadway users, those walking, cycling, in wheelchairs, or even on scooters.

So in typical "tongue-in-cheek" New York style, when Doug and his co-hosts, Aaron Naparstek and Sarah Goodyear decided to launch a podcast, The War on Cars was a natural moniker to poke fun at the ridiculous rhetoric.

We dive "deep into the weeds" that these challenges represent, the progress being made, and how advocates make an impact in their own communities.

Additional & Helpful Links:

Landing Page for this Episode - access to photos and other fun stuff

The War of Cars Podcast

Brooklyn Spoke Media

Doug's Twitter Account - BrooklynSpoke and the original blog

The New Republic article by Doug about changes to our streets due to the pandemic

A recent The Daily News opinion piece by Doug about stopping the carnage on our streets

Transportation Alternatives - Streets for People organization

Streetsblog

Streetfilms

Brooklyn Bridge bike lane story

Oakland Slow Streets and Essential Places Program

Slower Speeds article, AAA-CO Study

AARP Livable Communities Program

Streetfight book by Janette Sadik-Khan

Designing for "All Ages & Abilities" - NACTO Guide 

Protected bike lanes/facilities via NACTO and from City of Austin

How the Dutch handle the snow on cycle tracks and bridges

Woom bikes episode 

Induced Demand - definition

Paris transformations article

Active Towns Paris profile video

Vision Zero NYC and the National Network

Families for Safe Streets 

Citibike

Tactical Urbanism

NYC Summer Streets

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 epis...

In this shortie, I check in after finally getting our power, heat, and internet service restored after the big winter storm of 2021 thumped Austin big time.

While cold weather and even snow are not completely unheard of in Texas, clearly, the state, especially the power grid, is not prepared for such events.

John touches upon some observations of neighborliness, community, and active mobility in the face of this powerful storm and extended power blackout.

Landing Page for this 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 Ryan Hale, founder of Laneshift, a consulting firm in Bentonville focused on helping other communities become more bicycle-friendly places. Northwest Arkansas has transformed itself into a Mountain Biking destination and, in the process, stimulated its economy and a culture of activity.

The amazing culture of activity transformation that has been underway in the Northwest Arkansas region over the past couple of decades is an encouraging narrative that serves as a testament to what is possible and we believe it is truly an inspiring story for other cities across North America and around the world.

Ryan has been in the middle of this "community evolution" over the past couple of decades and provides a fascinating view of the process and how the region continues to strive for additional active mobility improvements.

Additional Helpful Links:

The landing page for this episode on the Active Towns website for more photos and content

Ryan's firm: Laneshift

The Walton Family Foundation

Soderquist Leadership Center which was rebranded as Milestone Leadership in 2018

A story about the Denmark Study Tour  - Walton Family Foundation

A story about the Denmark Study Tour - in the local news

Another story about the Denmark Study Tour - in the local news

The Lebron James Interview about Bicycles

NWA Mtn Biking OZ Trails

Bike NWA - Local Non-Profit

NWA Best Trails in the Nation 

The Bike Snob goes to NWA 

PeopleForBikes summary of NWA

Rogers’ Railyard Bike Park

Boulder Valmont Bike Park

Walton Family Foundation/PeopleForBikes Economic Impact Study

National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA)

Northwest Arkansas Council

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 University of Colorado Denver Professor Dr. Wes Marshall for a fun and fascinating discussion about some of the safer streets research that he and his students have conducted over the past decade.

Wes Marshall, Ph.D., is a Professor of Civil Engineering and an affiliate faculty member in Planning and Design at the University of Colorado Denver. Wes focuses on transportation research and teaching dedicated to creating more sustainable, equitable, and resilient transportation systems, particularly in terms of road safety, active transportation, and transit. 

He has a vast body of work and we discuss several of his most notable studies that have gained attention over the past few years, including his 2019 research paper that highlighted enhanced safety of protected bikeways for all roadways users, not just people cycling.

Additional Helpful Links:

Active Towns Landing Page for this Episode

Professor Norman Garrick

Active Towns Landing Page for Peter Norton's Episode

Active Towns Landing Page for Fietsstraat/Bicycle Priority Street Episode

Active Towns Landing Page for Jonathan Fertig's Episode

Central Park Community (formerly Denver's main airport)

New Urbanism

Street Network 101 Explains Grided street network versus Tree-like street network as seen in most suburban communities

Links to the research papers we hit on:

• Why cities with high bicycling rates are safer for all road users 
  • www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140518301488
• Does street network design affect traffic safety? 
  • www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457510003179
• Effect of Street Network Design on Walking and Biking 
  • https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3141/2198-12
• Community design, street networks, and public health 
  • www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140514000486
• Scofflaw bicycling: Illegal but rational 
  • www.jstor.org/stable/26211757
• Advancing healthy cities through safer cycling: An examination of shared lane markings 
  • www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2046043018300583
• Understanding the impacts of integrating New Urbanist neighborhood and street design ideals with conventional traffic engineering standards: the case of Stapleton 
  • www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17549175.2014.896826

Here are a few YouTube explainer videos made about Wes' research:

• Why Cities with High Bicycling Rates are Safer for all Road Users 
• A Proactive Approach to Redefining Child Road Safety - and Vision Zero
• The Impacts of Uber & Lyft on Transportation

Complete list of Wes' Research

Denver Streetsblog Interview

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 Erin Riediger for a dive deep into the details of how and why there's a surprising Dutch bike culture bomb exploding in the prairie city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Erin Riediger is in the final stages of officially becoming an architect. You’ll quickly learn that she’s passionate about creating equitable cities which partly explains how she got interested in advocating for safer cycling for everyone. And she’s also a talented storyteller and the producer of the Plain Bicycle Podcast series. We talk about it and the fascinating story surrounding the surprising transformative power that the simple, upright, plain if you will, Dutch-style bicycle has had and is having on Winnipeg and how it all came to be.

Additional Helpful Links:

This episode's landing page on the Active Towns website - to see some amazing photos that Erin sent our way

Erin on Twitter

The Plain Bicycle Project

Winnipeg Trails

Chris & Melissa Bruntlett: Building the Cycling City The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality published by Island Press

The Active Towns Podcast episode featuring Chris Bruntlett with The Dutch Cycling Embassy

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, we head back up to the province of British Columbia, Canada for a conversation about Restorative Natural Areas with Vancouver-based Katherine Howard and Jo Fitzgibbons

Joanne "Jo" Fitzgibbons is a Ph.D. doctoral candidate at the University of British Columbia and a Sustainability Scholar with the Urban Biodiversity Hub

Katherine Howard is a Project Manager with the City of Vancouver currently working on its comprehensive master plan, she was involved with developing VanPlay, the city’s parks and recreation services master plan.

Jo and Katherine share how the development of the Restorative Natural Area (RNA) Index tool assisted the City of Vancouver and contributed as a layer in the Equity Initiative Zone mapping as part of VanPlay, the City's Parks and recreation services master plan.

Additional Helpful Links:

Equity Initiative Zones article that Katherine wrote for TheCityFix

Fort Collins, Colorado - Nature in the 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 Kelly Rodgers, a Ph.D. doctoral candidate in Urban Studies at Portland State University and the founder of the non-profit evidence-based resource platform, Streetsmart.

Streetsmart is an amazing non-profit platform and resource clearinghouse for integrating climate change, public health, and equity concerns into transportation. Specifically the platform is evidence-based and helps users make the case for healthy investments and prioritize strategies that meet community goals. The focus is on proven strategies that can help communities meet their goals for increasing physical activity, walking, and bicycling; reducing vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions; and improving equity and inclusion.

Kelly provides some background about the origins of the name for this effort, how she came to start it, and how it ties in with her doctoral program. The conversation centers around how communities can use the Streetsmart platform as a practical tool to help facilitate and support change.

Additional Links and Helpful Resources:

STARS (Sustainable Transportation Analysis & Rating System)

Kelly serves on the Steering Committee of PHEAL (Planning for Health Equity, Advocacy, and Leadership), pronounced "feel" - Mission:To reaffirm and expand the commitment of those involved in community planning and public health; to break down the obstacles preventing transdisciplinary, transformative collaboration; to dismantle oppressive systems, beliefs, values, and practices that negatively affect Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, low income, immigrant, and other historically marginalized/under-represented communities (historically overburdened communities with health disparities); and to reorganize our systematic approaches to lead toward the path that will genuinely create and nurture healthy, equitable, and prosperous communities.

ITE - Mission: To provide the global community of transportation professionals with the knowledge, practices, skills and connections to serve the needs of their communities and help shape the future of the profession and transportation in the societal context.

Vice-chair, ITE Standing Committee on Transportation and Health

TRB Transportation Research Board - which is part of the National Academy of Science

Member, Transportation Research Board, Standing Committee onTransportation and Public Health (AME70)

American Public Health Association, Center for Climate, Health, and Equity

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, the first of a new year and new season, I head up to Ontario, Canada (virtually) for a discussion with Jamie Stuckless and Darnel Harris about the policies associated with e-assist bikes and an innovative cargo-bike library.

Jamie Stuckless is a Hamilton-based advocate and policy wonk who has become increasingly interested in and working on the needed legislative updates with regards to e-bikes and other electric mobility devices. We reference a recent article that she published about her first substantial experience riding an electric assist bike.

While Darnel Harris is the Executive Director of Our GreenWay an NGO working to create a more resilient and equitable Northwest Toronto, a far flung, industrial exurb of the city of Toronto. We reference an article that Darnel published along with Sam Starr about the the post-pandemic future of electric assist cycles.

Additional Helpful Links:

Episode Landing Page on the Active Towns website
 

Jamie's website

Jamie wrote a policy piece for the Ontario Good Roads Association 

Jamie and Darnel have both done a bit of writing for this e-bikes website: https://ebikes-international.com/

Cycling Without Age

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.

On this, the final day of the crazy year that was 2020, I look back and reflect on the 52 episodes in Season One, giving thanks to our guests and you, our listeners. 

I also provide some surprise bonus material at the end of the main recording; a brief overview countdown of each of the 52 episodes.

See below for links to each of the episode landing pages, which feature special photos and video links.

Season One Episode Landing Page Links:

Active Towns Podcast Intro

Episode 1: Wading into Walkability w/ Heyden Black Walker

Episode 2: Growing Old(er) w/ Preston Tyree

Episode 3: Reconnecting to Your Community w/ Darcy Kitching

Episode 4: It Could Be Me w/ Triny Willerton

Episode 5: Dream it, Plan it, GO FOR IT! w/ Katie Deolloz

Episode 6: Ready to Ride w/ Mathias Ihlenfeld

Episode 7: Getting Out There w/ Ryan Van Duzer

Episode 8: Rolling Forward with MoveATX w/ Jim Wick

Episode 9: Updates from Bike Austin & Walk Austin

Episode 10: Main Street Transformation w/ Victor Dover & Raphael Clemente

Episode 11: Going Dutch w/ Chris Bruntlett

Episode 12: Tactical Urbanism in a Pandemic w/ Mike Lydon

Episode 13: Building Strong Towns w/ Chuck Marohn

Episode 14: It's All City Building w/ Mark Nickita

Episode 15: Composing a Compelling Narrative w/ Kea Wilson

Episode 16: Fighting Traffic w/ Peter Norton

Episode 17: Places People Love w/ Lynn Richards

Episode 18: Inspiring Vibrancy w/ Amanda Popken

Episode 19: Why The Overhead Wire w/ Jeff Wood

Episode 20: A Walker In LA w/ Alissa Walker

Episode 21: Following Footprints w/ Dom Nozzi & Maggie Waddoups

Episode 22: Active Explorations w/ Holly Bennett

Episode 23: Cultivating Community w/ Kevin Shepherd

Episode 24: Startup CEO Reflections w/ Jennifer Baird

Episode 25: Streets for Everyone w/ Jill Locantore

Episode 26: Rebuild Restore Renew w/ Roshun Austin

Episode 27: Shared Paths Boulder w/ Graham Hill

Episode 28: Run This World w/ Nicole DeBoom

Episode 29: Induced Demand Innovations w/ Curtis Rogers

Episode 30: A Session w/ Transportation Psychologist Bryan Jones

Episode 31: Exploring Every Street w/ Janelle Naess

Episode 32: Live Your Gold Medal Life w/ Susanne Menge

Episode 33: Discussing Our Transport Future w/ Todd Litman

Episode 34: PeopleFor Bikes - Local Innovations w/ Kyle Wagenschutz & Sara Studdard

Episode 35: All Aboard w/ Mike Christensen

Episode 36: Make a Difference w/ Charles Brown

Episode 37: A Bike Friendly Episode w/ Bill Nesper

Episode 38: Rolling Down the Road w/ Commissioner Ellis & Fernando Martinez

Episode 39: Seville's "Overnight" Bike Network Success w/ Manuel Calvo

Episode 40: Lovable Places & People Habitats w/ Kaid Benfield

Episode 41: A Wish For Wheels w/ Brad Appel

Episode 42: The Joy of Riding Again w/ Lennard Zinn

Episode 43: Parking Reforms w/ Donald Shoup

Episode 44: Bikepacking w/ Ryan Van Duzer (video)

Episode 45: Reclaiming the Right of Way w/ Angie Schmitt

Episode 46: Up For Anything w/ Pam LeBlanc (video)

Episode 47: Human-Scaled Accessibility w/ Meredith Glaser

Episode 48: Rolling Down Santa Barbara's Car-Free Main Street w/ Frank Peters (video)

Episode 49: Talking Fietsstraats or Bicycle Streets w/ Matt Pinder & Justin Jones

Episode 50: America Walks w/ Mike McGinn

Episode 51: How We Get Around w/ Andy Boenau

Episode 52: Taking Action w/ Jonathan Fertig (video)

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