What if the United States didn’t just build too many highways—but built a funding machine that makes it hard to stop? We sit down with Erick Guerra, author of Overbuilt: The High Costs and Low Rewards of U.S. Highway Construction, to unpack why capacity keeps growing, congestion doesn’t ease, and budgets bend under the weight of perpetual reconstruction.

We trace the policy DNA from ISTEA through IIJA, showing how well-meaning multimodal language coexists with incentives that still favor widening. Erick explains how “maintenance” often balloons into bigger lanes and interchanges, why induced demand is only part of the congestion story, and how common modeling practices overstate time savings while sidelining external costs like displacement, emissions, and stormwater. The result: urban highways that are wider, costlier, and less effective than promised.

If you care about traffic, climate, safety, or the fiscal health of your city, this conversation offers a clear map for change. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves a good policy debate, and leave a review to help more planners and curious listeners find the show.

Show Notes:

• Further Reading: 
  • Killed by a Traffic Engineer by Wes Marshall 
  • The Drive for Dollars by Brian Taylor, Jeff Morris, and Jeffery Brown
  • Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar
  • City Limits by Megan Kimble
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/

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What if the biggest public space in your city isn’t a park—it’s the street right outside your door? We sit down with author and planner‑geographer David Prytherch to rethink roads as social infrastructure and unpack why “complete streets” is only the starting line. From the rapid legal and engineering turn that handed streets to cars a century ago to the community‑led experiments that reclaimed asphalt during the pandemic, this conversation traces the power dynamics that shape everyday mobility—and how to change them.

We dig into mobility justice in plain language: not just bikes versus cars, but who feels safe, who gets heard, and where public money actually lands. David lays out how pop‑ups, parklets, and open streets create a cognitive shift that policy can lock in, and why “messy shared space” often calms traffic better than paint and signs. You’ll hear practical, scalable ideas—default speed humps, daylighted intersections, neighborhood greenways, curb‑level plazas—and a frank look at bottom‑up versus top‑down delivery. Boston’s standardized traffic calming and Queens’ 34th Avenue transformation show two paths to lasting change, each grounded in data, culture, and community stewardship.

If you care about safer streets, small business vitality, public health, or equitable access, this episode offers a toolkit and a mindset. We share a reading list—from Peter Norton’s Fighting Traffic to Mimi Sheller’s Mobility Justice—and outline how cities can move from car hegemony to people‑first design without breaking budgets. Enjoyed the conversation? Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend or colleague who plans, pedals, or simply walks their city.

Show Notes:

• Further Reading:
  • Fighting Traffic: the Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City by Peter Norton 
  • Mobility Justice: the Politics of Movement in an Age of Extremes by Mimi Sheller
  • Justice in the Interstates: The Racist Truth about Urban Highways by Ryan Reft, Amanda Phillips de Lucas, Rebecca Retzlaff 
  • Cyclescapes of the Uneven City: Bicycle Infrastructure and Uneven Development by John G. Stehlin
  • Law, Engineering, and The American Right-of-Way by David Prytherch (free download here).
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/

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Ever wonder why a “simple” parking spot can decide what gets built on your block, how long your commute takes, or whether your favorite cafe survives? We sit down with Henry Grabar, author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World, for a live episode recording that reveals how curb space, parking minimums, and meter policy quietly shape housing, transit, local business, and city budgets. Henry takes us from the horse‑and‑wagon era to modern dynamic pricing, connecting the dots between what seems like a technical detail and the urban life we all experience.

If you care about vibrant neighborhoods, small business turnover, housing options, or safer, greener travel, this is a candid, myth‑busting look at the hidden system running beneath every city. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who swears there’s “never any parking”—then tell us how your city should use one block of curb.

Show Notes:

• Further Reading: 
  • Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City by Jorge Almazán, Joe McReynolds
  • Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age by Lizabeth Cohen
  • Shade: the Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource by Sam Bloch
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/

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What happens when cities eliminate parking requirements? When curbside parking is priced at market rates? When parking revenue stays in the neighborhood instead of disappearing into general funds? These questions form the core of Donald Shoup's revolutionary approach to urban parking policy, explored in depth through Daniel Baldwin Hess's new book "The Shoup Doctrine."

Bringing together 37 contributors across 33 chapters, this festschrift celebrates the man who transformed parking from a mundane topic into one of urban planning's most dynamic areas of reform. As Hess explains, Shoup's background as an economist led him to view every parking instance as an economic transaction with hidden costs that profoundly shape our cities.

Show Notes:

• Further Reading: 
  • Sandrush: The Rival of the Beach in 20th Century Los Angeles by Elsa Devienne
• Get a copy of the book from the publisher: https://www.routledge.com/The-Shoup-Doctrine-Essays-Celebrating-Donald-Shoup-and-Parking-Reforms/Hess/p/book/9781032733920?srsltid=AfmBOor_oOVeYjVfiRDJhUR961ekHH5bzYi6Ug7GvS1gf_6n8CFpvqwE 
• Check out our episode where we interviewed Donald Shoup on The High Cost of Free Parking back in year 1: https://www.bookedonplanning.com/podcast/episode/79419c03/the-high-cost-of-free-parking 
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/ 

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Housing affects every aspect of our lives, yet few of us truly understand the complex systems that determine where and how we live. In this eye-opening conversation with Dr. Andrew Carswell, co-editor of "Introduction to Housing, Third Edition," we explore the fascinating evolution of housing markets and what the future might hold.

Carswell reveals how the timing of each edition coincided with pivotal moments in housing history—from the mid-2000s housing bubble to the uneven recovery period following the Great Recession, and now the pandemic era that fundamentally changed our relationship with home spaces. 

Looking toward the future, several trends emerge: universal design principles for aging in place, accessory dwelling units for multigenerational living, and valuable lessons from international housing models where smaller spaces coexist with high quality of life. Perhaps most provocatively, Carswell suggests that declining global birth rates may soon have countries competing for immigrants rather than restricting them, as both new households and skilled construction labor become increasingly precious resources.

Show Notes:

• Further Reading: 
  • Mine!: The hidden rules of home ownership control our lives by Michael A. Heller and James Salzman
  • Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
• YIMBY Action: https://yimbyaction.org/ 
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/ 

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The racial wealth gap in Washington DC isn't what you think it is. While conventional wisdom suggests Black families couldn't access homeownership due to racist housing practices, author Tanya Maria Golash-Boza reveals a more complex and troubling reality. Drawing from her personal experience growing up in DC's Petworth neighborhood as one of the few white children in a predominantly Black community, Golash-Boza uncovers how systemic disinvestment prevented wealth accumulation despite significant increases in Black homeownership between 1940 and 1970.

However, as white families departed, they took businesses and tax dollars with them. Banks stopped lending in Black neighborhoods, leading to the gradual closure of theaters, grocery stores, and community amenities. The result? Property values remained flat for decades, preventing Black homeowners from building wealth through their largest asset. The urban crisis of the 1970s-80s compounded these challenges. As deindustrialization created a joblessness crisis affecting young Black men, the response was increased policing rather than addressing root causes. 

Looking ahead, Golash-Boza suggests solutions require rethinking housing as a human right through decommodification and limited equity cooperatives. If you're concerned about housing affordability, racial justice, or urban policy, this conversation offers essential insights into how historical policies continue to shape our cities today.

Show Notes:

• Author Recommended Reading: 
  • Chocolate City by Derek Musgrove and Chris Myers Ash
  • Cappuccino City by Derek Highra
  • Black in Place by Brandy Summers
  • African Americans and Gentrification in Washington DC by Sabiyha Prince
  • Intersectional Listening by Ali Martin
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/

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What happens when you win a "free house" in one of America's most complicated real estate markets? Author Anne Elizabeth Moore pulls back the curtain on her experience receiving a donated house in Detroit through a writer's residency program that promised to solve her housing concerns while supporting her creative work. The dream quickly unravels as Moore discovers her "free" home carries hidden costs—not just financially, but ethically. With journalistic instinct and careful research, she uncovers that her house had been taken from Tamika Langford, a Black woman who had been making regular tax payments but lost her property through county foreclosure without proper notification. Moore's memoir takes us beyond her personal housing saga to examine the broader landscape of Detroit after the housing market crash. 

Show Notes:

• 2022 Guardian Article Diving Deeper into Anne’s Story: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/18/detroit-house-free-property-tax 
• Further Reading: 
  • Evicted by Matthew Desmond
  • There is No Place for Us: Working and Homelessness in America By Brian Goldstone
• To help support the show, pick up a copy of the book through our Amazon Affiliates page at https://amzn.to/4mr2A0A or even better, get a copy through your local bookstore!
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/ 

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What makes our neighborhoods feel like home isn't just the buildings that surround us but the countless human connections that happen within them. Author Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani spent decades exploring this phenomenon by asking residents to guide her through their neighborhoods, showing her the places that matter most in their daily lives.

Her approach revealed something profound: places we might walk past without a second glance often contain rich histories and social significance for community members. Take the electronics store in Brooklyn where, years after the owner's death, his cricket-playing friends still gather every Thursday afternoon around a table in the back room. The store remains untouched, merchandise still on shelves, functioning as both informal memorial and vital community space. When planners see only a "redevelopment opportunity" in such places, they miss the essential community functions these spaces serve.

Ready to reconnect with your neighborhood's everyday places? Listen to our full conversation with Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, then visit your local bookstore to pick up "The Cities We Need: Essential Stories of Everyday Places."

Show Notes:

• Buscada is Bendiner-Viani’s interdisciplinary practice, which creates vital spaces for dialogue to foster more just cities through art, strategic planning, and research.
• Get a copy of the book from the publisher MIT Press or check out other ways to buy from the authors website
• Author Recommended Reading: 
  • American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Postwar Oakland by Robert O. Self
  • Palestinian Walks by Raja Shehadeh
  • The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/

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The ground beneath our cities is shifting—literally in coastal areas facing sea level rise, but also conceptually as we grapple with what urbanism means in an era of profound environmental, technological, and social transformation. 

Stephanie Wakefield's provocative exploration of Miami as a laboratory for climate adaptation challenges us to completely rethink how we imagine urban futures. Moving beyond simplistic narratives of doom or technological salvation, she maps the competing "imaginaries" that shape Miami's development: the relatively recent framing of the city as "sea level rise ground zero" versus newer visions of Miami as a crypto-capital or tech hub. These aren't just abstract ideas but powerful frameworks that directly influence what infrastructure gets built and how resources are allocated.

For anyone interested in the future of cities, climate adaptation, or how we might begin to imagine new forms of urban life in the Anthropocene, Wakefield's analysis offers a challenging and thought-provoking perspective.

Show Notes:

• Further Reading: 
  • Metamorphosis of the City: On the Western Dynamic  by Pierre Menot
  • The Salty Urbanism: A Design Manual for Coastal Zones by Jeff Huber and Diana Mitsova
• To help support the show, pick up a copy of the book through our Amazon Affiliates page at https://amzn.to/4lkjw7G or even better, get a copy through your local bookstore!
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/

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Resilience is much more than just bouncing back after a disaster. Over the past decade, as climate impacts have intensified, our understanding of what makes communities truly resilient has evolved dramatically. In this conversation with Laurie Mazur, editor of Island Press's "Resilience Matters: 10 Years of Transformative Thinking," we explore how climate resilience has transformed from buzzword to essential framework.

Show Notes:

• Author Recommended Reading:
  • Climate Action for Busy People by Cate Mingoya-LaFortune
  • Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation by Danielle Arigoni
  • Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change by Peter Newman and Timothy Beatley
  • Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World by Brian Walker
  • Heat Wave: A social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago by Eric Klinenberg
• The Urban Ocean Lab run by Ayana Elizabeth https://www.ayanaelizabeth.com/
• Download your own copy of Resilience Matters from Island Press at https://islandpress.org/ten-years-transformative-thinking 
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/

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