The assumptions and approaches that go into building and managing America’s transportation system are wrong. Author Charles Marohn explains the issues as he sees it from an engineer’s perspective who also happens to have a background in planning as well in his book “Confessions of a Recovering Engineer”. We can spend a lot less on transportation, get places quicker, and have better places to live that are safer, wealthier, and have more opportunities. It all starts with ending strode construction and instead designating roads and streets separately. All transportation decisions need to clarify whether the facility will be a high speed connection between places or set the framework for building a place. As long as we continue to muddle the difference between a road and a street, thereby creating strodes, we will continue to make bad investments that are dangerous.

Links:

·       Strong Towns Aligning Transportation with a Strong Towns Approach Course

·       Strong Towns website

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We turn on a light switch or run a faucet every day without thinking about how it works. Without the electric grid, a very complex but outdated system, we would not be able to do either. In this episode, we discuss Gretchen Bakke’s book, The Grid: the Fraying Wires between Americans and our Energy Future. We are reaching a critical breaking point with our archaic system of delivering power to homes and business across the U.S. A transition to renewable energy is necessary, but how do we accommodate all the clean energy generated without advanced methods for storing that power? We discuss the solutions and how planners can be more involved in the conversation.

Links:

Solar@Scale Webinar Series: https://icma.org/events/solarscale-webinar-series

Energy Justice Workbook: https://iejusa.org/workbook/

Great Plains Institute Cobenefit Opportunities: https://betterenergy.org/blog/solar-energy-projects-natural-systems/

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Over 50 years later Ian McHarg’s seminal book Design With Nature is still teaching us how to plan with nature, not against it. “We design with nature, the with is very important.” We are joined in this episode by Frederick Steiner, co-executive director of the Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology. We dive deep into the parallels McHarg makes between space and the importance of understanding natural processes and ecology. We discuss the connection between McHarg’s work overlaying physical maps and today’s digital version of Geographic Information Systems. While the book was very much a product of its time, it has proved to also be timeless.

Links:

PBS Documentary series Race - The Power of an Illusion episode 3—“The House We Live In”: https://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-about-03.htm 

Multiply and Subdue the Earth (1969) PBS documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nBFkARCP0I 

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What defines an ethical planning practitioner? Is it okay to omit race-specific population data because the mayor said to do it? Should you leave studying for ethics until the very end of preparing for AICP? How should we approach social media without getting into trouble? These questions and more are answered in this episode with APA’s ethics officer Jim Peters as we talk though the book the Ethical Planning Practitioner by Jerry Weitz.

Links:
https://planning.org/ethics/

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"The comprehensive plan isn’t a thing it’s a process. It’s important to have the document, but recognize it is not finished and it’s a process that takes management." Community planning,  how we ensure our communities grow and develop responsibly, is grounded in the comprehensive plan. In this episode we talk with author Eric Damian Kelly about his book, Community Planning: an Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan. Our conversation ranged from sustainability, educating community members versus advocacy planning, how the comprehensive plan and budget should go hand in hand, and much more.  

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In this episode we were joined by author Michael Brooks to talk about his book Planning Theory for Practitioners. Despite being retired for seventeen years now, Brooks had much to share about the planner’s role in city development. If you thought the book was about spatial organization theories like Hoyt’s Sector Theory or Burgess’ Concentric Zone Theory you are mistaken. Planning theory in this context is really about how planners should approach their work. If you are an emerging professional or have been in the field many years, this episode will likely speak to you. 

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In this episode we were joined by Randall Arendt, author of Rural by Design, to talk about his book and the importance of focusing on good design in our communities. While the title evokes an image of the countryside and small villages, Rural by Design covers communities of all shapes and sizes. During our conversation we discussed conservation subdivisions, affordable housing, density, and more. Given all the changes that have taken place since 1994 in regards to this topic, Mr. Arendt published a second edition with several new chapters and material not included in the original release.

Greener Prospects:
http://www.greenerprospects.com/rbd_d.html 

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Booked on Planning is a podcast where the cohosts interview a variety of authors to dive deep into the books that have shaped the field of planning and urban design. In just 30 minutes every two weeks you will glean insights on diverse topics such as rural planning, transportation, community plans, sustainability, and so much more. Booked on Planning will not only summarize the key points from the books, but will give you a better understanding from the author or subject matter experts themselves. You can listen to these short episodes during you daily commute, errands, workout, or whenever you have time. We wanted to start this podcast because we’re all busy professionals that want to learn more, but for many reasons, we may not sit down after a full day of planning for our communities to read a planning book cover to cover. 

Our first episode will be out in January 2022, but you can subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts to be notified as soon as it’s ready - just search “Booked on Planning”. You can also join our email list at www.bookedonplanning.com and be notified when new episodes are available. We hope you’ll follow along on this journey.

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