Booked on Planning

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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Addiction, mental illness, or poverty may explain why an individual may lose their housing—but these factors fail to explain why Seattle has five times more homelessness than Chicago. Through rigorous analysis, Colburn demonstrates that high rent prices and low vacancy rates are the true culprits behind regional homelessness variations. This revelation transforms how we should approach solutions.

Colburn advocates reframing housing as essential infrastructure—just as we invest billions in roads and transit without controversy, we must prioritize housing development as a public necessity. This perspective shift could unlock the political will needed to address our housing shortage crisis meaningfully.

Whether you're a policymaker, planner, or concerned citizen, this conversation offers crucial insights for understanding and addressing one of America's most persistent challenges. Listen now to discover how changing our approach to housing could transform our response to homelessness.

Show Notes:

• Further Reading: 
  • Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America’s Housing Crisis by Katherine Levine Einstein
  • When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America by Donald Burns and Kevin Adler
  • 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 if shopping malls weren't just retail spaces, but carefully designed social hubs that reveal profound truths about American culture? Alexandra Lange's "Meet Me by the Fountain" takes us on a fascinating journey through the unexpected origins and evolution of one of America's most influential architectural forms.

Throughout our conversation, Lange uncovers surprising connections between malls and urbanism. Despite their reputation as anti-urban spaces, malls offer valuable lessons in creating environments where people actually want to spend time. Climate control, ample seating, accessible restrooms, and opportunities for both planned meetings and chance encounters—these simple amenities are often overlooked in our public urban spaces but prove crucial for creating functional social environments. 

Show Notes:

• Author Recommended Reading: 
  • Radical Suburbs: Experimental Living on the Fringes of the American City by Amanda Hurley 
  • The Harvard Design School to Shopping edited by Rem Koolhaus
  • When Women Ran 5th Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion  by Julie Satow
  • Claire: The little girl who climbed to the top and changed the way women dress by Debra Scala Giokas
• To help support the show, pick up a copy of the book through our Amazon Affiliates page at https://amzn.to/44G44gK 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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Libraries have always been pillars of knowledge in our communities, but their role is evolving far beyond book repositories. As author Shamichael Hallman reveals, these vital public institutions now serve as rare neutral spaces where people from all backgrounds can gather, connect, and rebuild the civic muscles we've lost in our increasingly polarized society.

What makes libraries uniquely positioned for this work? First, they offer something increasingly rare—barrier-free indoor public spaces where anyone can enter regardless of income, education, or background. In an era of commercial third places that require purchases, libraries welcome everyone with no expectation beyond respectful coexistence. Second, libraries already function as spaces of sharing, from books to meeting rooms to specialized equipment. Finally, their commitment to neutrality and free access to diverse perspectives creates safe environments for exploring ideas without judgment.

Show Notes:

• Author Recommended Reading: The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek, The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
• 2023 Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community
• Living Room Conversations for ideas on community conversations with a guide for assistance  
• Discoveries: the Library at the Mall
• To help support the show, pick up a copy of the book through our Amazon Affiliates page at https://amzn.to/43ZIJif 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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A new perspective on preservation is the topic of our conversation with Erica Avrami on her groundbreaking book "Second Order Preservation." This episode challenges everything you thought you knew about historic preservation, pushing beyond the binary "listed or not listed" mentality that has dominated the field for decades.

What happens when we shift from seeing preservation as merely saving buildings to understanding it as a powerful tool for social justice and climate action? Avrami reveals how our current policies often privilege certain histories while inadvertently erasing others. She questions whether our designation systems truly serve the broader public and introduces a framework that considers who benefits—and who is burdened—by preservation decisions.

The conversation extends beyond theory to practical paths forward, examining how we might reform preservation policies to better serve communities. Rather than abandoning preservation altogether, Avrami calls for a more intentional approach that evaluates the long-term impacts of our decisions and considers preservation as the freedom to transfer heritage across generations.

Show Notes:

• Further Reading: 
  • Preserving the Vanishing City by Stephanie Ryberg-Webster
  • Reconstructing the Garrick: Adler & Sullivan’s Lost Masterpiece by Tim Samuelson, Eric Nordstrom, Chris Ware, and John Vinci
• To help support the show, pick up a copy of the book through our Amazon Affiliates page at https://amzn.to/3FZ92en 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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Join us as we discuss the world of systems thinking with Beth Sawin author of "Multisolving: Creating Systems Change in a Fractured World." Far from being an abstract academic concept, multisolving offers a practical framework that reveals how seemingly separate challenges—from climate change to public health to economic development—can be addressed simultaneously with thoughtfully designed interventions.

Beth takes complex systems theories and makes them accessible through everyday examples. She explains how filling a bathtub helps us understand housing shortages, and how our body's response to thirst demonstrates the power of balancing feedback loops. These relatable analogies unlock a powerful way of seeing the world that planners, community leaders, and change-makers can immediately apply to their work.

Whether you're a seasoned systems thinker or completely new to these concepts, this episode will transform how you approach complex problems and help you discover multisolving opportunities hiding in plain sight. 

Show Notes:

• To help support the show, pick up a copy of the book through our Amazon Affiliates page at https://amzn.to/4i0SwIV or even better, get a copy through your local bookstore!
• Further Reading: 
  • From What Is to What If by Rob Hopkins
  • The Equitably Resilient City by Zachary Lamb and Lawrence Vale
• Learn more at The Multisolving Institute where Beth works
• To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/

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The world of planning is transforming at a rapid pace, and staying ahead requires more than just reacting to change—it demands foresight. In this conversation, we welcome back Petra Hurtado to discuss the American Planning Association's 2025 Trend Report, now in its fourth year of helping planners anticipate the forces reshaping our communities.

Petra highlights how "the only constant is accelerating change," explaining the sophisticated trend scouting process that brings diverse perspectives together to identify crucial developments across multiple fields. From technology to climate, work patterns to public spaces, the report categorizes trends into actionable timeframes: Act Now, Prepare, and Learn and Watch.

Ready to future-proof your planning approach? Download the complete 2025 Trend Report from APA's website and start incorporating these insights into your community's planning process today.

Show Notes:

• Check out the full report on APA’s website here.
• Trend Universe: https://planning.org/foresight/trends/ 
• Further Reading: 
  • The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric
  • The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

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