Dense City

On today's episode, we welcome Dr. Catherine Phillips who joins us from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha/The University of Canterbury in Aotearoa/New Zealand along with Dr. Elizabeth Straughan from the University of Melbourne, and Dr. Jennifer Atchison from the University of Wollongong in Australia. Their shared research interests centre around human relationships with nature, in particular how the nonhuman world shapes human lives.

Today we’ll be discussing their article: Finding Comfort and Conviviality with Urban Trees; published in the journal of cultural geographies in 2022.

The article develops an understanding of more-than-human comfort and conviviality by analysing emails sent to trees in the City of Melbourne, Australia, sharing personal dilemmas, jokes, poetry, confessions, political concerns, and more. The messages provide an opportunity to consider how trees become foregrounded in people’s everyday lives.

Artwork: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyHIllustrations?ref=search_shop_redirect⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: Ryan Kinnear, Reid Cai, and Becca Mayers

We welcome Dr. Anna Bornioli, Senior Future Fellow at the University of Surrey and Dr. Mikel Subiza-Pérez, a Research Fellow at the University of the Basque Country. We discuss their article: Restorative urban environments for healthy cities: a theoretical model for the study of restorative experiences in urban built settings; published in Landscape Geographies in 2023.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01426397.2022.2124962

Artwork: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyHIllustrations?ref=search_shop_redirect⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: Ryan Kinnear, Reid Cai, and Becca Mayers

Today, we're talking to Mario Boot, a researcher at the University of Twente about two of his related papers. The First is a more theoretical paper to understand the literature on this emerging field of cycling research, entitled “Using body sensors for evaluating the impact of smart cycling technologies on cycling experiences: a systematic literature review and conceptual framework”. The second, on simultaneous flow, something you may have experienced on a bike ride with other people. This paper is entitled  “Are we in Flow? Measuring and supporting simultaneous flow in duos of elderly cyclists.”

These papers were recently published in the European Transport Research Review and at the international conference on pervasive computing and communications workshops with Mario’s co-authors Mehmet Baran Ulak, Karst Geurs, Paul Havinga, Laura Kahnt, and Dees Postma.

Articles: Literature Review: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12544-024-00635-3.pdf

Are we in flow: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1au64P1e-FMsU3i3wzeE7tF5o10RJdVlT/view

Artwork: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyHIllustrations?ref=search_shop_redirect⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: Ryan Kinnear, Reid Cai, and Becca Mayers

On today's episode, we talk with Dr. Chantelle Bayes about how our image of ourselves as humans and the rest of the living world as "nature" is a binary. She explains how beginning to reimagine our cities as places where non-human life is integral, and seeing ourselves as intertwined with nature, will allow us to plan better cities for ourselves, and the urban and larger natural environments of which we are a part of.

Book: https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781802077278

X: @chantellebayes

Artwork: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyHIllustrations?ref=search_shop_redirect⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: Ryan Kinnear, Reid Cai, and Becca Mayers

Today, we discuss the effect of front-end vehicle height on pedestrian death risk, published by Dr. Justin Tyndall in the Economics of Transportation in March 2024. The article is premised on the idea that increased vehicle heights in the United States may be contributing to the fact that the number of pedestrians killed annually in collisions has increased by 72% from 2010 to 2021. We delve into the policies that can be implemented to stop the trend of making the average vehicle more dangerous.

Article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212012224000017

X: @justin_tyndall

Artwork: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyHIllustrations?ref=search_shop_redirect⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: Ryan Kinnear, Reid Cai, and Becca Mayers

We welcome Logan Samuelson and Dr. Brendon Blue from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. We discuss their article "Restoration as reconnection: A relational approach to urban stream repair", published in the New Zealand Geographer 2023 with co-author Dr. Amanda Thomas. The article is premised on how urban stream environments have been significantly altered through processes of colonisation and urbanisation, and the ways we are now attempting to reconnect with or “restore’ our waterways.

Article Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nzg.12372

Artwork: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyHIllustrations?ref=search_shop_redirect⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: Ryan Kinnear, Reid Cai, and Becca Mayers

Today, we welcome Dr. Timothy Ross, who is a Scientist with the Bloorview Research Institute at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto, Canada where he leads the Engagement & Planning for the Inclusive Communities Lab (or, the EPIC Lab). Tim is also an Assistant Professor (status) in the Department of Geography and Planning and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute at the University of Toronto, as well as a Registered Professional Planner.

We’re talking about his paper, Engaging Disability Theory in Planning Practice. He encourages planners to embrace disability theory and the complexity of disability experiences and to work toward unsettling the normalcy of disabled people’s exclusion in planned environments.

Inclusive Playgrounds Playbook: https://hollandbloorview.ca/research-education/bloorview-research-institute/research-centres-labs/epic-lab-inclusive

Artwork: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyHIllustrations?ref=search_shop_redirect⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: Ryan Kinnear, Reid Cai, and Becca Mayers

Today, we welcome Dr. Katherine Einstein, Dr. David Glick, and Dr. Maxwell Palmer from Boston University. We discuss their book: Neighbourhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America’s Housing Crisis; published in 2019. The book is premised on how local political inequalities can end up limiting the housing supply and contribute to the current housing crisis. Participatory institutions like local neighbourhood committees often notify neighbours themselves and solicit comments on proposed housing developments, taking an active role for better or worse.

Find the one-page report here: https://www.politicsofhousing.com/

Artwork: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyHIllustrations?ref=search_shop_redirect⁠⁠⁠

Music: Ryan Kinnear, Reid Cai, and Becca Mayers

On today's episode, we talk to Marco Zunino about his thesis “Urban agriculture: Exploring a multi-scalar and circular approach to food production and distribution in East London”. Marco discusses what is meant by urban agriculture, some background history on food production, and his case study research of East London. He provides tools for urban planners to integrate aspects of agriculture within the city at different scales. 

Artwork: ⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyHIllustrations?ref=search_shop_redirect⁠⁠

Music: Ryan Kinnear, Reid Cai, and Becca Mayers

Today, we welcome Edward Pinto, co-director of the American Enterprise Institute’s Housing Center to discuss their paper on How Government Policy Made Housing Expensive and Scarce, and How Unleashing Market Forces Can Address It, co-authored with Tobias Peter. Together they’ve co-authored a variety of reports on housing policy, specifically on the impact of federal policy on housing demand and homeownership, housing finance risks, and first-time home buyers. Their pieces have been published in policy journals and in the press, such as the Wall Street Journal, American Banker, and Business Insider.

Artwork: ⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilyHIllustrations?ref=search_shop_redirect⁠

Music: Ryan Kinnear, Reid Cai, and Becca Mayers