Polis: A Show About Cities

Ben and Jon talk about the recent phenomena of bike sharing programs and E-scooters. These new modes of transport have taken the cities of the world by storm causing all sorts of unexpected outcomes. Our hosts get into their personal experiences with these systems the potential revolution in transport that they presage as well as the serious concerns they have with the direction of this progress.

Mentioned in the Episode:

Irish Dockless Bikes - Bleeper Bikes

First Dockless Bikes in China - OFO and Mo Bike

American Dockless Bikes - Lime Bike

Paris Velib Program

Major Scooter Company - Bird E-Scooters

Biggest Docked Bike Firm in North America - Motivate Bikes

A show about cities should explore concrete examples and case studies in urban growth and development. To that end this we our hosts begin a series of City profiles with Jon’s hometown: Los Angeles. They discuss the city’s history, present, and future as well as some of the unique attributes of the place and what it’s like to live there.

Mentioned in the Episode:

US Census: Los Angeles statistics

Los Angeles Metro Usage

Metro Map and Instructions

LA Compared with Other Places

Los Angeles Walkability

LA's High Population Density

Megaprojects, they’re the biggest and most impactful manifestation of infrastructure and urban policy on Earth. Our hosts have a discussion trying to define these projects and break down examples of the financial disasters and engineering wonders they create. They then evaluate this method of investment exploring if there’s a better way to build world class infrastructure and if these enormous investments are truly worth it.

Listen to this Episode and Learn:

About the drawbacks of enormous projects

Examples of how megaprojects work

Where and when megaprojects are the best course

Mentioned in the Episode:

CORRECTION: Netherlands has reclaimed 17% of their land from the sea

Alaskan Bridge To Nowhere

Toll Bridge To The Isle Of Skye

The Chunnel (connects Britain and France)

Three Gorges Dam (one of the world’s largest, in China)

United States Interstate

Brazilian World Cup Spending

Brazilian Olympic Spending

Paris Olympics Bid Video

Los Angeles Olympics Bid Video

Barcelona’s Olympic Revival

Athens’ Olympic Debts

Xiongan: A New City Near Beijing

Malaysia’s planned “Forest City”

Dutch Delta Works

Ten-t European Train Networks

Brenner Tunnel - Austria to Italy

Gotthard Base Tunnel - Switzerland

The Big Dig

California High Speed Rail

Hong Kong’s Transport Funding

Ben and Jon discuss the impact of AirBnB on cities around the world, how some cities are responding, and the broader implications on both urban housing policy and travel markets.

Listen to this Episode and Learn:

The difficulties AirBnB creates for cities

Possible fixes for problems with AirBnB

Other factors that impact housing crises

Mentioned in the Episode:

@PolisPodcast

AirBnB

Citylab Article on Barcelona and AirBnB

Couchsurfing

HomeAway

HouseSitters

Housing exchanges

London Green Belt

Twitter: @PolisPodcast

Facebook: @PolisPodcast

Walkable Cities by Jeff Speck

Ben and Jon dive into second half of Walkable City by Jeff Speck. They examine the 10 steps of walkability and the four subsections: the Useful Walk, Safe Walk, Comfortable Walk, and the Interesting Walk. They apply these to cities they’ve spent time in and talk about the process of implementing the policies involved with these kinds of reforms.

Structure of the book:

Prologue: The general theory of walkability (what is it?)

Why walkability (How walking improves wealth, health, and the environment)

The 10 steps of walkability (How to design for walkability)

Mentioned in the Episode:

Induced Demand

Bus Rapid Transit

Streetcars

Rube Goldberg

Baron Von Haussmann

Walkable Cities by Jeff Speck

Ben and Jon discuss the book Walkable City by Jeff Speck. They talk about why you might want to read the book and the first two sections that cover the general theory of walkability and why walkability is so central to the functioning of a great city.

Structure of the book:

Prologue: The general theory of walkability (what is it?)

Why walkability (How walking improves wealth, health, and the environment)

The 10 steps of walkability (How to design for walkability)

Mentioned in the Episode:

Our Episode On Ideal Cities

Walkable Cities by Jeff Speck

Ben and Jon discuss the looming arrival of autonomous vehicles. They go through what they’re likely to look like, how they’ll first arrive, and how they may reshape the world’s cities. They also touch on how these advances will impact investments in public transit.

Mentioned in the Episode:

Uber Pool

Uber in London

Cadillac Subscription

Induced Demand

Congestion Charges

London Congestion Pricing

Uber - First Death From An AV

NEXT EPISODE: Walkable City - Jeff Speck

Jon and Ben discuss some of the best cities on earth and what they get right. They look at what these cities have in common and the importance of green space and street life.  They then describe what an ideal city might look like if we built it from scratch today.

Which cities we rate highly

The most important aspects of cities

What an ideal city could l

Cities: (population)

Paris (2.2 million)

Amsterdam (800k)

Munich (1.5 million)

Singapore (5.6 million)

New York (8.5 million)

Tokyo (13 million)

San Francisco (860k)

Jerusalem (800k)

Rabat (570k)

Shuks - small markets

Bus Rapid Transit

Road Diets

Uber

Bike sharing

Zipcar - car sharing

OFO Bike

MoBike

Ben and Jon discuss the when, how, and why modern cities emerged.  They go into many of the key technologies that facilitated this transition and their externalities, both good and bad.  They then talk about some technologies that have shaped cities in the last thirty years and examine what challenges lie before cities in the coming decades.

Why modern cities emerged after the 1850’s

What technologies have shaped cities in recent decades

What challenges cities face in the coming years

1850’s London Cholera Outbreak

History of Sewers

China’s investment in trains

Singapore’s longtime leader: Lee Kuan Yew

Air conditioner invented in 1902, widespread adoption in late 1960’s

Gondolas in South America

La Paz’s Gondolas

Bogota’s Gondolas

NY Roosevelt Island Tramway

USA Violent Crime Peaked in 1980’s

Homicides have declined worldwide since 1990

California Public Transit Upzoning Bill: SB-827

London Green Belt

Polis 001 (the sorting effect)

Ben and Jon talk through the origins of cities, where and why they started and what advantages they brought to early people.  They also discuss the impacts good and bad of shifting into an agricultural and settled society. They touch on the power dynamics created by the creation of property and how people’s lives change when moving into an urban setting for the first time.

What caused the growth of the first cities

The downsides of early civilization

What moving into a city means for newcomers