In this episode, we head down under, for a chat with Professor Paul Tranter, Honorary Associate Professor in Geography in the School of Science at the University of New South Wales Canberra in Australia, about why we all need to just slow down a bit.

Paul researches children’s well-being and the dominance of speed and mobility in urban planning and society. His work has demonstrated that child-friendly modes of walking, cycling, and public transit are also the modes that paradoxically reduce time pressure for urban residents. In this conversation, we dive into the details of his recent book Slow Cities: Conquering our Speed Addiction for Health and Sustainability that he co-authored with Rodney Tolley.

Additional Helpful Links:

Slow Cities Book

Slow Cities Manifesto

Build slower cities or keep careening towards disaster – opinion

Slaves to speed, we’d all benefit from ‘slow cities’ – article in The Conversation

Time to hit the brakes on the “Hurry Virus”

Introduction: changing cultures of speed – journal article

Speed Kills: The Complex Links Between Transport, Lack of Time and Urban Health – journal article

Active Travel: A Cure for the Hurry Virus – journal article

Children’s Play in their Local Neighborhoods: Rediscovering the Value of Residential Streets

Busted: 5 myths about 30km/h speed limits in Australia

30Please.org – children

Pontevedra, Spain, wins the first EU urban road safety award – European Transport Safety Council

Pontevedra, Spain Increases Downtown Livability by Reducing Vehicle Access – article in Smart Cities Dive

Reclaiming the streets: the increasing trend of pedestrianisation around the world

Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores, Mayor of Pontevedra City, Spain

Why the need for speed? Transport spending priorities leave city residents worse off – article in The Conversation

Raising an Unhurried Child

In Praise of Slowness – book

In Praise of Slowness – TED Talk

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Active Towns Podcast episode featuring Peter Norton

Active Towns Podcast episode featuring David Nuttall

Shared Streets and Woonerfs – Hans Monderman and Ben Hamilton-Baillie

Walkscore

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Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

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Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experi...