Society & Culture
How does transit affect the livability of a place? Turns out, quite a bit. My guest today, Jeff Wood of the Talking Headways podcast, talks about how important it is to be able to experience your city through as many different transportation options as possible. A commonly held belief, particularly in North America, is that cars bring true personal freedom, but Jeff talks about why reality is actually quite the opposite. A place designed around the car is one that inherently makes it difficult to create experiential places, places that you want to be in that are public and outdoors. They make it difficult to connect with people around you by making places more stretched out and hostile to anything but moving through them. A livable place is one that deprioritizes the car and values creating places where transit, walking, cycling and yes, even scooters, are the first thoughts. It doesn’t mean zero cars but it does mean low-car; for those that truly still need a car. Jeff is founder and principal at his own architecture and urban planning company called the Overhead Wire, podcast host of Talking Headways and the Overhead Wire which is also the name of a weekly transit-oriented newsletter highlighting some of the best transit news from 1500 articles from around the world. Follow Jeff on Twitter and on Instagram. Join the Livable City community conversation. Support Livable City and the production costs by becoming a member. Brought to you by SquadCast and post-production by Creekmore Music.