Polis: A Show About Cities: Recent Episodes
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Hosted by Benjamin Ulrey and Jon Roberts, Polis is a fortnightly discussion examining the impact of our urban environment on everything from politics and economics to our diets and health. Come join our conversation as we think through what we want from the cities we live in and the part they play in shaping each of us.
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.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:Which cities we rate highly
The most important aspects of cities
What an ideal city could l
Mentioned in the Episode: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.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:Why modern cities emerged after the 1850’s
What technologies have shaped cities in recent decades
What challenges cities face in the coming years
Mentioned in the Episode: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.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:What caused the growth of the first cities
The downsides of early civilization
What moving into a city means for newcomers
Ben and Jon discuss why they’re starting a podcast all about cities, some of the important questions we should be asking about the places we live, and how they first got interested in the topic. Then they wander off down a tangent about benches, trees, and hostile architecture.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
The main topics of the Polis podcast
The backgrounds of Ben and Jon
Important questions we should all ask about our cities