#urban-planning
189 episodes · Page 5 of 8
#2748: What Cities Look Like Without Cars
How Barcelona, Paris, and others are redesigning streets for people instead of vehicles — and what we can learn from them.
#2746: How Zoning Built the Suburbs We Hate
Why walkability advocates loathe suburbs, from Ponzi scheme infrastructure to deadly stroads.
#2745: What Do Urban Planners Actually Do?
The invisible skeleton of cities, from sewers to zoning fights. What breaks if you let cities grow organically?
#2744: What Walkability Actually Means in Urban Planning
The five D’s of walkability — density, diversity, design, destination accessibility, and distance to transit — explained.
#2742: Where Ancient Jerusalem’s Walls Actually Were
The City of David was only 12 acres. Here’s how Jerusalem’s boundaries shifted over 3,000 years.
#2733: Did the Airplane Actually Kill the Train?
The airplane didn't shrink the railways — the car did. Here's the real story of how we learned to move.
#2721: What Square Meterage Do You Actually Need?
Real numbers for singles, couples, roommates, families, and remote workers — not just vibes.
#2719: How Streetlight-Level Light Disrupts Mammal Immunity
Even minimal artificial light at night—equivalent to street lighting—disrupts immune rhythms and increases mortality 2.35x in wild mammals.
#2718: Small Apartment Storage Without Going Minimalist
How to organize a small apartment without throwing everything out — using vertical space, zone storage, and the container concept.
#2717: Lower Greenville: From Streetcar Suburb to Food Mecca
How one Dallas street went from farmland to counterculture hub to dining destination.
#2686: Why Jerusalem Stays Poor Despite Its Pull
Why Jerusalem’s economy is broken, from the 1948 division to the modern housing crisis.
#2658: The Legal Definition of Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway isn't just smaller Broadway—it's a different legal, economic, and artistic universe defined by seat counts.
#2655: The Crossroads That Became a World
The intersection that became the heart of a university town, from post road to modern-day agora.
#2652: The Mulberry Bubble That Built a University
The silk industry that built UConn, the cows on Horsebarn Hill, and one mysterious firing at the Dairy Bar.
#2631: How Shelter Became a Speculative Asset
Why are millennials turning to barges, yurts, and shipping containers? A deep dive into the financialization of housing.
#2628: Your Snake Plant Isn't Saving You
Why your houseplants aren't cleaning your air — and what they're actually doing for you.
#2601: When Your Lease Is a Gamble: Rent, Stability, and Community
How tenant protections in Germany and Singapore create community—and why Israel's system destroys it.
#2598: Why Israeli Walls Fail at Sound — and How to Fix Them
Why noise isolation in Israeli apartments fails, and what actually works for soundproofing walls and windows.
#2576: The Centimeter-Level Challenge of Burying City Power
How cities bury high-voltage cables with centimeter precision and why some still keep wires overhead.
#2572: Solar Panels on Israeli Roofs: Who Gets to Decide?
Rooftop solar economics in Israel, the collective-action problem of apartment buildings, and how feed-in tariffs actually work.
#2539: When Does AI Stop Hallucinating and Start Reconstructing?
What happens when you feed hundreds of photos into an AI world generator — do you capture reality or just a convincing dream?
#2530: Canals as Highways: The Real Pollution Math of Water Transit
Venice moves garbage, ambulances, and Amazon deliveries by boat. How does water transit actually compare to buses on pollution?
#2509: How Shabbat Reveals a Blind Spot in Air Quality Indexes
Jerusalem's Shabbat cuts traffic pollution 4x more than Western weekends—but standard air quality indexes barely register the change.
#2485: How Many Floors Up Before Stairs Become a Burden?
Research shows life gets measurably worse above the 4th floor. Here's what the data says about stairs, families, and safety.