Urban highways are preventing us from meeting our neighbors and building community, according to a landmark new study. Luca Aiello, professor of data science at the IT University of Copenhagen, shares his research into the impact of freeways on social networks. The findings are important not just for our right to pursue happiness, but also for our pocketbooks.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2408937122
--------
45:39
BONUS: Sizing up California's freeway budget
In a lean budget year, California has shrunk the size of its climate investments while still spending hundreds of millions of dollars on freeway expansions. Carter Rubin, director of state transportation advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, joins the podcast to talk about his research into the state's mixed priorities in transportation spending.
Research on HOV/toll lanes: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2021-04/18RD022.pdf
--------
45:10
Port of Entry: The Right to The City
Traffic is a huge problem in Tijuana and San Diego. If you drive around during the day, you will most certainly be caught in a traffic jam. So should we build more roads to ease traffic congestion? In this crossover episode with Port of Entry, KPBS' border podcast, we explore what is keeping residents of Tijuana from a better quality of life. The answer took us by surprise.
If you enjoyed this episode of Port of Entry, check out their current season on Visionaries and Shapers of the Borderlands. You can check out their catalog for older episodes here or wherever you get your podcasts!
--------
36:10
BONUS: Freeways are bigger in Texas
City Limits, a new book from journalist Megan Kimble, chronicles the emergence of a modern wave of freeway revolts in Texas. As the Texas Department of Transportation seizes more and more land to widen its highways, people who had never considered themselves urbanists or activists are joining the movement. This time they're not just fighting displacement, pollution and segregation — they're also fighting climate catastrophe.
--------
52:39
BONUS: Reconnecting Communities (with David Alvarez)
The California legislature is starting a conversation about how to reunite communities that were divided by freeways. For Assemblymember David Alvarez, the issue is personal. Alvarez grew up in San Diego's Barrio Logan, one of the most polluted communities in California. He's now chair of a special committee dedicated to correcting the kind of racial and environmental injustices his family has faced for decades.
Freeways are not free. We pay for them in all kinds of ways — with our tax dollars, our time, our environment and our health. While freeways have enabled huge amounts of economic growth, they've also caused displacement and division. Learn the forgotten history of our urban freeway network, and how decades after that network was finished, some communities are still working to heal the wounds that freeways left behind. As climate change threatens to wreak havoc on our cities, freeways are not just a part of the problem. They can also be part of the solution.
UK