Website description: “In this episode, Josh and Chuck discuss the origins, philosophies and practices of urban planning.”
Part of the podcast series “Stuff You Should Know” hosts Josh and Chuck explain in this episode how urban planning “works.” I chose this episode because this past week’s discussion focused on Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, planner and anti-planner, and the history of urban planning provided in this podcast puts both figures into a broader historical context.
The hosts start with the assumption that their audience knows nothing about the topic so they do the basics of introducing a subject to their audience such as defining terms (“to guide the development of a city or town so that it furthers the welfare of its current and future residents by creating convenient, equitable, healthful, efficient, and attractive environments”) and explaining key principles like the three environmental factors that city planners take into account: the physical environment, the social environment, and the economic environment.
While this all may sound kinda dry, Josh and Chuck keep it light by including fun facts such as “May 23, 2007 represented the day that more humans in modern times lived in cities than did urban areas” and their historical overview of urban planning is made more lively because they use specific examples of planning such as the aqueducts made during the Roman empire and the importance of the City Beautiful program that debuted at the 1893 World’s Fair. What’s also very cool is that they conduct a lot of research before taping their episodes, so they can provide pros/cons on a topic and, because they cite their sources, you can find more info on your own if needed.
Source: “How Urban Planning Works” 23 March 2010.
HowStuffWorks.com. http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/how-urban-planning-works.htm. 24 February 2017.
