Davis Obst — author of the new book Saving Ourselves from Big Car, and former literary agent best known his work on All the President’s Men — is in good traffic this week.

His career has spanned some of the most pivotal exposés in modern history — from the Pentagon Papers to Watergate. Now, Obst turns his focus to corruption of the American auto lobby.

In the conversation, David traces the deep history of how corporate and political power entrenched car dependence in America — from the invention of jaywalking to the National Highway Act, from leaded gasoline to insurance redlining. He shows how Big Car reshaped American culture, politics, and neighborhoods.

Timeline:

00:00 Introduction.

09:24 Breaking the My Lai massacre, Pentagon Papers, and Watergate.

12:00 The disastrous birth of car culture — and leaded gasoline.

18:26 Nixon, the EPA, and the Clean Air Act.

22:00 The deadly toll of lead poisoning and corporate denial.

26:20 Why the U.S. rejected the Paris Accords.

28:00 Eisenhower, the highway system, and white flight.

33:10 Big Car’s role in advertising, youth culture, and redlining.

35:15 Insurance companies, surveillance, and data exploitation.

37:00 Profits over safety: the fight over seatbelts, airbags, and climate denial.

39:45 Car-free experiments.

42:20 Santa Barbara as a testbed for alternatives.

44:15 A warning from history — and a call to act.

Further context:

The book.

More on David (via the Santa Barbara Independent).

What do Albuquerque, Anchorage, and Albany have in common? Beyond cultural and climate differences, each city — like countless others in the U.S. — has given over about a third of its downtown land to off-street parking.

This week, we reframe the way we talk about infrastructure investment. Rather than citing too few users as a reason not to invest in better infrastructure, what if we saw the folks persisting in spite of lacking infrastructure as a signal and hunger for more?

Timeline:

00:00 A commonality.

02:20 Rethinking how we frame bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

05:20 Bridges, as a proxy.

07:15 Kids biking to school reveals resilience.

08:55 Gen Z wants walkability.

10:20 Nostalgia for walkable places.

12:28 Why verbs (walking, biking) matter more than nouns (suburbs, cities).

13:35 Wrapping up, and next week’s conversation with David Obst.

This week, we spend time on the hype (and the pitfalls) of those endless “top ten cities for ...” lists. They’re catchy, shareable, and often the first thing people see when they think about moving or traveling. But do they actually tell us much about what it’s like to live car-lite or car-free in American cities?

So, instead of telling you our top ten cities to move to, we came up with a different list: five practical protocols to quickly gauge walkability when visiting a new city.

Timeline:

00:00 Why “walkable city” lists are everywhere.

02:00 Columbus named #4 most walkable to visit?!

04:00 Why lists are misleading for people considering a move.

05:00 How I travel: living like a local for 24–48 hours.

06:00 The walk-everywhere test.

06:30 Ads and billboards as local cultural signals.

09:00 Game-day infrastructure and movement patterns.

12:30 Stadium design.

13:00 Travel in both the best and worst seasons.

15:40 Hotel districts vs. neighborhoods.

19:00 The mid-block crosswalk litmus test.

22:00 Culture of drivers in Portland, Minneapolis, Vancouver.

24:00 Why a higher-floor matters.

25:00 Bonus: the airport-to-city connection.

26:30 Wrapping up.