Michael Natelli's Hope in Cities newsletter brings a unique perspective to the urbanist movement and Michael has a talent for storytelling and weaving universal truths, emotions, and insights into his urban observations.  I highly recommend it.  In our discussion here, we cover everything from liquid death water and its parallels in marketing urbanist ideas, to a break down of the Nashville metro, to applying spiritual and Christian principles to city building. Enjoy.  

Read the Hope in Cities newsletter here.

Join the olmsted Slack community here. 

Show Notes:

• Liquid death and urbanism
• Looking cool while drinking water - power of  storytelling 
• Make urbanism cool at a party
• Branding 
• People love downtowns 
• Franklin, TN
• We think that walkable neighborhoods are inaccessible due to price
• Using urbanism ideas to convey how incrementally we can start to make places more like that 
• Consumer walkability vs dwelling livability (drive and walk)
• Missed opportunities with Nashville area’s growth
• History of Nashville’s growth
• Auto industry expanding to southeast US + auto dependency 
• Tons of opportunity in the Southeast for urbanist prinicples to spread
• Engaging with urbanists from the suburbs  
• Going from college campus to the suburbs made the issues stark
• Seeing opportunity where its hard to see
• Make the most of undeveloped land
• Weirdly walkable suburbs in Nashville metro
• Cul de Sac in Tempe, AZ  — not transforming the entire city of  Tempe,  but it gets us closer
• If all the suburbs  started getting a heck of a lot closer,  you move the needle in the  right direction
• Out with purity tests, in with incrementalism
• Believes in the possibilities that exist  in the suburbs 
• Gentrification problem - public and private solutions
• Zip code restrictions vs only letting the “right people in”
• Spiritual/religious aspect to urbanism
• Applying Christian faith and concepts to urbanism
• Sense of rooted and existential purpose 
• Coalition building, breaking down perceived barriers
• Build the offense for the team you have
• Everyday charity 
• The good Samaritan 
• Designing cities for serendipity 
• Cities as the most stable, consistent political unit we have

Today I’m speaking with Iden Petraj, a citizen cycling advocate in Albania who was the named the Bike Mayor of Tirana for her grassroots organizing work to make the capital city safer for cyclists.  She launched a bike donation campaign that served over 200 kids, helped advocate for the installation of kilometers of protected bike lanes, and even taught a complete stranger how to ride.  Iden's energy for making her city a better place is contagious and even got some international attention from Albania's European neighbors. 

Follow Iden on Instagram: @iden.petraj and on Twitter: @IPetraj

Join the olmsted Slack community here and check out our website

Show notes:

• Started with community bike rides and bike donations
• Started organizing in the bike community in Tirana
• Works with different departments of the city gov't
• Cyclists of irana (Stories of everyday bike riders in Tirana)
• Most people she interviewed started during the pandemic
• She taught a stranger how to ride a bike
• Transport is difficult in Tirana
• 6 years ago - no bike infra in Tirana (only 30-40 cyclists)
• Now, 38 km of bike infra
• Becoming more safe everyday, children now ride on streets
• Cycling school for kids 
• Day with no cars (every Sunday in the center of the city)
• Childrens bike donation system
• 200 hundred bikes donated last year
• Dutch cycling embassy visited Tirana
• Traffic a major problem in Tirana
• Mayor was important in making changes to bike infra
• “Voice of the cyclists”
• Ask the cyclists what they need
• What Iden loves about cycling
• She’s starting a bike helmet awareness campaign, cycling to school
• No bike sharing system in Tirana anymore, trying to start a new one

Jonathan Berk joins Olmsted to talk about Patronicity, the Kickstarter for community placemaking projects.  Plus: tactical urbanism, pedestrinization trends post-pandemic, protesting in front of Pac Sun, Victor Gruen, and the housing crisis. 

Check out Patronicity.

Follow Jonathan on Twitter.

Join the olmsted Slack community here.

Show Notes:

• Patronicity overview
• Origins of Patronicity, (Detroit, Kickstarter)
• Starlight Square in Cambridge, MA - PAtronicity project, used to be parking space, became outdoor theatre space for community events
• Tactical placemaking 
• Pedestrianizing trends - gained more traction during pandemic 
• We took a few parking spaces and the world didn’t end
• Low dollar, low cost but a lot of community engagement 
• Cherry on top projects
• Definition of placemaking - community led projects
• Protesting between Pac Sun and Spencers
• Victor Gerrin’s lament
• Demand for walkable urbanism lifestyle 
• Abundant Housing MA
• Need for all different types of new housing
• Every community needs to contribute
• 400k+ housing units needed
• Housing market is stunted
• Jonathan’s unique path to urbanism