Doug Gordon

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Last month we had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Ray Delahanty, aka City Nerd on YouTube, for a live show presented by the Hunter College School of Urban Policy & Planning in New York. Our conversation with Ray covered everything from New York City exceptionalism to the latest data about congestion pricing. Plus, we surveyed the audience about their transportation choices and answered questions from Patreon supporters. We’re big fans of City Nerd and were so delighted to work with Ray on this live show.

We love partnering with local advocacy organizations, non-profits, and educational institutions for live events, so if you’d like to host The War on Cars in your city, please reach out!

Subscribe on Patreon for access to the entire episode.

It’s the CXLIVth episode of The War on Cars, and just like in years past we’re taking a look at the ads that aired during the Super Bowl. This year, there weren’t a whole lot of ads specifically designed to sell cars and trucks, but there was still plenty of car-adjacent stuff to talk about—from ads highlighting the urban/suburban divide to an amazing halftime show from Kendrick Lamar featuring a Buick GNX. Rollie Williams (Climate Town) and Nicole Conlan (The Climate Denier’s Playbook, The Daily Show) join us to talk about some of the commercials that aired during the big game and what they say about the state of our culture, our climate, and our politics.

*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to bonus content, ad-free versions of regular episodes, free stickers, merch discounts, early access to live shows, and more. *** 

Get tickets to our live show on April 24th in Minneapolis, presented by Our Streets.

This episode was produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation and Cleverhood. Listen for the latest discount on the best and most stylish rain gear for walking and cycling.

LINKS: 

Watch Climate Town on YouTube.

Listen to The Climate Denier’s Playbook.

Check out Rollie’s billiards channel on YouTube.

Here’s how Kendrick Lamar’s production team found a Buick GNX for his halftime show. (Wired)

Missed this year’s ads? You can watch most of them here.

Watch Harrison Ford in “Owner’s Manual,” an ad for Jeep.

“Car Brands Have Been Pumping the Brakes on Super Bowl Ads” (AdWeek)

Why State Farm opted out of this year’s game. (CBS News)

Read Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster by Mike Davis and pick up other books in our official Bookshop.org store.

Pick up official podcast merch in our store.

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Donald Shoup, a towering figure in the world of urban planning and a distinguished professor emeritus at the UCLA Luskin School of Public affairs, died this week. He was 86 years old. As a tribute to such an influential, brilliant, and witty scholar, we are re-releasing this episode from 2023.

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Parking is at the heart of every fight about how we build our cities and towns, with effects that go far beyond transportation. Minimum parking requirements  — laws that dictate how many parking spaces are required for various types of buildings and businesses — make housing more expensive, raise the price of goods and services and exacerbate sprawl, making congestion and the climate crisis much, much worse. Thankfully, a movement is afoot to end parking minimums, inspired by the work of Donald Shoup.

Shoup, the Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA’s Department of Urban Planning, is the author of the 2005 book The High Cost of Free Parking. It’s an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand the problems with parking. Professor Shoup — aka the Shoup Dogg — joins us for a spirited conversation about how to win what he calls “the war on parking subsidies.”

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers!

LINKS:

Learn all about Donald Shoup at ShoupDogg.com.

Read The High Cost of Free Parking.

Join The Parking Reform Network and end parking requirements where you live.

Donald Shoup gets animated on Adam Ruins Everything.

This episode was produced by Doug Gordon, edited by Ali Lemer, and recorded by Josh Wilcox of the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Transcripts are by Russell Gragg.

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How do dense, walkable cities influence what people wear? Derek Guy has some thoughts. Otherwise known as The Menswear Guy, Derek rose to fame on social media for his takes on men’s fashion. But he also dips his toes into urbanism from time to time, arguing that the ecosystems that support quality craftsmanship and expert tailoring are strongest in places where it’s easy to get around without a car.

Derek joins us to talk about what the great fashion capitals of the world have in common, why Tokyo is a hotbed of fashion enthusiasts, how the housing crisis is affecting style, and more. 

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to bonus content, ad-free versions of regular episodes, free stickers, merch discounts, early access to live shows, and more. *** 

Become a Patreon supporter to get pre-sale tickets to our live show on April 24th in Minneapolis, presented by Our Streets.

This episode was produced with support from Cleverhood. Listen for the latest discount on the best and most stylish rain gear for walking and cycling.

LINKS: 

Follow Derek Guy on Bluesky, Instagram, and other social media sites.

Read more from Derek Guy at Die, Workwear.

Read Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style and Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change, both by W. David Marx

Pick up merch in our store.

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This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, pre-sale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.

For our year-end bonus episode, we asked our Patreon supporters to tell us the best things that happened to them or in their communities in 2024. We heard from listeners around the globe about the many victories, from the political to the personal, that stood out to them in the past year and that give them hope for the future. There was a lot to celebrate, including lower speed limits, new bike commutes, and a string of victories at the local level that mean progress in The War on Cars.

From mockumentaries to dramas to situation comedies, Ed Begley Jr. has done it all. His truly one-of-a-kind acting career has seen him work with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and more. But beyond his impressive resume, Ed Begley Jr. is also known for his environmental activism. He’s probably the most famous person to have owned some version of an electric vehicle for a lot longer than most people have even been aware of EVs. Ed has been been committed to environmental conservation since at least the 1970s, and he’s designed his life so that it’s as free of fossil fuels as possible, with solar panels on the roof, an e-bike in the garage, and a house chosen for its proximity to transit. Notably, he’s taken the LA Metro to the Academy Awards, making a statement in an industry and a city where fancy cars and conspicuous consumption are signs of success. In this fun conversation, Ed Begley Jr. invites us into his home to talk about his work, his activism, and his life philosophy.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, special bonus content, stickers, merch discounts, and more. Plus, get pre-sale access to our upcoming live show in New York with CityNerd! ***

This episode was produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation.

Check out the latest offerings from our friends at Cleverhood and Sheyd Bags. 

LINKS:

Buy Ed Begley Jr.’s memoir, To the Temple of Tranquility…and Step on It!

Hayden Begley documented her dad’s trip to the Oscars via LA Metro on TikTok.

The Actor Who Who Rides the Subway to the Oscars (NY Times)

Support Streets For All in Los Angeles by becoming a member.

This episode was edited by Doug Gordon. It was recorded by Avishay Artsy. Transcriptions are by Russell Gragg. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear.

TheWarOnCars.org

This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, pre-sale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.

Back in 2010, the notoriously pugnacious Toronto mayor Rob Ford declared that “the war on the car is over,” and vowed to halt the city’s expansion of bike lanes, transit, and anything that inconvenienced motorists even slightly. Fourteen years later, his brother — Ontario Premier Doug Ford — has continued the family crusade against bike lanes. The Ford government is pushing a bill that would require provincial approval of all bike lanes that repurpose car lanes. If it succeeds, it will have a chilling effect on the ability of cities and towns of all sizes to manage their streets and keep people safe. Plus, a handful of existing bike lanes could be ripped out.

Journalist Sabrina Nanji, a veteran of the Queen’s Park Press Gallery and the founder of the Queens Park Observer joins us to talk about the politics behind Doug Ford’s war on bikes.

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Adam McKay is the Academy Award–winning screenwriter, director, and producer behind such movies as Don’t Look Up, The Big Short, Vice, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and more. He is also the founder of Yellow Dot Studios, a nonprofit production studio that raises awareness and mobilizes action on the climate emergency. Adam joins us to discuss his career and the existential anxiety that led him to write and direct the star-studded Don’t Look Up, one of the most successful Netflix movies of all time. We also hear about the books, films, and music that inspired him, and why humor is a useful tool for tackling serious subjects. Plus: Adam’s relationship with driving, the power of visual storytelling, and why he thinks the age of the car is already over… even if most people don’t know it yet.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Thank you to Sheyd Bags and Cleverhood for their support. For the latest discount codes, listen to the episode.

*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, special bonus content, stickers, merch discounts, and more ***

SHOW NOTES:

Check out Car Commercial 419 and all the excellent work from Yellow Dot Studios. (Donate here!)

Books, movies, and music mentioned in this episode:

Generation Dread by Britt Wray; Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neal Postman; A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit; and The Vortex by Scott Carney & Jason Miklian

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957); Dr. Strangelove (1964); and Dogtooth (2009)

Public Enemy; LL Cool J; Kurtis Blow; Run-DMC; and Eric B. & Rakim

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Pick up official podcast merch in our store. Purchase books from podcast guests and support independent booksellers at our Bookshop.org page.

This episode was edited by Ali Lemer. It was recorded by Kaden Pryor at Third Wheel Podcast Studio in Los Angeles. Transcriptions are by Russell Gragg. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Sound effects from the BBC Sound Effects Archives © 2024 BBC. 

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***This is a bonus episode that was previously only available to Patreon supporters of The War on Cars. If you want to hear more bonus episodes like this, please sign up today! We’ll taking a very short break to work on our book and will be back with brand new episodes in November.***

Perhaps you’ve seen pictures of a person walking around in a large, wearable wooden frame meant to illustrate the space taken up by one person in a private automobile. That’s the gehzeug — or walkmobile — and it was invented by the Austrian civil engineer and professor Hermann Knoflacher.

Professor Knoflacher, 84, is the head of the Institute of Transportation at the Vienna University of Technology. Long before the current global pandemic, he compared cars to a virus. Rather than searching for vaccines and other ways to fight this particular threat, humanity has actively helped the spread of cars, much to the detriment of the built environment, human health and safety, and even our future on this planet. It’s a provocative analogy, but Knoflacher makes a compelling case.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

SHOW NOTES:

The Car Is Like A Virus, Says Urban Planner But This Is One Pandemic That Politicians Can Prevent (Carlton Reid, Forbes)

Excellent Uber Ad Distills the Problem With Uber in Crowded Cities (Angie Schmitt, Streetsblog)

“Driving is worse than an addiction” (In German: Deutschlandfunk Kultur)

“The driver is absolutely anti-social” (In German: Manager Magazin)

“Vienna has been my patient for decades” (In German: Kurier)

Virus Auto (Hermn

This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.

Patty Wiens is the Bike Mayor of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. We met Patty on our trip to Edmonton for the Winter Cycling Congress back in February and were really struck with her energy and drive as an advocate for people who ride bikes in her city.

We talked with Patty about how she became a Bike Mayor and how people in Winnipeg are organizing to create better streets for people in a very car-centric place. She also told us about how the community has been protesting against recent traffic violence in the city, including one case in which an Indigenous woman named Tammy Bateman was struck and killed by police driving through a city park.

Thanks to Ali Lemer for editing this episode.

If you aren’t yet a Patreon subscriber of The War on Cars, maybe now is the time! Subscribe for $3, $5, or $10 per month. We’ll send you stickers and you’ll have access to ad-free episodes and bonus conversations like this one. We really appreciate the support, and we couldn’t produce the podcast without you.

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