Sarah Goodyear

Brent showed Doug and Sarah around downtown Vancouver last fall.

Brent Toderian has decades of experience in city planning, urban design, and transportation. He was chief planner for the city of Vancouver from 2006 to 2012, a time when the city hosted and was transformed by the Winter Olympics. As a consultant, Brent has advised and collaborated with folks from Auckland to Buenos Aires to Copenhagen to Reykjavik, and he often sparks conversation on social media, where he is one of the most prominent voices advocating for more human and humane urban design. We talked with him about how to make downtowns attractive and livable for families, why developers should value regulation, and that legendary urban Costco in Vancouver. Plus, Brent gives us the scoop on the new Urban Truth Collective and its mission to beat back the lies people tell about cities.

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

Find out more about Brent Toderian and all his projects at his website, and follow him on Bluesky.

And check out the brand-new Urban Truth Collective, Brent’s collaboration with Tom Flood and Grant Ennis.

Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com.

Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling.

The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation.

www.thewaroncars.org

Bad Bunny won the Super Bowl

Super Bowl LX had everything, from ads for weight loss drugs and male grooming products to spots touting tax prep services and calming fears about our AI overlords. It also had one outstanding halftime performance from Bad Bunny. But what the game didn’t have was a whole lot of car ads. (Or a whole lot of touchdowns, but that’s a different story.) Why, after dominating the broadcast for decades, has the automobile industry gone cool on one of broadcasting’s biggest nights? And what did the few cars ads that did run say about the state of the nation and American culture at this particularly fraught moment in time? Ian Chillag—creator and host of the award-winning Radiotopia podcast “Everything is Alive,” the co-host of NPR’s “How to Do Everything,” and a senior producer of “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me” — joins us to break it all down.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

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

Watch all of the Super Bowl ads. (NY Times)

Listen to Ian Chillag’s podcasts How to Do Everything and Everything is Alive.

Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com.

Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling.

The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation.

www.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, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.***

When it comes to transforming cities and reclaiming space from the automobile, some of the best and boldest leaders are women. Why is that so? That’s the question explored by our guests, urban mobility experts Melissa and Chris Bruntlett, in their new book: Women Changing Cities: Global Stories of Urban Transformation. The Bruntletts discuss the qualities that have allowed these leaders—along with women planners, advocates, and policymakers—to reshape their cities to benefit people, not cars. When women lead, cities thrive.

Longtime listeners may remember Melissa and Chris from episode 77, released back in 2021. It’s always a treat to talk to the Bruntletts and this time was no exception, especially because it happened live on stage at the Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida. Thanks to Transit Alliance Miami for hosting this epic team-up.

Bruce Appleyard

This week, we talked with Dr. Bruce Appleyard, who has spent a lifetime thinking about what we mean when we talk about liveable streets—and why it is so important that we build our cities with human beings in mind, first and foremost. Bruce’s research makes an appearance in Life After Cars, and his father, Donald Appleyard, was a legend in this field for his work that led to the indispensable book Livable Streets, published in 1981. In 2020 Bruce published Livable Streets 2.0, which brings his father’s book up to date while preserving its core principles and teachings. We talked with him about how streets can foster (or erode) social ties in our communities, how car-centric infrastructure harms children’s ability to navigate, and how we can fulfill what his father called “the promise of our streets.”

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

Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com.

Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling.

The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation.

www.thewaroncars.org

We had a great time talking with Jonathan and so many other Portlanders at the Bike Portland Happy Hour. Photo by Jana via Bike Portland

***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, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.***

We were out in Portland, Oregon, for our book tour in November, and spent a lot of great time hanging out with Jonathan Maus, the legendary founder of Bike Portland. We sat down with Jonathan in his backyard shed/studio and talked about how a great bike city can get even better, the importance of transit, and how media is an important part of the movement for more human cities.

Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. And catch us on tour in 2026: Tickets for live shows are on sale now!

www.thewaroncars.org

We got a warm Texas welcome in Austin

We are back home in Brooklyn but we can’t stop talking about everything we saw out on the road on our Life After Cars book tour. Listen for our takes on the second leg of our trip, which took us from Providence to Austin to Houston to Denver to Boulder…and then ended with a surprise diversion to an unexpected destination. We’ve seen so much along the way—like just how destructive freeway expansions can be. But also how cities can reclaim automobile infrastructure for humans! Plus, a shout-out to all the people who took such good care of us along the way.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Our book tour continues! Find out where we’ll be next at lifeaftercars.com.

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

Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling.

www.thewaroncars.org

The historic Hayworth Theatre in Los Angeles (now known as Dynasty Typewriter) was our final stop on the first leg of the tour.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind as we hit the road (not in a car) to promote our new book, Life After Cars, in some of the greatest cities of North America including San Francisco, Washington, DC, Seattle, Vancouver, BC, Nanaimo, BC, Portland, OR, San Diego, and Los Angeles (as well as our home base of NYC, of course). Getting to visit all these cities in person, often walking and riding the streets accompanied by local advocates and elected officials, was a real joy and a privilege. We saw a lot! And maybe not surprisingly for a couple of podcasters, we had some thoughts about all of it—from excellent bike lanes and public spaces to transit service that left a lot to be desired and the horror that is Interstate 5.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Our tour continues! Find out where we’ll be next at lifeaftercars.com.

Our upcoming schedule:

Providence, RI: 12/2

Austin, TX: 12/4 and 12/5

Houston, TX: 12/10

Denver, CO: 12/12

Boulder, CO: 12/13

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

Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling.

Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

This episode is part of a special series called “Changing American Car Culture” funded with the generous support of The Helen and William Mazer Foundation.

As historian Peter Norton documents in his book, Fighting Traffic, the death and destruction caused by the introduction of automobiles into U.S. cities in the early part of the 20th century caused a lot of people to challenge the notion that such machines would ever become popular. In response, autmobile companies, car dealers, driving enthuisasts, and others went on the offense, creating the culture that gave rise to the mass adoption of cars and the phenomenon of forced car dependence.

In this special episode, producer Ilana Strauss brings us a story that begins with the pushback against automobiles, the fight for speed governors, and the unlikely partnership between a Studebaker dealer and a young academic who manufactured the rules and norms that came to shape American streets at the expense of anyone who isn’t in a car.

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, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers!

***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile, is out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now and find us on tour.***

This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood. Listen for the latest discount code.

www.lifeaftercars.com

Anne Hidalgo talked about the political courage and coalition-building necessary to make Paris less car-centric. Photo by Liam Goodman/Clean Cities

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, presale tickets to live shows, and more, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.

Our bonus episode this month is from another live event. Back in September, Sarah moderated a panel conversation with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo as part of Climate Week events in New York City. The event was presented by the Clean Cities Campaign and Respire, a Paris-based nonprofit that focuses on improving air quality. 

Hidalgo has been mayor of Paris since 2014. In that time she has implemented a number of policies that have transformed the city for the better—removing cars from the banks of the Seine and turning the riverfront into a linear park; building out an extensive bike network; slowing traffic and reducing emissions on the city’s ring road; and creating hundreds of car-free school streets where children can play safely. As a result of these policies, which built on the work of her predecessor, the air pollution in Paris is now 55 percent less than it was in 2005. Hidalgo also spearheaded an effort to clean up the Seine so that swimmers could compete there in the 2024 Olympics, and now Parisians are swimming in the river for the first time in generations.

We talked about all that at the Climate Week event. Unfortunately, due to some technical glitches we only captured the second half of the conversation. We pick up where the mayor is telling us about her very personal motivation to reclaim the river Seine for her city’s people. You’ll also hear from Dr. María Neira, a Spanish physician who is former director of public health and environment at the World Health Organization and who worked closely on policy with Mayor Hidalgo; Tim Gill, an independent researcher and advocate for children’s play and mobility; and William Todts, executive director of the nonprofit transportation and environment advocacy group T & E. We also had a surprise mayoral guest, Matúš Vallo, who leads the city of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

Become a Patreon supporter of the podcast for access to the entire episode.

Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. And catch us on tour this fall and beyond. Tickets for live shows are on sale now!

Feds pulled back grant money destined to make Mattapan Square in Boston a better place for human beings/ Picture by 4300streetcar

In this episode, we talk about the Trump Administration’s full-on financial assault on all the modes of transportation we hold dear here at The War on Cars. Biking, walking, public transit—basically, anything deemed “hostile to cars” or that has something to do with sustainability and equity is  under attack. Ted Mann, a reporter at Bloomberg News who has been covering the story, joins us to explain what is going on with federal transportation funding for active transportation projects and more.

You can find more of Ted’s work here or follow him on Bluesky.

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, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers!

***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves From the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.***

Find us on tour in San Francisco, Washington DC, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, San Diego, Los Angeles and more. New dates are being added all the time.

The War on Cars is produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation.

This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood and Upway. Listen for the latest discount codes.

www.lifeaftercars.com