The Architecture of Urbanity

Vishaan Chakrabarti is the founder and creative director of the Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), and the author of "The Architecture of Urbanity." He has worn many hats - in development, architecture, government and academia, and brings this experience to bear in his public advocacy work.

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Intro: "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie

Show Notes:

- The "Joy" Thing with Tim Walz

- Obama > Biden Infrastructure Bill

- Is it really Rural vs Urban, or Suburban vs Everyone Else? Is it Rurbanity?

- UC Berkeley analysis of carbon footprints of cities vs rural vs suburban

- The mortgage interest tax deduction

- The Federal gas tax

- Out-migration from expensive to affordable cities - not the suburbs

- Railroad suburbs: Montclair and Maplewood NJ

- Carbon pricing

- Jane Jacobs' idea that cities formed around trade

- James C. Scott

- The Dawn of Everything, David Graeber & David Wengrow

- Alternate civilizational origin stories at the Venice Biennale

- The places we go on vacation all have lousy parking

- The energy source powering cars is not really the issue - it's the degree to which we design our cities around cars - or not

- Copenhagen - the urban planning Mecca - but where are the immigrants?

- InterOculus, PAU, Columbus, Indiana

- "Because they've been told their definition of excellence is to design spaceships to be built by slaves in the sand, that's what architects are off doing. And so of course they're not at the adult table influencing policy. We can't relegate ourselves to the kiddie table by talking about irrelevant things and then complain about the chicken nuggets."

- "We don't help everyday people visualize the power of policy change as well as we could."

- "I think we are at a moment where it is really, important for people who understand the physical world to sit down and be able to speak the language of government."

- "Designing policy is a form of design."

- New York Times collaboration with PAU = NYC = Not Your Car

- Gov. Kathy Hochul's cancellation of congestion pricing

- Robert Caro, The Power Broker - "The city's permanent government" - the "deep state" might actually be OK

- "New York, New York, New York," by Tom Dyja

- Accepting imperfection as a necessary democratic outcome - instead of going Roark on imperfection and blowing it up

- Uber's hiring of Bradley Tusk, Bloomberg's third mayoral campaign manager

- Alejandro Aravena - an architect literally being the architect of the new Chilean constitution

- Norman Foster - adviser to the United Nations on rebuilding Ukraine

- Book design by Michael Beirut and Britt Cobb at Pentagram

Outro: "Don't Worry About the Government," by Talking Heads