Does driving make you fat? Does taking transit make you thin? Are you likely to be healthier in a city with small blocks or big blocks? Are you less likely to get diabetes if you live near a park? Do you breathe more pollutants in heavy traffic on a bike or in a car? What urban form is healthier when you’re a teenager or a senior? Are you likely to have more friends if you live in a walkable neighborhood? What health-related economic benefits do you receive from walkability, bikeways, and greenways? How do you measure these things? One of the most cited scholars in the world, Dr. Lawrence Frank coined the term walkability and has been answering such questions for three decades. After sharing the state of the evidence linking built and natural environment features with health and economics, he and Yilun Zha discuss the findings’ impacts on cities and public health.

Like many downtowns, suburbanization wiped much of the life out of Greenville SC’s downtown by the 1970s. Today it is a thriving, award-winning destination largely due to the 30-year leadership of Mayor Knox White. Why has it been so successful and what can other cities learn from its multi-layered strategies to attract people downtown and celebrate gathering at new iconic parks (including removing a four-lane highway bridge to do so?) Mayor White explains and Michael Messner and Ellen Dunham-Jones lead the follow-up conversation on the implementation and impacts of this remarkable redesign.

Autonomous vehicles are here – but which mode best serves cities? Private AVs like Tesla? Privately-owned and operated robotaxis like Waymo? Or publicly supported on-demand AV shuttle buses? Are on-demand AV shuttles a more efficient way to provide transit service in lower-density areas where regular bus service is infeasible – and if so how should cities plan for them? This summer Boca Rotan, Florida began a three-year roll-out of AV shuttles. An affluent city struggling to attract service-industry workers, the city sees the shuttles as a means of connecting affordable housing to affordable transportation. Is it working? Jun Wang, Assistant Professor at FAU in Boca Rotan shares her dissertation research on planning for AV shuttles before Mark Wigder, Boca Raton Council Member tells us why he championed the AV shuttle and how it’s doing so far. Noted transit urbanist Peter Calthorpe also makes a surprise appearance.