Stitching the Sprawl: Reclaiming Our Streets. Conversation with John Surico
About this episode
John Surico discusses the transformation of streets into vibrant public spaces and the evolution of personal vehicles.
Potholes need fixing: no argument there! But while the "universal pothole consensus" keeps our eyes glued to the asphalt, it can make us miss the grander, more exciting evolution waiting to happen in our towns. In this episode, urban journalist and researcher John Surico (https://www.johnsurico.com/) challenges us to look way beyond basic maintenance. He shares his firsthand experiences bringing beautiful, community-grown temporary public spaces to life right in his own neighborhood. These grassroots pop-ups do something amazing: they shift our thinking from treating roads merely as conduits for cars to seeing them as vibrant, human-scale places. I’m also incredibly inspired by John’s take on the rapid emergence of a whole new generation of personal vehicles—from pedal-assist bikes to what are effectively unregulated motorcycles. He suggests that rather than lazily lumping them in with either traditional bikes or cars, we should embrace a more nuanced approach. By rethinking these vehicles, we can expand our shared mobility and connect our communities in entirely new, accessible ways.
More episodes of Who Killed the Starter Home?
- You Can’t Afford NOT Having Community Engagement. Conversation with Merilee Meacock
- A Tangled Mess of Rules: Is the time right for reform? Conversation with Silvia Del Fava
- What if the Housing Crisis is Intentional? Conversation with Ricardo Flores
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