#urban-planning
269 episodes
#5572: Renting Out Your Spare Room, Car, and Boat
Airbnb, Turo, and the platforms turning idle private assets into income — and the regulatory reckoning catching up with them.
#5496: Taking Down Jerusalem's 7km Border, Street by Street
Barbed wire, minefields, and a wax-pencil line: how Jerusalem's seven-kilometre border was physically torn down after 1967.
#5494: How Ancient Jerusalem Outgrew Its Own Walls
Jerusalem's Old City walls are Ottoman, not ancient — and the original city sits outside them. Tracing 4,000 years of expansion and contraction.
#5451: Who Captures the Savings: Zoning Windfalls vs. Import Margins
A zoning windfall gets audited. A tariff cut doesn't. Why two public decisions that create private value are treated so differently.
#5445: Israel's Periphery: Why It's Not About Distance
What "peripheria" really means in Israel — and why a $10B Intel fab sits in a town that still tops unemployment.
#5444: Carmei Gat: The Buchman of the Negev?
A planned neighborhood on Kiryat Gat's edge is pulling in Anglo olim with prices that undercut Beit Shemesh and Modiin.
#5335: The Hidden History of Toilets and Sanitation
From Indus Valley flush drains to Roman sponge sticks to gong farmers — the surprising, gross, and brilliant story of human waste.
#5326: What Makes a Bar a Third Place?
A listener's search for a bar where you can actually hear your friend — and the 35-year-old sociology that explains why it's so hard to find.
#5290: Inside the Urban Exploration Boom
13.7 billion TikTok views, 42 arrests at one IBM office park, and a community at war with its own imitators.
#5289: Why World's Fairs Built Absurd Transit
Moving sidewalks, monorails, and robot boxers: what we lost when technology's grand public spectacles became trade shows.
#5271: 10 Transit Ideas That Never Left the Drawing Board
From the Hyperloop to the Sinclair C5, why do beautiful transit renderings never survive contact with the invoice?
#5181: Shuafat: Jerusalem's Walled-Off Refugee Camp
Inside the Jerusalem camp that's within the city limits but beyond the barrier — taxed by the city, policed by no one.
#5120: Why Ground Rumble Ignores Your Acoustic Windows
Acoustic windows can't stop low-frequency rumble traveling through soil. Can wave barriers or base isolation actually work between city buildings?
#5098: Jerusalem's Digging Problem: Who Pays for Progress?
Jerusalem is tearing itself apart to rebuild. Residents pay top taxes but get no signage, no end dates, no recourse. Do other cities do better?
#5046: Mapping Purple: How Texas Really Votes
Texas isn't just red. We break down the blue cities, red rural expanse, and the purple suburbs that decide elections.
#5042: The Town That Vanished From the Map
How do real, populated communities simply disappear from official maps? We explore the strange phenomenon of forgotten towns.
#5019: Designing a Kosher Korean BBQ Restaurant
What happens when K-drama food culture meets kashrut? We design a restaurant that bridges both worlds.
#4987: The Ultimate Disappointment Tour: 17 Cities to Skip
A globe-trotting itinerary of the most overpriced, overcrowded, and disappointing cities on Earth.
#4985: Kazakhstan's Wild Apple Forests and Futuristic Cities
Where every apple's DNA began and a capital built from scratch on the steppe.
#4984: Shanghai's Real vs. Romanticized Art Deco
How much of Shanghai's "Paris of the East" glamour is real, and what was lost to redevelopment?
#4975: Testing Hong Kong's Romantic Image Against Reality
Is the cinematic Hong Kong still there? We separate fantasy from fact, politics from redevelopment.
#4962: Who Decides What Goes on Jerusalem’s Lampposts?
The law is clear on illegal postering. But enforcement? That’s where it gets complicated.
#4939: How Airports and Rail Become One Network
Why Schiphol, Frankfurt, and London TfL are gold standards—and where LAX and others fall apart.
#4933: Why Bass Proof Windows Are a Lie
Why your $4,000 "soundproof" window won't stop bass — and what cities like Amsterdam and Berlin do instead.