This week on Mondays at The Overhead Wire we’re Han Solo, but that doesn’t stop us from talking about all the podcasts we’ve got coming up, news about the LA wildfires, modular homes, and surveillance technology. More news than you can use this week on the Talking Headways podcast feed. Find links to the show

This week on Talking Headways we’re joined by Jon Kramer, CEO of engineering and planning firm OHM Advisors. Jon chats about going from Intern to CEO over a 30 year period, competing against large engineering firms, and the state of engineering education. You can listen to this episode by visiting Streetsblog USA or find it

This week on Talking Headways we’re joined by Bridget Marquis, Director of Reimagining the Civic Commons. Bridget chats with us about connecting public assets, the importance of creating metrics that matter, and better ways to think about community engagement. You can listen to this episode at Streetsblog USA and in our archive. below is a

Two everlasting symbols of California are the sequoia and redwood trees. People know the giants from popular culture and national parks but the trees, which are not the same species but related, should also be seen as examples of the ultimate in evolutionary sustainability. The earliest known sequoia fossil is from over 200 million years

A lot of news coverage rightfully on the fires in Los Angeles and a lot of different angles to discuss the issue from insurance to prevention. One thing I’ve been thinking about from an overall perspective that’s not just tied to this catastrophe but to climate change, housing, and transportation issues more generally is there’s

We’re Han Solo this week but have a lot to share from the end of December and the start of 2025.  As we get back into the new year we cover new ways to think about housing construction, transit expansion from Yonah Freemark, and worries about the brightness of headlights. Check out the show notes

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we’re joined by Ben Ross and Joe Cortright to discuss their article in Dissent Magazine discussing how modeling is being used to expand highways around the country. We chat about their critiques of highway modeling, politics, and some potential solutions to the problem. You can listen to this

I posted a piece in the New York Times that was shared by Shannon Mattern on Bluesky written by Jon Klassen about board books for babies. Jon is the author of one of my favorite books to read to my daughter “I Want My Hat Back”. We’ve read a lot of books thousands of times

This week we’re joined by Professor Sara Bronin to talk about her book Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World. We chat about all the ways that land is regulated. And why zoning is an opportunity for people to reshape their communities. We also chat about food policy, connecting the street to property,

This week for our holiday break we’re going back in time to episode 108 which we recorded in Cambridge England with Daniele Quercia and Luca Aiello of Bell Labs. We chatted about using social media to map sensory experiences in cities including smells and soundscapes. +++ Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr …