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Sam Star – cargo bikes

Podcast Episode 009

In this week’s pod, we speak with Sam Starr, a cargo bike expert about what our cities might look like if we shift some (or a substantial amount) of our in-city freight traffic from giant potential trucks to cargo bikes.

Listen to Episode 006 with Sandra Rothbard for more freight pod.

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE:

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Downtown eVTOL freight hub

In a slightly annoying bit of timing, the beleaguered New York Mayor announced new plan to renovate Pier 6 / Downtown Heliport to include an eVTOL cargo freight facility. This is all adjacent to the NYCDOT's blue highway program to use the existing waterways (and airways) to move freight. This is slightly annoying since this would be great information for this pod. Oh, well.

Central to this plan are eVTOL's and cargo bikes. The invitation to yesterday's event was on short notice, but there's an upcoming information session.

The landscape of established eVTOL cargo players is small - you could count players on a few hands. It's not clear how serious this plan is, but it does look like it is part of the FAA's Advanced Air Mobility Implementation Plan (part of Innovate28):

“The Innovate28 plan includes various components and the sequence they will occur in for operations to be at scale at one or more sites by 2028,” the FAA said in a statement. “The plan will serve as a foundation for making entry into service routine and predictable, by maximizing the use of existing procedures and infrastructure.”

The certification and initial pilot programs are scheduled for a 2025-timeframe and would utilize existing facilitates such as the downtown heliport.

Looking through the RFP, the NYCEDC is looking for a group who can renovate and operate the whole facility on a concession model, then apply for FAA, DOT, and ARRA grants. They estimate that the minimum investment will be $1.2 million, with up to 80% reimbursed via the U.S. Maritime Administration grant.

Episode 007 Shaun Mosley: research is care

In this week’s pod, we speak with Shaun Mosley who is a Designer / Researcher at Nava Public Benefit Corporation. We dive deep into what design research is, how do we meet people where we are, and how do we use our imagination to overcome fear.

Episode 006 Sandra Rothbard – freight matters

Why are there so many trucks on our streets these days? It’s your fault buttercup, you create freight everyday. In this episode we speak with freight expert Sandra Rothbard, who is an urban planner specializing in freight transportation.

After working for public agencies in NYC on city logistics, disaster preparedness and solid waste management, she now supports public, private and non-profit organizations around the world as an independent consultant. She focuses on building sustainable, resilient and safe streets, healthy communities and efficient and economic supply chains.

Episode 005: Graham Rossmore – Curbs for People

In this episode we speak with parking expert Graham Rossmore, who helped Los Angeles shift their temporary outdoor dining program to a permanent feature, allowing a greater use of curb and parking space than just car storage. His work found that areas with Al Fresco dining generated an increase of $12 million in gross sales in 2022 compared to 2019. We also speak about new ways to use the city, which just so happens to be how we used to use the city before cars became the dominant form of transportation.

004 Karen Kubey – Cities of Imagination

Karen Kubey, Assistant Professor, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto, speaks about housing justice, how we need to design for abundance, we don’t live in policy, and how housing supply is part of a larger toolbox to provide housing for all.

003 Joanne Cheung:Cities Book of Play

Cities are sites of aspirations and identities, and ‘play’ can be a means for fostering community engagement. Architect and urbanist Joanne Cheung critiques the prevailing forms of community engagement, suggesting that they are often paternalistic and fail to adequately consider the agency of individuals and communities. Joanne further discuss the implications of power imbalances, the need for co-creation, and how play can act as a ‘scaffolding’ for discussing democratic representation. Play has often become commodified causing an unequal power dynamics in society. Joanne suggests the Cities for Play is but a scaffold in tackling very hard problems democratically, and calls for meaningful engagement through more community-oriented spaces for collective action and creativity.

Tom Badley – Offline Cash

Graphic designer and artist Tom Badley shares with us his journey practicing as both a designer and artist, banknote design, digital art, his design of Offline Cash, and his book, Art & Money.