The average LA commuter spends five days a year stuck in traffic; pedestrian deaths are the highest they’ve been in 40 years in the U.S.; and the transportation sector is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in America. They’re all products of a system that has prioritized automobiles over people for decades.

But ‘car free’ or ‘car light’ approaches to urban planning are taking hold in cities and neighborhoods around the world. From Amsterdam to Barcelona to Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, officials are getting serious about redesigning their communities for car-free living.

The concept sounds a bit radical. But it doesn’t mean getting rid of cars altogether. It’s about reimagining communities to shift the balance in favor of new transit options.

In this episode, Andrei and Tiffany explore what transportation in the U.S. would look like if most of us didn't have to reach for our car keys every day.

Guests:

• Ellen Dunham-Jones, director of the urban design program at Georgia Tech
• Cornelia Dinca, founder of Sustainable Amsterdam
• Peter Norton, associate professor of history at the University of Virginia
• Shyam Kannan, Mid-Atlantic transit lead at HDR
• Transit expert Jerome Horne