Reclaiming the streets — with John Simmerman

John Simmerman, founder of Active Towns and host of the new Active Towns podcast, joins the show for a second time. John and Jordan discuss how the coronavirus is changing the way people are interacting with their neighborhoods, and some of the creative things cities are doing to enable more people to safely get outside and stay active.

John explains how this crisis offers an opportunity for us to build and sustain a culture of activity while cars are off the streets and demand for accessible active spaces grows.

Toward the end of this episode, John mentions a handful of resources for those looking for inspiration right now:

COVID19 Livable Streets Response Strategies (Google Sheets database)

Local actions affecting walking and biking during social distancing (Google Sheets database)

Better Block Foundation

Street Plans

Let’s Not Overthink This: Opening Streets is Easy, Says Urban Planner Mike Lydon

Milan’s Car-Free Blueprint for Life After Lockdown

Streetsblog

NACTO – Rapid Response: Tools for Cities

CNU 28 – A Virtual Gathering

PeopleForBikes Foundation

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John’s personal Twitter

You can also reach John at [email protected].

Don't forget to subscribe to the Active Towns podcast!

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(The music in this episode is from No Money, Custodian of Records, & Isaac Horwedel.)

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