Today, we discuss the effect of front-end vehicle height on pedestrian death risk, published by Dr. Justin Tyndall in the Economics of Transportation in March 2024. The article is premised on the idea that increased vehicle heights in the United States may be contributing to the fact that the number of pedestrians killed annually in collisions has …

We welcome Logan Samuelson and Dr. Brendon Blue from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. We discuss their article "Restoration as reconnection: A relational approach to urban stream repair", published in the New Zealand Geographer 2023 with co-author Dr. Amanda Thomas. The article is premised on how urban stream environments have bee…

Today, we welcome Dr. Timothy Ross, who is a Scientist with the Bloorview Research Institute at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto, Canada where he leads the Engagement & Planning for the Inclusive Communities Lab (or, the EPIC Lab). Tim is also an Assistant Professor (status) in the Department of Geography and Planning and t…

Today, we welcome Dr. Katherine Einstein, Dr. David Glick, and Dr. Maxwell Palmer from Boston University. We discuss their book: Neighbourhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America’s Housing Crisis; published in 2019. The book is premised on how local political inequalities can end up limiting the housing supply and contribute to the curren…

On today's episode, we talk to Marco Zunino about his thesis “Urban agriculture: Exploring a multi-scalar and circular approach to food production and distribution in East London”. Marco discusses what is meant by urban agriculture, some background history on food production, and his case study research of East London. He provides tools for urban p…

Today, we welcome Edward Pinto, co-director of the American Enterprise Institute’s Housing Center to discuss their paper on How Government Policy Made Housing Expensive and Scarce, and How Unleashing Market Forces Can Address It, co-authored with Tobias Peter. Together they’ve co-authored a variety of reports on housing policy, specifically on the …

After sampling a few of Utah's greatest endurance events, races and routes this summer, Caroline shares stories of her own as well as many others who have learned that Utah is the place to test your limits! With races like LOTOJA, the Wasatch 100 and Crusher in the Tushars, Utah is well equipped to provide unique experiences for those wishing to pu…

On this episode, we welcome Swedish author and academic Dr. Stefan Gössling. He’s a professor at the Linnaeus University School of Business and Economics and Lund University's Department of Service Management. We discuss his book: The Psychology of the Car. Automobile admiration, attachment and addiction; published by Elsevier in 2017. The book exp…

Have you thought about the ways that your recreational pursuits have been influenced by colonization? Dr. Dan Henhawk discusses the history of colonization and recreation, the concept of Indigenous relationality, and how we can adapt to the changes in our environment by engaging in respectful and reciprocal relationships with the natural world. Thi…

Today, we welcome Dr. Alessandro Venerandi and Professor Sergio Porta. We discuss their article "Urban form and COVID-19 cases & deaths in Greater London: An urban morphometric approach" published in Urban Analytics and City Science in 2022. This article takes a finer-grained approach to infection spread, examining urban form and habitable space th…

We're back! It's been a busy few months over at the Division of Outdoor Recreation, but I'm so excited to be back releasing podcasts, however infrequently they may be! Join me for a conversation with Anna Sprout, who runs the Moab Trail Ambassador program and learn more about the awesome outreach and education program she's spearheading in Grand Co…

Today, we welcome Dr. Tom Cohen and Mariam Almarwani. We discuss their article "Addressing the unjust treatment of pedestrians at signalized intersections," published in Transportation Research Procedia in 2022. The article is premised on the idea that pedestrians wait statistically longer than other road users at signalized intersections and that …

We welcome Dr. Ignacio Tiznado-Aitken, who is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute. We’re talking about his paper “Time poverty in transport research: A conceptual framework, standards, and profiles for achieving transport justice”. His co-authors include Dr. Matthew Palm and Professor Steven Farber. …

On this special episode of Dense City, we are all about the e-bike! We attended the Squamish E-bike Expo at Junction Park in Squamish, BC. We interviewed e-bike owners, District of Squamish Staff, and E-bike vendors to get to know more about e-bikes. A big thank you to those interviewed!

We welcome Heike Marquart and Juliane Schicketanz. Heike is a Research Associate at the Institute of Transport Research at the German Aerospace Centre in Berlin. Her research focuses include Urban Geography and Mobility, particularly mobility related to health, wellbeing and environmental stressors, using qualitative methods and wearable sensors. J…

We welcome Dr. Vanessa Mathews, an associate professor of geography and environmental studies at the University of Regina. In her work, she investigates the links between historic buildings and embodied energy, with a particular interest in the role that existing buildings play in urban sustainability. We discuss her article "Planning for craft bre…

After a busy March, I'm excited to release this episode with Josie Giles, the Program Director for Summit Journeys. Summit Journeys is a non-profit organization aimed at getting youth into the outdoors while also teaching them skills to develop self-efficacy, resilience and determination. Josie and the team at Summit Journeys are working in part wi…

We welcome Rebecca Walker, who is a Ph.D. Candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Her research considers the intersection of housing, equity, and the environment in American cities. We’re talking about her paper “Making the City of Lakes: whiteness, nature, and urban developm…

Brett Kobernik is a forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center centered in the Skyline region of our state. Brett has worked tirelessly for the past 8 years to create protocols, weather forecasting, equipment and relationships that increase the safety and awareness of backcountry users during the winter season. In this episode, Caroline tags along wi…

We sit down for a discussion about where we grew up, what inspired our interest in planning, and about life generally. Come by the fire and listen to our stories and plans for the future of Dense City!

Carly Lansche, our statewide Recreation Planner, enlightens us on a sport few people dare to embark on: bike packing. But if riding your bike 160 miles through the desert wasn't enough, Carly and her friends manage to make this multi-day trip a multi-sport one as well! With life lessons about gear quality, competition and the unbiased opinion regar…

We welcome Dr. Sungduck Lee, who is an assistant professor in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. She is also the director of the Geosocial Visualization Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory with research interests at the intersection of social geography and visual communication. Her research focuses on issues related to neighbour…

Jason Curry was appointed as the director for the Division of Outdoor Recreation in early December and I was lucky enough to snag a few minutes with him in his first week on the job. Jason references the Guiding our Growth Survey which you can find at guidingourgrowth.utah.gov/ This is a fantastic opportunity for Utah citizens to give input on how …

Bob brings us along on one epic powder day at Alta. Listen and learn how Bob's learning to ski a little differently with help from some awesome technology called the TetraSki.By Division of Outdoor Recreation

Welcome to Recreation Elevated! While Caroline figures out how to work her microphone on the trails, she introduces us to the podcast, lets us know what we can expect going forward and announces the Campfire Story series with her own tale of modern day explorers on skis. To submit your own Campfire Story, email Caroline at cweiler@utah.gov! In the …

We welcome Irene Gomez Varo, who is a PhD candidate in Human Geography at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. We discuss her article: Jane Jacobs reloaded: A contemporary operationalization of urban vitality in a district in Barcelona published in Cities in 2022 with Xavier Delclòs-Alió and Carme Miralles-Guasch. The article examines the urban …

We welcome Dr. Ren Thomas, who is an associate professor in the School of Planning at Dalhousie University. She’s an urban planner, and her research uses the qualitative powers of case studies to explore housing, transportation, and policy planning. She’s a Founding Fellow of the MacEachen Institute of Public Policy and Governance and the Academic …

We welcome Dr. Jill Grant, who is a professor emeritus at Dalhousie University’s School of Planning. She’s an urban planner whose research centers around improving the spaces that mean most to us. Her latest work studies development patterns in Canadian suburbs and the influence of the creative class in cities. In this episode, we discuss her artic…

Today we welcome Dr. Pascale Jossart-Marcelli and discuss her recently published book "The $16 Taco". She is Professor of Geography and Director of the Interdisciplinary Urban Studies Program at San Diego State University. Pascale’s teaching and research focus on urban poverty and social justice. During the past decade, she has conducted research o…

On today’s episode, We welcome Dr. Evan Mallen who is a researcher with Georgia Tech’s Urban Climate Lab where he focuses on urban heat island mitigation and the public health response. He is also an ORISE Fellow in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Climate and Health Program. We’re talking about his paper “Climate change and infras…

We welcome Dr. Dhiraj Nainani who is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies at the National University of Singapore. We talk about his dissertation entitled The Legal Geography of Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong’s ‘Last Ghetto’. Chungking Mansions is a ‘notorious’ building complex in the business district of Tsim Sha Tsui, K…

We welcome Marcel Moran who is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley. The paper focuses on the distribution of amenities at bus stops in San Francisco. Transit stops serve as crucial components of journeys for riders, but their condition is often left out of equity considerations. Marcel conducted a census…

We welcome Dr. Anne Harris, who is an associate professor in the School of Occupational and Public Health at Toronto Metropolitan University. Anne is an epidemiologist interested in patterns of disease and injuries in populations and is particularly committed to studying and improving the methods used to conduct this type of research. She is intere…

We welcome Hannah Hook who is a Ph.D. student at Ghent University of Belgium. She is an urban geographer and EIT Urban Mobility Fellow focusing on daily travel behavior and the relationship between travel satisfaction and well-being. Her background is in Sustainable Cities and GIS Technology. Her research aims to understand the motivations for and …

We welcome Dr. Léa Ravensbergen, who is a post-doctoral fellow at TRAM or (Transportation research at McGill) in the School of Urban Planning. Her mixed-methods transport research is driven by an overarching concern for equity in the creation of healthy and sustainable cities. Her doctoral research on the gender gap in cycling won the 2019 American…

We welcome Dr. Meghan Winters who is an associate professor in the faculty of health sciences at Simon Fraser University. She is an epidemiologist interested in the link between health, transportation, and city design. She is the founder and lead of the Cities, Health, and Active Transportation Lab at SFU (CHATR). We’re talking about her paper enti…

We welcome Dr. Kelcie Ralph who is an assistant professor at Rutgers in the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. In her research, Dr. Ralph works to identify and correct common misperceptions about travel behavior and safety to improve transportation planning outcomes. We’re talking about her paper entitled “Distracted by ‘distracted ped…

On today’s episode, we welcome Dr. Samantha Biglieri (@s_biglieri) who is an assistant professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University. She is an urban planner, and her research uses critical approaches at the intersection of planning and health and wellbeing, making connections with practice to build inclusive and acce…

On today’s episode, we welcome Dr. Brian Doucet who is an Associate Professor in the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo. He is the Canada Research Chair in Urban Change and Social Inclusion. He is interested in the lived experiences of urban change, gentrification, and displacement. His work seeks to use this knowledge to elevate marg…

On today’s episode, we welcome Dr. Lyana Patrick, an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Her research focuses on indigenous health and justice, urban indigenous community planning, and institutional change through decolonizing education. We discuss her paper “The power of connections: How a novel Canadi…

On todays episode, we welcome Dr. Jordi Honey (@jordihoney) and Adam Lind. Jordi is an Associate Professor at the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia. Adam is a graduate of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where he specialized in environmental science and city planning. We’re discussing their paper…

On this episode, we’re chatting with Dr. Magdalena Ugarte who is an assistant professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University. Her research and teaching agendas are shaped by her journey across design, planning, and social policy over the past fifteen years, both as a scholar and as a practitioner. In her scholarship, s…

Today's guest is Alexander “AJ” Wray, who is a doctoral student in geography and environment at the University of Western Ontario, coordinating the Food Retail Environment Study for Health and Economic Resiliency (FRESHER) and ParkSeek projects for the Human Environments Analysis Lab. His research interests span the range of health, GIS, impact ass…

Today’s guest is Dr. Troy Glover. He is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies and Director of the Healthy Communities Research Network at the University of Waterloo. His research explores the role of leisure in advancing or deterring community, primarily through the development of social capital and transformativ…

On today's episode, I’ll introduce the podcast, my intentions, and what to expect out of listening. Artwork: Watercolouredbyemily Music: Reid Cai, Ryan Kinnear, & Me