Streets Ahead
Streets Ahead

Streets Ahead

Streets Ahead Podcast

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Episodes

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Cities around the world are finally discovering the pitfalls of a car-centric transport system, with the most progressive cities implementing protected cycle lanes, liveable streets and low traffic neighbourhoods for improved cycling and walking. Each episode, we discuss the news and views in the fast-paced world of active travel, cycling, walking and urban planning in a jargon-free safe space.Streets Ahead is co-hosted by Adam Tranter, Laura Laker and Ned Boulting.For all enquiries, please email [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recent Episodes

Lisbon’s Streets and the People Trying to Change Them
OCT 7, 2025
Lisbon’s Streets and the People Trying to Change Them
Lisbon’s Streets and the People Trying to Change Them: Lisbon is one of Europe's most picturesque cities with a reputation for being a safe place to live, work and visit. That's true from one lens, but look deeper and you'll discover a city with one of the worst road safety records in Europe and recently rated one of the worst European cities for children’s urban mobility.This time, Adam and Laura were in Lisbon, Adam’s new home, to look into some of the transport challenges ahead of the upcoming mayoral elections. Portugal has one of western Europe's worst road safety records and its roads are at least twice as lethal as Spain's. Portuguese cities disproportionately feature in fatal collisions (57%) compared to the European average (38%).Ahead of Lisbon’s mayoral elections, there's a divide between the main candidates: the socialist party's (PS) Alexandra Leitão, who Streets Ahead interviewed, who rather ambitiously wants to eliminate all road traffic deaths in just five years, up against incumbent Carlos Moedas (PSD), on the right of centre. We also spoke to campaigners and those running for office, headlining road safety in their campaigns. Three quarters of Lisbon’s cycle network requires improvement, according to Portugal’s motoring association ACP: https://www.acp.pt/o-clube/revista-acp/noticias-do-clube/detalhe/mais-de-75-da-rede-ciclavel-de-lisboa-exige-melhorias Air pollution in Portugal has increased and the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the country failed to fulfil its obligations to tackle this https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:62022CJ0220.Some comparisons between Portugal and the rest of Europe in road collision injuries and death https://road-safety.transport.ec.europa.eu/document/download/489f6875-12a4-421a-93fd-eb05acc2f589_en?filename=erso-country-overview-2023-portugal_0.pdf In this episode, we spoke to:Alexandra Leitão, mayoral candidate https://viverlisboa2025.pt/ (Viver Coalition)Francisco Costa and Pedro Franco (Livre Party, part of Viver Coalition); local campaigners who want less traffic and slower speeds to improve pollution and safetyAnd Mário Alves, Secretary General, International Federation of Pedestrians; a leading member of MUBi, the Portuguese association for urban mobility; and a transport and mobility specialist.For ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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61 MIN
Global Insights from The Future Design of Streets
AUG 8, 2025
Global Insights from The Future Design of Streets
In this episode, Adam takes you to Guimarães, Portugal, where he attended The Future Design of Streets conference, and came away seeing our streets in a whole new way.Streets aren't only about transport, of course. Importantly, they're about climate, equity, social life, and how we experience a city day-to-day.To explore this expanded view, we’ve put together four conversations with global thought-leaders shaping the future of our streets:Maria Vassilakou: The former Green Vice Mayor of Vienna, who led a decade of transformation in public space, mobility, and citizen participation. Under her leadership, Vienna became a model for affordable, accessible public transport.Demetrio Scopelliti: Architect and Director of Urban Planning and Public Space at Milan’s AMAT agency, working on the front lines of environmental and spatial transformation in one of Europe’s major cities.Agustina Martire: Architect, Reader at Queen’s University Belfast, specialised in the study of everyday streets, their fabric, histories and experiences, through the StreetSpace project. She is especially interested in the way people experience the built environment and how design can enable a more inclusive and just urban space.David Sim: Architect and author of Soft City: Building Density for Everyday Life. David brings a human-scale lens to urban design and planning. David talks about designing for comfort, connection, and how good cities make us feel.More about the conference: thefuturedesignofstreets.euFor ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Bluesky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.social Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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75 MIN