I'm only twelve minutes in, but the discussion of top-down-planned cities stirred a memory. Playing SimCity in college, back in the nineties, I learned the hard way how hard it is to do the top-down approach. I put my industry as far from the residential area as I conceivably could... and nothing happened, very fast. Nobody moved into my city, it was a ghost town, because nobody wanted that commute. Sure, SimCity has the obvious bias of its designers baked-into its model. But I still wouldn't dismiss it out-of-hand just because of that.

Don't forget to like and subscribe! As a taxi driver, I once picked up one of Sean Carroll's former graduate students. This was brought to my attention by the man's notice of the Jennifer Quellette book I had on my dashboard: red lights can be so dreary.

there are so many more talks you could have in this podcast about cities. This is really interesting.

This has been one of my favourite episodes, partly for the subject and partly the guest. Thinking of cities as living things is something I’m often tackling in my work. I could listen to several more hours of this.

20:50 That might just be my new favorite quote

Poem Number Two on Bell’s Theorem, or The New Physicality of Long Distance Love by June Jordan There is no chance that we will fall apart There is no chance There are no parts.

japan is a fascinating place to look at, it's such a mix. i was there last 20 years ago, but we drove from tokyo through yokohama to my in-laws in kanagawa and i didn't notice any difference until we were near home and things got less high-rise. they have weird building codes too, in the city you can walk past a hospital next door to a tiny shrine next door to a bowling alley next door to a factory nxt door to department stores, next door to a lovely urban road. one thing they do is allow residential property on industrial land, which might seem counter-intuitive, but it allows for small business to pop up, and what would become industrial areas tend to be clean an tidy neighborhoods, with little cottage industry popping up. i always say where my inlaws live is weirdest, they have millionaire friends live in the "big house" behind theirs, and their house overlooks a car park that has a small cemetery in it, next to a golf driving range, and blackhawks and fighter jets circle the house 24/7 from the air force base down the road....

I wonder if parking will continue to be a problem as more people use ridesharing apps and self-driving cars get good enough to sell rides.

My dad (From Ireland) brought me to Schengen in the 80’s on one of his business trips. It’s close to the Hong Kong frontier and I distinctly remember how poor this fishing village was with people all dressed the same or driving around in bashed up Japanese cars or bikes and all very poor. I revisited it just before the pandemic and it’s unrecognisable. The 5th richest city on the world. Underground bigger than the London Underground, Bentleys, rolls Royce’s everywhere etc, and cameras monitoring everything and everyone. It was the first time it hit home that china is now the richest and powerful country in the world. 45000 miles of high speed rail across the country and the most amazing stations and the place dripping in money. The west has been beaten at its own game. Capitalism is doomed.

She speaks more like a reporter than a scholar.

19:30 **laughs in Manila**

With respect, I suggest that this conversation was heavily skewed toward the urban experience of middle class and wealthy residents (like me). Having lived in Baltimore City (while attending JHU), having spent much time in D.C. (while attending GWU), and having experienced New York City (while dating a New Yorker to whom I am now married), I have to say that I have a less than positive view of big cities. In particular, I've noticed that big city structural racism and other punishing socio-economic inequities create hellish landscapes in which minorities and other marginalized communities languish unseen and underserved by the powerful and wealthy. Consider public schools in Baltimore City and New York City. Middle class and wealthy families do not send their children to urban public schools (in those cities). The reasons, urban schools are violent, ineffective, and poorly resourced. Contrast poor urban neighborhoods with middle class/wealthy neighborhoods. Poor neighborhoods are polluted, violent, and distressed. Wealthier neighborhoods have private security, are safe, and provide myriad amenities for residents to enjoy. Compare employment opportunities and pay. In large cities, minority and marginal residents serve wealthier residents, toiling in service industry and/or menial jobs. Wealthier residents enjoy white collar jobs, great benefits, and fat pay checks. Certainly, I agree that big cities can be quite beneficial in many way. However, IMHO, we need to be careful to balance our urban-life enthusiasm with reality ...and not just our very privileged reality. Apologies for the soapbox diatribe.

High income black neighborhood's share the same values as low class white neighborhood's, did I hear that right?

Cities are toxic

We shoul build a city on mars pop 25mill use the UN and their world's soldiers then we can expand from there