This week, Robin Rather of Collective Strength joins the podcast to talk about missteps in the planning profession &#8211; including how things go wrong with language. Robin shares how she got to thinking about urban issues and why she believes current planning practice is stuck in the 1990s. We discuss the often jargon-filled language the profession uses, taking a paragraph from Austin’s current zoning code rewrite to illustrate.

Talking Headways Podcast: Critiquing the Language of Planners

core/paragraph

Kea Wilson

Streetsblog USA

‘I’m Always on the Bus’: How Transit Advocacy Helped Katie Wilson Become Seattle’s Next Mayor

Lucia Cappella is a Los Angeles-based writer, advocate, and current Outreach Coordinator for the Festival Trail. She is passionate about expanding access to arts programming, public transportation, and urban nature — seeing these spaces as vital to creating more connected, empathetic, and resilient communities.

Lucia Cappella

Talia Goddard is an undergraduate student at Occidental College double-majoring in Urban &amp; Environmental Policy and Economics. She interned with the Festival Trail during the summer of 2025. As a Los Angeles native, Talia was drawn to the project’s commitment to creating a positive Olympic legacy for the city. Her studies currently center on global climate policy, sustainable cities, and urban history through art. Outside the classroom, she works as a photographer and enjoys highlighting community stories and urban landscapes.

Talia Goddard

An Olympian Task: Replicating Paris’s Bike Boom in Los Angeles

Breaking: House Moves to Rescind $3.1B for Reconnecting Communities Divided by Highways

Fletcher Wilson

Op-Ed: How Transit Agencies Are Tackling America’s Public Bathroom Crisis

Josh Vredevoogd

How to Defeat Car Culture in America’s Deadliest City for Pedestrians

Marissa Bell is a senior studying civil engineering at the University of Texas at Austin who undertook a semester-long research project on accessibility.

Marissa Bell

On a Roll: Feds Inch Closer to Finally Achieving Key Goal of Americans With Disabilities Act

Streetsblog LA

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Streetsblog Los Angeles

Joe Linton

Today's Headlines

Friday’s Headlines

Northern K Line Extension

Metro Board Unanimously Advances K Line North Light Rail Extension

Thursday’s Headlines

Juan Matute

Santa Monica

Why Cities Need More “Agile” Streets

Wednesday’s Headlines

Chris Greenspon is the San Gabriel Valley Reporter for Streetsblog L.A. and co-host for SGV Connect.