This week I had a great conversation with Moshe Safdie, the architect of the Habitat 67 project (shown here) and the author of "The City After the Automobile: An Architect's Vision." Obviously a natural for the show, Safdie was a great interview and I think you'll enjoy this episode. Safdie's book pre-saged the Zipcar/Flexcar movement, and I respect his belief that Americans won't give up their cars (even as I hope for a better solution).

Hi everyone. I'm in Portland this week checking out transit-oriented developments in the area, so I won't be able to get a program out until Sunday or Monday. I've got some great guests coming up, including architect Moshe Safdie, so check back later.

Looking again at energy issues, in this episode we talk with Peter Melhus. He's got an encyclopedic background dealing with issues of energy production, business and land use. He says that we're focusing on alternative energies far too exclusively, when energy efficiency is the greatest resource we've got.

Backwards in time again, to 1954 and the beginning of Eisenhower's Interstate Highway System. We'll listen to excerpts from a promotional film from General Motors, called "Give Yourself the Green Light". I think it'll surprise you. The people of 1954 were facing many of the problems we're facing today, and transportation engineers are stuck using the same logic they did then (no offense, Eduardo- you're one of the good ones).

If you actually want to watch the film, go to the Prelinger Collection, an incredibly useful archive:

http://www.archive.org/details/GiveYour1954

We're back, with author Ray Oldenburg. His book, "The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community", is a fascinating look at the importance of those places in our lives. The picture is of Cafe Abir, one of my favorite "third places" in San Francisco. Oldenburg also emailed me his definitive list of the benefits of third places to communities- email me if you'd like a copy.

This week, I paid a visit to the Sunset Magazine "House of Innovation 2006". <SPOILER ALERT!> Well, you probably won't be too surprised that the emphasis was less on innovation and more on commercialization. I walked away depressed that the energies of tech geeks everywhere are being poured into uber-luxury goods rather than technology that's going to prepare us for the future.

Here's part 2, where I talk to Karen and Dan about the affordable housing issue and much more.

This week, an interview with Karen and Dan Parolek of Opticos Design & Architecture. They've got a firm in Berkeley, CA and a new one in Seaside, FL, a landmark of New Urbanist planning.

For those of you just joining us, the gist of the Post-Car Culture podcast is to talk about the future of cities. Most American cities and towns were reshaped around the automobile into a shape that discourages community and wastes resources. A lot of people are looking at the big picture and realizing that by changing land use, the way we build our buildings and streets, we can repair the broken urban fabric. The Paroleks and I talked a lot about the basics of urban design and planning, and we enjoyed it so much I'm going to make this interview a two-parter.

Today, we look at the bicycle. Why did this efficient means of transportation get shunted aside by the automobile? Author David V. Herlihy has written a comprehensive study of the quest for the human-powered vehicle. Can we wrest bicycles out of the realm of recreation and into a more central role in transportation? We'll explore this idea further in future podcasts.

In this episode, we interview Shelley Poticha, President of Reconnecting America and the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. If you're not familiar with the concept of TOD, this should be a great introduction. And if you are familiar with it, you might be interested in some of the reasons previous projects haven't worked out and how they can be improved.

In the last couple of episodes, we've talked a lot about alternative energies. Now I'd like to bring that back around to land use- how does the shape of our environment effect our lives? How did car culture ruin our social fabric? How can we fix it?

In episode two of the Post-Car Culture Podcast we talk to author James Howard Kunstler about his new book, The Long Emergency.  Kunstler envisions a future without fossil fuels...and it's pretty grim.  His interview is a call to action.  He predicts dire consequences if we fail to make the investments required to turn things around today.

Welcome to the Post-Car Culture. This podcast will be an investigation into the future of American culture after the automobile. As oil disappears and populations grow, suburban sprawl culture and casual car use will no longer be sustainable. In clear, apolitical terms, Post-Car Culture will look at how the future is taking shape now by talking to the foremost thinkers on these issues. A new episode will come out every two weeks.

This, our first episode, is an interview with Chris Paine, director of the new movie,"Who Killed the Electric Car?" Chris and I talked about the many alternative fuels being bandied about and how effective they are (or aren't). Next episode, we'll talk with writer James Howard Kunstler about his new book, The Long Emergency.

Let me know what you think- email me at tim@hearnowproductions.com.