Planning Livable Downtowns with Brent Toderian

Brent Toderian has decades of experience in city planning, urban design, and transportation. He was chief planner for the city of Vancouver from 2006 to 2012, a time when the city hosted and was transformed by the Winter Olympics. As a consultant, Brent has advised and collaborated with folks from Auckland to Buenos Aires to Copenhagen to Reykjavik, and he often sparks conversation on social media, where he is one of the most prominent voices advocating for more human and humane urban design. We talked with him about how to make downtowns attractive and livable for families, why developers should value regulation, and that legendary urban Costco in Vancouver. Plus, Brent gives us the scoop on the new Urban Truth Collective and its mission to beat back the lies people tell about cities.

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Find out more about Brent Toderian and all his projects at his website, and follow him on Bluesky.

And check out the brand-new Urban Truth Collective, Brent's collaboration with Tom Flood and Grant Ennis.

Order our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, out now from Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Find us on tour and get tickets at lifeaftercars.com.

Thanks to Cleverhood for sponsoring this episode. Listen to this episode for the latest discount code and get the best rain gear for walking and cycling.

The War on Cars is produced with support from the Helen and William Mazer Foundation.

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