Unjerked Podcast

In the final installment of the series on urban design, William Henderson and B. McGraw discuss how physical environments can create a sense of community. They talk about how designs like atriums or parks can help facilitate social interaction between neighbors. Following this, they go over the importance of social capital, and how people of different classes interacting can be good for social mobility in a city.
Then they discuss the housing crisis, and how Tokyo and Vienna's models show how to make housing affordable. They continue talking about ways to improve cities, to include best practice for transportation, for zoning, and for infrastructure.
Finally, they talk about the pros and cons of urban, rural, and suburban living. They then wrap up with a summary of what makes good city design.
00:27 — Sense of community & public space design
01:42 — Urban form and social inequality
02:36 — Social capital and economic mobility
06:51 — Tokyo's permissive zoning model
09:41 — Vienna/Singapore public housing model
11:16 — Transit subsidization
14:03 — Grid streets, replacing stroads with arterials, bike lines, dedicated lanes
15:41 — Big-box stores vs. corner stores
18:13 — Elevated & daylighted intersections, roundabouts 
19:45 — Zoning: mixed use, densification, industrial separation
20:16 — How to fix bad zoning in a city you love
21:19 — Interest rates and development
21:57 — Modularized construction, utilities right-sizing, greenery
23:20 — Atlanta highway-cap park project
24:25 — Encouraging retrofittable buildings
24:54 — Example cities: Barcelona
26:22 — When do suburbs make sense
29:32 — Urban/rural political divide

[0:00:15] Introductions and overview of the podcast and urban design series continuation.
[0:00:30] Discussion of vehicle accident statistics, especially fatal intersection crashes from studies. (1)
[0:01:31] Analysis of types of road collisions, side impacts, and their fatality rates.
[0:02:21] Road category statistics for crash frequency (rural vs. urban, arterials, and collectors). (2)
[0:03:07] Importance and risks of arterial and collector roads compared to highways/local roads.
[0:04:04] Evaluation of raised safety platforms and their effect on reducing accidents and speeds. (1)
[0:06:28] Introduction of "daylighting" intersections as a traffic visibility and safety method. (1)
[0:08:17] Effectiveness of roundabouts in reducing injury and fatality crash rates. (1)
[0:10:49] Dangers of slip lanes at intersections and general intersection design safety improvements. (1)
[0:12:18] Summary of research on urban vs. suburban street designs, density, and their impact on traffic safety. (1) (2) (3)
[0:14:35] Downsides of arterial roads lined with commercial activities related to increased crashes. (1) (2) (3) (4)
[0:16:42] Findings on strip commercial activity and pedestrian safety, particularly with alcohol venues.
[0:17:56] Additional research about collisions involving older drivers and pedestrians on arterial roads.
[0:18:55] "Strodes" as problematic street types and their depiction in media and research.
[0:19:10] Comparing city layouts (Atlanta vs. Boston) regarding street configuration and accidents. (1)
[0:19:33] Relationship between urban sprawl and increased crash rates. (1)
[0:20:08] Benefits of dedicated bicycle lanes for reducing bicycle accidents. (1)
[0:22:32] Shift to discussion about urban heat and environmental sustainability in city design. (1) (2)
[0:23:04] Review of techniques like reflective pavement and green infrastructure for mitigating heat islands. (1)
[0:24:32] Emphasizing the cooling and sustainability benefits of urban greenery and trees.
[0:24:38] Brief mention of right-sizing infrastructure and development strategies based on context. (1)
[0:25:24] Incremental vs. large-scale development—pitfalls of planned, oversized urban projects.

B McGraw and William Henderson talk about best practices in urban design. What are the best principles of good urban systems? How do we reduce externalities related to urban life? This is part 1 of 2 episodes.
First we talk about the difference between urban design and housing or transit policy. Then we go over different externalities to manage. This includes urban heat, noise, mental health, traffic, carbon emissions, and more. We then talk about ways to minimize traffic accidents, the importance of grid pattern streets, and optimal zoning reforming. We then discuss densification of housing, dedicated bus lines, and the best ways to reduce noise. After this, we talk about policies that optimize mental health.
Overall, the key principles of good urban design include grid patterns, dense housing, public transit friendly streets, and lots of greenergy.
0:45: What is Urban Design? (vs. Housing & Transit)
3:16: Externalities that need to be managed
4:51: Traffic Accidents (2)
8:48: Grid patterns (2)
14:45: Zoning reform (2)
16:30: Densification (2)
17:00: Dedicated bus lanes
19:05: Noise (2)
22:40: Mental Health (2) (3)
 
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What are the different political positions which exist? What does it mean to be on the left vs right? Is the traditional political compass a good way to categorize politics?In this episode we continue discussing different facets of the political compass. THis includes what exactly social policy is, culture vs social policy, and envrionmental politics. We discuss the different axes of international relations, to include internationalism as well as hawkishness vs dovishness. Then we discuss democracy and civil liberties as another axis.
Following this, we go over various common political ideologies. On the left, this includes left-neoliberalism, social democracy, green politics, and democratic socialism. On the right, we discuss additional movements. We then talk about
00:00 Introduction
00:13 Defining Social Policy
02:03 Culture vs. Social Policy
02:57 Environmental Politics
04:08 International Relations Axes
05:00 Democracy, Civil Liberties, Rule of Law
06:50 The Four Big Axes of Politics
07:14 Common Political Ideologies
8:45 Classical Liberalism
9:48 Neoliberalism
10:38 Libertarianism
12:09 Left-wing movements
12:35 Identitarian Left
12:42 Democratic Socialism
13:32 Social Democracy
13:54 Green Politics
21:44 Right-wing movements
21:44 neoliberal right
21:10 Christian Democracy
24:36 Burkian Conservatism
26:07 Neoconservatism
27:15 Identitarian Right
28:17 Voter Behavior and Party Coalitions
32:19 Fringe Ideologies
32:22 Fascism
32:27 Juntas
32:38 Absolute Monarchies
32:56 Anarchism
33:03 Marxism/Communism
33:11 Syndicalism
 
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What are the different political positions which exist? What does it mean to be on the left vs right? Is the traditional political compass a good way to categorize politics?
We first discuss what it means to be on the left vs right, the looseness of political beliefs, and the difference between party and ideology over time. We discuss the coalitions of ideologies in the context of parties as well. Then, we talk about the history of political ideology, and the growth of left vs right politics in the French revolution. Following this, we go over the modern definition of left vs right.
Then, we go over the consistency of people's political beliefs, and their symbolic vs operational beliefs.
Finally, we go over economic axes in politics, to include trade policy, fiscal policy, and monetary policy.
 
0:00 Intro1:24 Political compass text
2:00 What it means to be left vs right
2:47 Economic, social, and international policy
3:56 Looseness of political beliefs (2)
4:20 Party vs ideology
5:00 coalitions within two party
6:47 History of political ideology
10:20 Left vs Right in the French Revolution
12:36 Modern definition of left vs right
14:07 consistency of political beliefs (2)
18:05 Symbolic vs operational ideology
22:00 Bundling of unrelated policy positions
23:00 Economic axis: trade policy (2) vs fiscal policy vs monetary policy
 
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Summary
William Henderson and B. McGraw discuss U.S. agriculture subsidies—what they are, how they work, and the tradeoffs they create. The conversation covers the history and structure of these subsidies, as well as political and economic consequences.
Agriculture Policy
We begin by examining the political durability of subsidies, driven in part by the disproportionate influence of rural states in the Senate. Despite the shrinking number of farmers, these programs remain deeply entrenched.
Next, we look at who benefits—mainly large agribusinesses—and contrast supply-side subsidies with programs like SNAP. We then explore New Zealand’s decision to eliminate subsidies in the 1980s, which led to higher productivity and stable employment.
We also consider national security arguments for supporting domestic food production, as well as the impact of consolidation, automation, and contract farming on labor and ownership.
Later, we question whether private markets (futures, insurance) could manage agricultural risk without government support. This leads into a discussion of grocery prices, inflation, and whether “greedflation” or broader economic forces are driving costs.
Finally, we touch on the unintended effects of subsidies on public health and the environment—like their contribution to obesity and monoculture farming—and explore climate policy, water use, and immigration’s role in farm labor.
The episode closes with a look at whether the current system is effective policy—or simply politically untouchable.
Timestamps
00:00 — Intro and political feasibility of removing subsidies
01:56 — Distributive effects and difficulty of reform
02:39 — Comparison to New Zealand’s reforms
03:03 — National security as justification
06:16 — Industrial consolidation and automation
04:20 — New Zealand outcomes and productivityCato Institute on NZ Reform
06:00 — Market price stability and crop insurance
7:44 — High prices and greedflation
09:27 — Inflation and COVID supply shocks
10:12 — National security and industrial policy
13:07 — Obesity and health outcomes
14:56 — Conspiracy theory
15:54 — Regenerative agriculture
21:52 — Environmental damage
23:58 — Subsidies and food prices
24:23 — Desert farms
27:47 — Immigration and labor supply issues
 
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William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about agriculture policy. What kind of subsidies exist and why? This is part 1 of 2 episodes?
We first briefly discuss the different types of farming, to include a completely free-market farming, subsidized farming, and collectivized soviet-style farming. Then, we discuss the comparison of subsidy levels between different countries. New Zealand is the lowest with a near 0% level of agriculture subsidies. On the other hand, many countries with high levels of subsidies include Iceland, Japan, and Norway. We then go over an article which discusses New Zealand's decision to pull subsidies in the 1980s. This led to an increased efficiency in farm production and did not lead to reliance on imports for food.
After all of this, we go over the farm bill and similar policies which help shape the system of farm subsidies in the US. This includes price loss coverage and agricultural risk coverage, which help pay farmers if commodity prices get too low. Marketing assistance loans are similar and involve lending money when prices get low. Crop insurance helps cover for issues like severe weather, crop failure, etc. Various conservation programs incentivize the use of environmentally friendly practices.
We then talk about disaster assistance programs, specialty crop support programs, and biofuel programs.
 
4:20 collective farming 
6:38 OECD white paper with country comparisons
9:57 CATO article on total subsidies
13:43 Farm bill (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13)
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William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about public transportation. What forms of transit make the most sense? This is part 2 of 2 episodes.
 
We first discuss gas taxes, both at the federal and state level, and how these are used to fund highway maintenance. We then discuss rail funding, which lacks a dedicated trust fund and is more volatile in availability. Then we talk about factors which increase rail transit use demand, to include neighborhood density. We then discuss congrestion prices, and the role they plan in controlling externalities associated with driving. Similarly, we go over the topic of dynamic parking pricing, which helps adjust demand for street parking.
We go over whether or not adding extra lanes is an effective method of reducing traffic. Then, we talk about various methods to reduce traffic accidents, to include more mass transit use, bicycle lanes, and fewer "stroads". Then, we discuss potential technology innovations in transportation. Finally, we go over the conspiracy theory of "15 minute cities", and whether or not this is a fair argument against walkable cities. 1:30 gas taxes (2)
6:40 rail funding
12:47 density, transit, expenditures
bureacracy
culture
20:33 congestion pricing 
24:25 dynamic parking pricing
28:00 adding lanes
31:43 traffic accidents (2) (3)
41:10 technology
46:11 conspiracies
 
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William Henderson and B. McGraw talk about public transportation. What forms of transit make the most sense? This is part 1 of 2 episodes.
 
We first discuss the international perspective on transit. The US has less public transit usage compared to other peer developed countries, although even those countries do not have full public transit penetration. We then discuss the different approaches to rail use, to include government owned rails with private and public cars, fully private but highly regulated private rails, and private rails with public cars.
 
Then we discuss the issue with the speed of construction in the US. Afterwards, we talk about the different transportation methods which exist, and the pros and cons of each. These include auto, bus, light rail, heavy rail, high speed rail, monorail, flying, ferries, and more.. After this, we discuss the cost of these different methods, to include the externalized costs. Finally, we go over saftey, carbon emissions, and timeliness of different methods.
 
3:22 international perspective (2) (3)
 
12:03 Government vs private sector
 
17:41 Speed of construction
 
19:40 transportation methods
 
27:14 pros and cons of methods
 
29:24 Cost comparison of methods (2)
 
37:25 safety
 
41:09 carbon emissions 
 
43:44 time
 
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