Podcast Episodes

Nicole Gelinas: Blue City Lessons from NYC’s 100 Years' War Between Cars and Transit

Season 1 Episode 23

New York Times contributing opinion writer Nicole Gelinas, who writes regularly on New York City issues, is the author of a deeply researched and informative book, Movement: New York’s Long War to ta…

Published on 11 hours ago

Dispatch from an Urban Drug Market

Season 1 Episode 22

In this special episode we venture outside our respective basements to explore a sprawling open-air drug market in Seattle’s Little Saigon neighborhood, which resembles similar drug markets in poor, …

Published on 3 weeks, 2 days ago

What’s the Matter with Chicago?

Season 1 Episode 21

The Windy City is not just a great American metropolis – the third largest in the United States – it is a world class city, recognized globally as a center of finance, trade and economic dynamism, an…

Published on 1 month ago

Trump Just Defunded Public Media. Did NPR Help Bring This Disaster on Itself?

Season 1 Episode 20

In the latest installment of Blue City Blues, we welcomed Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of the history of education at the University of Pennsylvania, to join us in delving into the Trump-led defundi…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez on What Urbanites Get Wrong about Rural America

Season 1 Episode 19

The political gulf between educated urban progressives and rural and blue collar Americans has accelerated in recent decades. The consequences for blue cities - and for the Democratic Party - are pro…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Celinda Lake on What NYC’s Political Earthquake Means for the Politics of Blue Cities

Season 1 Episode 18

Zohran Mamdani's upset victory in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary wasn't just a win; it was a seismic event that's shaking the foundations of the Democratic Party. How did a self-describ…

Published on 1 month, 4 weeks ago

Sherman Alexie: A Res Indian Take on Monsters, Colonizers and the Urban Left's “Minor League Maoism”

Season 1 Episode 17

In this episode of Blue City Blues, we invited writer Sherman Alexie on to weigh in on recent cultural trends in blue cities. 

 Alexie has long been recognized as one of the country’s most talented, i…

Published on 2 months ago

Katie Herzog on What the Decline and Fall of Twitter Means for Blue Cities

Season 1 Episode 16

In 2020, when the power of social media – Twitter, in particular – to police the boundaries of acceptable thought in blue cities was at its cultural zenith, journalists Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal …

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Is Abundance the Answer to What Ails Blue Cities?

Season 1 Episode 15

In January of 2022, The Atlantic published staff writer Derek Thompson’s manifesto calling for a fundamental reform of progressive governance. “We need an abundance agenda… focused on solving our nat…

Published on 3 months ago

Defund/Abolition Is Dead in Blue Cities. What now?

Season 1 Episode 15

Public safety policy reformer Lisa Daugaard won a MacArthur Genius Award in 2019 for her work creating the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, which has become a much touted national m…

Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago