Episode Details

In this episode, I connect with cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Robin Mazumder, Ph.D., for a discussion about how we as humans respond to our built environments and how we make that experience pleasurable and equitable.

Dr. Robin Mazumder, recently (October 2020) received his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo in cognitive neuroscience studying the impacts of urban design on our health and wellbeing.

Among other things, John and Robin talk about how we as humans respond to our built environments, what role access to nature plays in our cities, and how we can perhaps better understand and work productively to address our dependency on automobiles.

When we think of our cities and public spaces we probably have an intuitive sense as to what places are pleasant, welcoming, and interesting but we probably don’t really think too deeply about it. Well, we hope this conversation with Robin about his work to better understand our urban experience serves to be a thought-provoking and engaging experience.

Additional Helpful Links:

Robin's Website

Twitter

Instagram

Robin's Addicted to Cars post

Dignity and Health Forbes article

Places of the Heart book by Colin Ellard

Cities for People book by Jan Gehl

Happy City book by Charles Montgomery

Curbing Traffic and Building the Cycling City books by Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

Ada County article about bike lanes in Boise and surrounding suburbs

Cognitive Architecture book by Ann Sussman & Justin Hollander

Shinrin-yoku - Forest Bathing

Indy Cultural Trail

Jason Slaughter's Not Just Bikes episode

Jonathan Fertig's Taking Action episode

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Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

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