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Streets Ahead

Streets Ahead Podcast

Cities around the world are finally discovering the pitfalls of a car-centric transport system, with the most progressive cities implementing protected cycle lanes, liveable streets and low traffic neighbourhoods for improved cycling and walking. Each episode, we discuss the news and views in the fast-paced world of active travel, cycling, walking and urban planning in a jargon-free safe space.


Streets Ahead is co-hosted by Adam Tranter, Laura Laker and Ned Boulting.


For all enquiries, please email streetsahead@fusion-media.co.uk.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • 20 episodes
  • monthly
  • Avg 53 min
  • English

Episodes 20

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  • S2 · E40
    April 30 · 50 min

    Children & Streets

    Solving decades of inaction on children's access to streets

  • S2 · E37
    February 4 · 56 min

    2026: The Journey So Far

    Free Parking, “Stalinist” Cities, and India’s First UCI Stage Race

  • S2 · E34
    Oct 7, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min

    Lisbon’s Streets and the People Trying to Change Them

    Lisbon’s Streets and the People Trying to Change Them: Lisbon is one of Europe's most picturesque cities with a reputation for being a safe place to live, work and visit. That's true from one lens, but look deeper and you'll discover a city with one of the worst road safety records in Europe and recently rated one of the worst European cities for children’s urban mobility. This time, Adam and Laura were in Lisbon, Adam’s new home, to look into some of the transport challenges ahead of the upcoming mayoral elections. Portugal has one of western Europe's worst road safety records and its roads are at least twice as lethal as Spain's. Portuguese cities disproportionately feature in fatal collisions (57%) compared to the European average (38%). Ahead of Lisbon’s mayoral elections, there's a divide between the main candidates: the socialist party's (PS) Alexandra Leitão, who Streets Ahead interviewed, who rather ambitiously wants to eliminate all road traffic deaths in just five years, up against incumbent Carlos Moedas (PSD), on the right of centre. We also spoke to campaigners and those running for office, headlining road safety in their campaigns. Three quarters of Lisbon’s cycle network requires improvement, according to Portugal’s motoring association ACP: https://www.acp.pt/o-clube/revista-acp/noticias-do-clube/detalhe/mais-de-75-da-rede-ciclavel-de-lisboa-exige-melhorias Air pollution in Portugal has increased and the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the country failed to fulfil its obligations to tackle this https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:62022CJ0220. Some comparisons between Portugal and the rest of Europe in road collision injuries and death https://road-safety.transport.ec.europa.eu/document/download/489f6875-12a4-421a-93fd-eb05acc2f589_en?filename=erso-country-overview-2023-portugal_0.pdf In this episode, we spoke to: Alexandra Leitão, mayoral candidate https://viverlisboa2025.pt/ (Viver Coalition) Francisco Costa and Pedro Franco (Livre Party, part of Viver Coalition); local campaigners who want less traffic and slower speeds to improve pollution and safety And Mário Alves, Secretary General, International Federation of Pedestrians; a leading member of MUBi, the Portuguese association for urban mobility; and a transport and mobility specialist. For ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S2 · E33
    Sep 11, 2025 · 1 hr 2 min

    Women Leading the Way

    Women around the world leading in cycling, adventure, the cycle industry and safer streets

  • S2 · E32
    Aug 8, 2025 · 1 hr 15 min

    Global Insights from The Future Design of Streets

    In this episode, Adam takes you to Guimarães, Portugal, where he attended The Future Design of Streets conference, and came away seeing our streets in a whole new way. Streets aren't only about transport, of course. Importantly, they're about climate, equity, social life, and how we experience a city day-to-day. To explore this expanded view, we’ve put together four conversations with global thought-leaders shaping the future of our streets: Maria Vassilakou: The former Green Vice Mayor of Vienna, who led a decade of transformation in public space, mobility, and citizen participation. Under her leadership, Vienna became a model for affordable, accessible public transport. Demetrio Scopelliti: Architect and Director of Urban Planning and Public Space at Milan’s AMAT agency, working on the front lines of environmental and spatial transformation in one of Europe’s major cities. Agustina Martire: Architect, Reader at Queen’s University Belfast, specialised in the study of everyday streets, their fabric, histories and experiences, through the StreetSpace project. She is especially interested in the way people experience the built environment and how design can enable a more inclusive and just urban space. David Sim: Architect and author of Soft City: Building Density for Everyday Life. David brings a human-scale lens to urban design and planning. David talks about designing for comfort, connection, and how good cities make us feel. More about the conference: thefuturedesignofstreets.eu For ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Bluesky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.social Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S2 · E31
    Jul 21, 2025 · 39 min

    Women Changing Cities

    Streets Ahead talks to Melissa Bruntlett, of Melissa and Chris Bruntlett, about women in urban leadership and their new book

  • S2 · E30
    Jun 26, 2025 · 59 min

    Spending Review, Fake E-Bikes & Bike Racing

    Streets Ahead's presenters, well at least two of them, have been gallivanting around Europe in recent weeks, coming back together in this episode as a trio to embark on an audio roam through some of the current topics in cycling. From the link between bike racing and everyday cycling, to the spending review's implications, to the rise of 'fake e-bikes', a recent report which Laura and Adam worked on, we have it all here. Links from the show: The Robert Frost poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening Cycling superstar, Cat Ferguson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Ferguson The Spending Review: https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/spending-review-cuts-active-travel-funding-by-40/ Transport for New Homes' research on car dependency in new housing. https://www.transportfornewhomes.org.uk/the-project/building-car-dependency/ and its award for the Bath Riverside housing development: https://www.transportfornewhomes.org.uk/transport-for-new-homes-award-bath-riverside/ And the recent e-bike report, by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Walking and Cycling, authored by Laura Laker: https://appgcw.org/resources/inquiries/unregulated-and-unsafe-the-threat-of-illegal-e-bikes/ For ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on BlueSky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.social Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S2 · E29
    May 8, 2025 · 57 min

    Going Rural

    Laura and Adam talk to Phil Jones and Ben Coleman at PJA

  • S2 · E28
    Apr 9, 2025 · 53 min

    Side Road Zebras

    The white lines that could transform walking... are they finally coming to England?

  • S2 · E26
    Feb 18, 2025 · 51 min

    Growth, but at what cost?

    We speak to Dr Alex Chapman, Senior Economist at the New Economics Foundation (NEF); Alex focuses on the economics of climate change, nature recovery and inequality. The Government has announced that growth is its key priority and followed up with its backing of major transport projects, such as the expansion of Heathrow Airport. We ask: do big transport projects always lead to growth, and at what cost? If you want ad-free listening, behind-the-scenes and bonus content and to help support the podcast - head to (https://www.patreon.com/StreetsAheadPodcast). We’ll even send you some stickers! We’re also on Bluesky and welcome your feedback on our episode: https://bsky.app/profile/podstreetsahead.bsky.social If you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and review? It helps us more than you probably think! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S2 · E25
    Jan 30, 2025 · 1 hr 2 min

    Delivery Riders: who wins?

    The gig economy and the impact of AI on working lives, with Callum Cant

Showing 1–20 of 20 episodes