Image by Tim Kelley licensed under Creative Commons.

Without cars, city soundscapes transformed during pandemic shutdowns. State and local elections are where the future of transportation will take shape. A new tool maps walkability in hundreds of cities around the world.

Recordings reveal city soundscapes changed by the pandemic: As traffic plummeted in cities globally during COVID-19 shutdowns, new sounds that had been stifled by noise pollution reemerged, such as church bells and bird song. A project mapped nearly 4,000 recordings of these new soundscapes across the world. (Linda Poon | CityLab)

Care about transportation? Watch state and local elections: While everyone will be watching national election results with baited breath, it is the state and local elections that are more likely to determine our transportation futures. And in order to make a greater impact on issues like climate change, local governments need to make more progressive choices than they have in the past. (Yonah Freemark | Transport Politic)

An interactive tool shows walkability around the world: The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy has released Pedestrians First, a toolset and guide to help cities become more walkable. Data from over 1,000 metropolitan areas shows what most of us already know: US cities are less walkable than thier European counterparts. The guide contains four tools and best practices from around the world. (Intelligent Transport)

A possible pedestrian future for heritage sites: In the Scotland city of Edinburgh, officials closed two historic streets, which were previously inundated with motorized traffic and tourists, in order to promote social distancing during the pandemic. Now, there’s evidence that this practice of car free streets in heritage districts will stick and potentially mitigate some of the issues sites have been having with overtourism. (Bhakti Mathew | National Geographic)

Inequity shows up in surface temperature: Disadvantaged areas that have been historically denied tree cover and green space are more likely to see heat island effects in times of extreme heat. (Akiva Blander | Metropolis)

Quote of the Week

“Cool pavements have potential to mitigate the urban heat island, to save energy in buildings if they lower the outside air temperature, reducing the demand for air conditioning in the building, and they can slow global warming by reflecting more sunlight back to space.”

Ronnen Levinson, Leader of the Heat Island Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, discussing how cooler surfaces can mitigate the effects of climate change.

This week on the podcast, architect Brian O’Looney talks about his building pattern book Increments of Neighborhood.