Building Better Cities

Cities don't just happen. They're shaped by the choices we make about housing, transportation, infrastructure, public spaces, and the communities we want to become. Yet too often, the systems we rely on make it difficult to build the places people need. Building Better Cities with Dr. Kate Gasparro goes behind the scenes with the leaders, builders, thinkers, and innovators reimagining how cities grow. Each episode explores the ideas and solutions helping create more sustainable, equitable, and thriving communities. Breaking norms. Building cities.

Building Better Cities is a society podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 47 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts Building Better Cities, a society show with 47 episodes published.

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  Building Better Cities

  Shared Equity and a New Dream of Homeownership with Tony Pickett

  Sep 17, 202639 min

  Homeownership has long been sold as a single path with a single set of rules — but what happens when that path stops working for most people? In this episode of Building Better Cities, Kate Gasparro sits down with Tony Pickett , CEO of Grounded Solutions Network , to explore how community land trusts and shared equity models are reshaping the relationship between housing, wealth, and city development. Tony's career spans public housing revitalization in Atlanta, the founding of the Atlanta Land Trust , and now a national push to bring shared equity into the mainstream of urban infrastructure and real estate. Together, Kate and Tony break down how separating land ownership from home ownership can preserve affordability for generations, why the rising age of first-time homebuyers signals a deeper crisis in city infrastructure and housing systems, and how Grounded Solutions' Homes for the Future initiative is using shared equity to compete with private equity's growing footprint in single-family rentals. This conversation is a case study in what sustainable cities actually require: not just building infrastructure, but building the financial systems that let more people benefit from it. If you care about how urban development can be more equitable without sacrificing financial viability, this episode is for you. Resources: Member Spotlight: A Neighborhood That Works—How Mueller Blends Community with Affordability (Grounded Solutions Network) Tracking Growth and Evaluating Performance of Shared Equity Homeownership Programs During Housing Market Fluctuations (Lincoln Land Policy Institute) Here's what happens when private equity buys homes in your neighborhood (Planet Money) Rethinking homeownership incentives to improve household financial security and shrink the racial wealth gap (Brookings) In just 15 years, the average U.S. homebuyer went from 39 to 59 years old (Fortune) The Wealth Gap between Homeowners and Renters Has Reached a Historic High (Urban Institute)

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  Building Better Cities

  Can Opportunity Zones Reverse Neighborhood Disinvestment? (with Jimmy Atkinson)

  Sep 2, 202635 min

  Neighborhoods have experienced dramatically different economic trajectories. Decades of redlining, discrimination, and disinvestment has shaped where capital flows — and once those patterns were established, they became self-reinforcing. In 2016, bipartisan lawmakers envisioned a new tool that would interrupt that cycle: Opportunity Zones. The idea was to make it more attractive for private investors to put long-term capital into economically distressed communities — and to reward investors for staying invested rather than simply flipping assets. In this episode of Building Better Cities , host Kate Gasparro sits down with Jimmy Atkinson , founder of OpportunityZones.com and author of The Opportunity Zones Playbook , to explore whether Opportunity Zones can help us build better cities — and what the tool means for the future of urban development and city infrastructure. They cover: How census tracts qualify for Opportunity Zone designation The three-part tax mechanism driving capital into building infrastructure nationwide What the data does (and doesn't) tell us about resident outcomes, displacement, and gentrification How the new map is being drawn right now With more than $112 billion invested in Opportunity Zones since the program's inception, and a new, more targeted map about to take effect, this is a pivotal moment for anyone working in urban development, infrastructure finance, or place-based investment to understand how this tool is reshaping city infrastructure and neighborhood reinvestment. Resources: A Mission-Driven OZ Project in San Bernardino, CA (Opportunity Zones Podcast) The Impact of Opportunity Zones on Housing Supply (Economic Innovation Group) Symbol of ‘80s Greed Stands to Profit from Trump Tax Break for Poor Areas (NYTimes) Use of the Opportunity Zone Tax Incentive through 2024: An Update (U.S. Department of the Treasury) Opportunity Zones Updates (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) Opportunity Zones Research and Reports (Novogradac) Opportunity Zones by State: Current and Future Designations ( OpportunityZones.com )

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  Building Better Cities

  How Cities Shape Us: The Psychology of Place with Dr. Leidy Klotz

  Aug 20, 202634 min

  What if the cities we build are also building something within us? In this episode of Building Better Cities , Kate Gasparro sits down with behavioral scientist and University of Virginia engineering professor Dr. Leidy Klotz to explore how the built environment shapes how we live, behave, connect, and feel. Drawing from his new book, In a Good Place , Leidy argues that the places around us can either support or frustrate three fundamental psychological needs: agency, competence, and connection. Together, Kate and Leidy examine how urban design and placemaking influence our everyday lives, what our investments in urban infrastructure and city development reveal about what we value, and whether the way we build cities can actually shape our culture and behavior. From public spaces and playgrounds to transportation and infrastructure, this episode asks us to reconsider what it really means to build better cities—and whether the ultimate purpose of city building is not simply what it does, but what it enables between people. Topics discussed: urban development, city development, urban infrastructure, urban design, placemaking, sustainable cities, the built environment, infrastructure development, community building, public space, human-centered design, and the psychology of place. Resources: Subtract: The Uptapped Science of Less (Dr. Leidy Klotz) Curb cuts (99% Invisible) Hierarchy of Needs: Application in Urban Design and Community-Building (Mallory Baches) Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being (Richard Ryan and Edward Deci) Why do we focus on trivial things? The Bikeshedding, explained. (The Decision Lab) Long-Term Effects of a Control-Relevant Intervention With the Institutionalized Aged (Judith Rodin and Ellen Langer)

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  Building Better Cities

  The Holy Grail of Urbanism: Land Value Tax with Greg Miller

  Aug 5, 202635 min

  What if the biggest obstacle to building more housing and creating more sustainable urban development isn't zoning or financing — it's how we tax land? In this episode of Building Better Cities , host Kate Gasparro sits down with Greg Miller , founder of the Center for Land Economics , to unpack land value tax (LVT) and why it might be the missing lever for building more housing, increasing infrastructure investment, and achieving equitable community outcomes. Land is America's most valuable natural resource, worth an estimated $50 trillion — yet our current property tax system often rewards speculation over productive use. Greg and Kate dig into why vacant lots and surface parking lots in downtown corridors pay a fraction of the taxes that adjacent building tenants and businesses do, and how that imbalance shapes urban infrastructure, housing supply, and neighborhood investment. This conversation covers: What land value tax actually is — and how it differs from a standard property tax The economics of land speculation and why it undermines sustainable cities Real-world case studies , including Pittsburgh's decades-long experiment with split-rate taxation and a recent Spokane, Washington policy analysis The history of Henry George and the 19th-century roots of land value tax theory How land value capture connects to tax increment financing (TIF) , including New York City's Interborough Express (IBX) project Practical policy levers cities and states can use to implement land value tax, from assessment reform to building exemptions Common misconceptions about land value tax and how to address them Whether you work in real estate, urban planning, municipal finance, or public-private partnerships, this episode offers a framework for thinking about how cities capture — and reinvest — the value they create. Resources: Pittsburgh should return to its roots in land value taxation (Pittsburgh Post Gazette) Could a LVT Fund the IBX? (Streetsblog NYC) America's land crisis is roaring back into politics (The Washington Post) Yes, a LVT is possible in Washington State (Sightline) The Hidden Costs of Tax Increment Financing (Lincoln Land Policy Institute)

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  Building Better Cities

  How Urban Design Pushes Families to the Burbs

  Jul 23, 202630 min

  Walk through any major American city and notice what's missing. Not coffee shops or co-working spaces — those are everywhere. What you won't see much of are children. Families with kids. People who chose the city not just for a season of life, but permanently. That absence is telling a story — and the data backs it up. Young families with children are a shrinking part of the U.S. population in major urban centers. A new Urban Institute report warns that cities that fail to retain families may face shrinking school systems, weaker tax bases, and increasing poverty concentration — while family retention can stabilize housing demand, sustain workforce pipelines, and strengthen local economies. This isn't just a demographic footnote. It's a crisis of urban development — and it has a design dimension that too few people are talking about. In this episode, host Kate Gasparro sits down with Alicia Pederson — the Courtyard Urbanist — to explore how a century of narrow, deep-lot development has quietly made American cities hostile to families. Drawing on examples from Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, and Amsterdam, Alicia makes the case for the courtyard block: a model of city infrastructure that delivers higher density, better unit design, shared green space, and the walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods that keep families in cities for the long haul. If you work in city development, urban planning, real estate, or public policy — or if you've ever wondered why American cities feel increasingly built for everyone except families — this conversation is for you. Resources: Towards a New Aesthetics of Abundance: Courtyard Urbanism (Create Streets) Young Families Are Leaving Many Large US Cities − Here’s Why That Matters (Iowa State University) This demographic shift could reshape cities, Urban Institute says (Smart Cities Dive) Cities made a bet on millennials — but forgot one key thing (Vox) The Urban Family Exodus Is a Warning for Progressives (The Atlantic) How Amsterdam is reviving the fine-grained courtyard block (Courtyard Urbanist) Illinois governor vows continued housing push as statewide zoning proposal hits a wall (Smart Cities Dive)

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