New York City is on the cutting edge of many amazing "Streets Are For People" initiatives, and Open Plans is increasingly front and center in this movement with campaigns such as School Streets, Low Traffic Neighborhoods (LTNs), Public Space Management, Intersection Daylighting, and many more.
In this episode, I connect with Sara Lind, Co-Executive Director of Open Plans, to discuss the projects they are working on and their universal applicability to car-centric cities worldwide.
Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
👉 Open Plans website
👉 Streetsblog NYC
👉 Streetfilms on YouTube
👉 Streetfilms website
👉 My Low Traffic Neighborhood (LTN) videos
👉 My Donald Shoup playlist
👉 My first episode with Donald Shoup (audio-only)
👉 Streetfilms Ghent School Street
👉 My Short Paris School Street Video
👉 No Garbage Day Not Just Bikes Video
👉 The Bruntlett’s Women Changing Cities Episode
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1. Become an Active Towns Member on YouTube for exclusive member-only content and Livestreams
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4. Make a donation to my non-profit, Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc., to help support my pro bono work with cities
Credits:
- Video and audio production by John Simmerman
- Music via Epidemic Sound
Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
- Equipment: Contact me for a complete list
For more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:
- Active Towns Website
- Active Towns on Bluesky
- Weekly Update e-Newsletter
Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 35 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.
Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2026
