Episode Details

A new study of the Long Island Railroad looks at how small changes—getting off on the East Side, for example—can invigorate the metro region. Brian talks to study author and the Regional Plan Association’s vice president for strategic initiatives, Juliette Michaelson and president, Bob Yaro.

Re-building after Sandy in New Jersey means nostalgia vs. conservation; in New York, it’s steel dykes vs. spongy architecture. Brian talks to Jersey shore resident and Star-Ledger reporter, Brian Donohue, and marine geologist Stewart Farrell, founding director of the Coastal Research Center at Richard Stockton College in Galloway.

For current debates about the best way to protect post-Sandy New York City, Brian speaks to architects, Michael Sorkin and Catherine Seavitt Nordenson. Sorkin directs the graduate program of urban design and Nordenson is assoc
iate professor of landscape architecture, at City College. Both are principals of their respective firms.

This week’s Public Intellectual, a regular segment that examines new research with the power to transform our thinking and public policy, challenges the Gladwellian notion that 10,000 of practice can make us perfect. Guests are psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman and Michigan State University professor, Zachary Hambrick.