The Power Broker #9: Majora Carter
20 September 2024 - 2 hours 32 minsThis is the ninth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro.
This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Majora Carter, an urban revitalization strategist and real estate developer from the South Bronx. Growing up, she always viewed the neighborhood as a place she had to leave in order to find success. But as she got older, she began to undo some of Robert Moses’ legacy, like building Hunt’s Point Riverside Park along the Bronx River. She is a champion for bettering neighborhoods like the South Bronx, so that they are places where people want to remain—even when they have been ruined by a tyrant.
Elliott and Ro...
Zone Zero
Across the West, there's a contentious debate playing out over how to adapt homes and neighborhoods to this era of increasingly extreme wildfire risk. In Berkeley, California, it's become a particularly emotional fight because of a very specific architectural history that began all the way back in the 1890s. Emmett Fitzgerald reports on the new rules about what plants you can grow around your house.
37 mins
3 November Finished
100 Objects #22: AOL Disc
In the 1990s, AOL introduced millions of Americans to the internet with its ubiquitous free CDs, but how did the company that once dominated the internet nearly disappear?
34 mins
30 October Finished
Doktoro Esperanto
Reporter Katie Thornton tells the story of Doktoro Esperanto’s dream, and what we can all still learn from Esperanto right now.
35 mins
27 October Finished
100 Objects #21: Window from the House of D
How a women’s prison in Greenwich Village, and its unusual open windows, helped shape queer community and the modern gay rights movement.
37 mins
23 October Finished
Audio Guide of the Imperfections of a Perfect Masterpiece
A closer look at the quirks, imperfections, and clever design solutions that have helped Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum evolve over the decades.
29 mins
21 October Finished
Tony Hawk's Real-Life Willy Wonka
A desert train built for Tony Hawk leads into the strange and thoughtful world of N.D. Austin, a designer of real-life experiences.
52 mins
20 October Finished