This week on the Talking Headways Podcast I’m joined by Joe Cortright of City Observatory to nerd out on employment data and discuss their most recent report, Surging City Center Job Growth. We learn how employment cores for many cities are growing and why this looks like a long-term shift.

Joe also talks about how they measured urban cores, the use of my favorite data tool — On the Map, which includes LEHD job data from the census — and findings from before and after the Great Recession.

Finally, I’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about the transportation impacts of this growth in central city employment. We find out how radial roads affect sprawl and growth, and we look back at some of Joe’s reports that skewer the annual Texas Transportation Institute congestion reports. For the finale, we share opinions about self-driving cars and buses.

Take a listen during your short or long commute.