Skip to content

Talking Headways Podcast: Critiquing the Language of Planners

This week, Robin Rather of Collective Strength joins the podcast to talk about missteps in the planning profession - including how things go wrong with language. Robin shares how she got to thinking about urban issues and why she believes current planning practice is stuck in the 1990s. We discuss the often jargon-filled language the profession uses, taking a paragraph from Austin’s current zoning code rewrite to illustrate.

This week, Robin Rather of Collective Strength joins the podcast to talk about missteps in the planning profession — including how things go wrong with language. Robin shares how she got to thinking about urban issues and why she believes current planning practice is stuck in the 1990s. We discuss the often jargon-filled language the profession uses, taking a paragraph from Austin’s current zoning code rewrite to illustrate.

Photo of Jeff Wood
Jeff Wood is the creator of the Talking Headways podcast and editor of the newsletter The Overhead Wire.

Read More:

Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.

More from Streetsblog USA

Is America’s ‘First Autonomous Transit System’ Really Dead?

October 13, 2026

Why Progressives Don’t Deliver on Federal Transportation Policy

October 13, 2026

Inducing Demand for Tuesday’s Headlines

October 13, 2026

Monday’s Headlines Take Matters Into Our Own Hands

October 12, 2026

Inside Baseball: Kuntzman To Step Down At Streetsblog; David Meyer To Take Over

October 9, 2026
See all posts