STEMS AND LEAVES Ezra M

This episode we chat about dance as a consideration in urban design.  In China, millions of residents participate in urban dance as a way to  enhance their health and foster social connection. These groups practice  in parks and ‘waste spaces’ around cities, accompanied often by live  music. However, this practice has run into some resistance from the  central and city governments. Complaints of too much noise have forced  cities to ban these dancing retirees to parking lots and bridge  underpasses. But the dancers persist, sometimes as an act of resistance.  We unpack all that an more this episode of STEMS and Leaves.
Links:
Designing the Danceable City: How Residents in Beijing Cultivate Health and Community Ties Through Urban Dance’   by Caroline Chen

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This episode we discuss the practice of urban foraging. That act of  harvesting wild grown food is a practice as old as humanity. From  society’s earliest days, we have depended on the fruits, nuts, berries,  and herbs we’ve found along the way to secure our food supply. Although,  a recent surge in popularity of foraging in cities and a lasting legacy  of racist and classist laws often prevent some groups from foraging in  public spaces. This episode unpacks why and how we forage and recommends  some interesting research papers that discuss an ideal future of  foraging laws.
Sources:

Falling Fruit . org
Food Law Gone Wild by Baylen Linnekin


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[From the archive] Another interview out of DC this week, my guest Shauna has worked as  a  freelance programmer for 9 years. She left neuroscience after a long   reckoning with the uncertainty. Shauna found herself challenged by a  big  question: How do we quantify and understand the vast potential of  human  behavior with hard tools? Maybe we can’t. Or at least not in the  ways  we want to.
Shauna and I discuss these interesting ideas from  her  work and how she’s grown professionally. We also touch on the   significance of queer identities in these spaces and handling mental   health. I was curious to know how she keeps herself accountable and   practices self-care in a sometimes isolating work space. Shauna tells me   all her great tips and tricks as she continues her journey of growth   and learning.
Discussed this episode:
PyLadies 
Minority Postdoc
Galaxy Rise Consulting
Shauna on LinkedIn

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[From the archive] In this episode,  Sujata Emani  and I spend a good amount of time discussing women of massive  determination and how we work everyday to emulate their example. Sujata  also shares some insight into her identity as a caregiver for her  grandmother; an identity that was chosen for her and certainly changed  the trajectory of her life in her mid-twenties.

Discussed in this episode:
Beltway Science Podcast
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Department of Energy
National Labs
Research Article: Designing the Danceable City

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Planning in Appalachia, convincing a community that you’re not taking  their jobs, and the future of autonomous vehicles in rural places. My  guest this week, Jason Pyles, and I discuss all this in more in one of  my favorite interviews yet. As a kick off to our discussions centered  around Geography and Geographic Information Science, I turn to Jason for  his expertise.
Jason works for the Buckeye Hills Regional Council as  one of two GIS professionals supporting the agency’s work. His position  is unique in that he is sort of a one-man-GIS-show and does all the  work entailed in GIS from top to bottom. He shared some great insights  into what it means to serve his regional community through his role in  technology.

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