In this episode, I connect with Ashton Rohmer, a doctoral candidate in Peace and Conflict studies, who is examining Car Supremacy and our societal acceptance of vehicular violence through her research on the ideology of car supremacy and on reimagining streets as sites of care and community. She challenges us to imagine more peaceful streets for everyone.

Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
👉 Paper: Car supremacy: Deconstructing the ideology driving our modal hierarchy
👉 Paper: Let’s Keep Our Eyes on the Road: The Case for Peace and Conflict Researchers to Study Vehicular Violence 
👉 Follow Ashton’s work and journey to the Netherlands here
👉 Brompton Bicycles
👉 Buy Your Brain on Nature from my Bookshop or via Amazon
👉 Buy Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam from my Bookshop or via Amazon
👉 Buy Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv from my Bookshop or via Amazon
👉 Buy The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age by Richard Louv from my Bookshop or via Amazon
👉 Buy Confessions of a Recovering Engineer by Charles Marohn from my Bookshop or via Amazon
👉 Buy Killed by A Traffic Engineer by Prof. Wes Marshall from my Bookshop or via Amazon
👉 Watch my recent Livestream with Wes Marshall
👉 Buy Traffic – Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt from my Bookshop or via Amazon
👉 Buy Dark PR by Grant Ennis from my Bookshop or via Amazon
👉 My Dark PR episode
👉 Watch a short clip from Disney’s Motor Mania here
👉 My Peter Norton playlist
👉 My Motonormativity episode with Prof. Ian Walker and Prof. Marco te Brömmelstroet
👉 Bike Bus World for resources
👉 Book mentioned by Ashton – Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore or via Amazon
👉 Book mentioned by Ashton – Wastelands by Corban Addison or via Amazon
👉 Book mentioned by Ashton – Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World or via Amazon

Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and be sure to subscribe to the Active Towns Channel on YouTube for more content, or if you prefer, you can find and subscribe to the Pod on most major Podcatcher listening platforms.

If you are a fan of the Active Towns Podcast, please consider supporting the effort as an Active Towns Ambassador in the following ways:
1. Join our Patreon community. Contributions start at just $3 per month
2. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also “leave a tip” through “Buy Me a Coffee”
3. Make a donation to my non-profit, Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc., to help support my pro bono work with cities

Credits:
– Video and audio production by John Simmerman
– Music via Epidemic Sound

Resources used during the production of this video:
– My recording platform is Ecamm Live
– Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
– Equipment: Contact me for a complete list

For more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:
– Active Towns Website
– Active Towns on Bluesky
– Periodic e-Newsletter

Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

Since 2010,  I’ve been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a “Culture of Activity” for “All Ages & Abilities.”

The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2026