Urbanism Speakeasy with Andy Boenau

Cognitive dissonance is a feature, not a bug

How the stories we tell ourselves protect the behavior we already want.

Nov 4 • Andy Boenau

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October 2026

Bikes beat the bus for brain gains

You don’t want to stunt your child’s mental development, so you might be interested to know that riding bikes improves focus, memory, and learning.

Oct 19 • Andy Boenau

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In defense of transportation engineers

Wait, what?!

Oct 12 • Andy Boenau

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September 2026

I care about e-bike safety 0.2% of the time

Click-bait media outlets would have you think we should drop everything and do something about the scary threat of battery-powered bicycles (and yes…

Sep 7 • Andy Boenau

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August 2026

These 13 books aren’t about urbanism, but they’ll lead to better urbanism

An unconventional reading list for the agents of culture change.

Aug 27 • Andy Boenau

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Don’t let the Jaws Effect kill your bike advocacy

When it comes to culture change, the joyriders might be outperforming the advocates.

Aug 23 • Andy Boenau

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Why people oppose the safer option

What I got wrong about persuasion.

Aug 3 • Andy Boenau

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July 2026

Stop Making Everything a Show Pony

Paint and flex posts are a good strategy, not a consolation prize.

Jul 6 • Andy Boenau

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June 2026

Here's why the status quo keeps winning

This applies to housing policy, traffic analysis methodology, land use regulations, and any other topic that requires persuasion.

Jun 21 • Andy Boenau

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Your car is lying to you

People behave differently based on how dangerous their environment feels, not how dangerous it actually is.

Jun 15 • Andy Boenau

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The costs they don't count

Transportation experts rarely factor the human and economic toll into decisions that pave over safer alternatives.

Jun 8 • Andy Boenau

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Gridlock is a choice

One major decongestion experiment is surprising the haters.

Jun 1 • Andy Boenau

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