Are Cities Dying? How Urban Design Shapes Mobility

What creates good city infrastructure? What makes it fail?

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Professor Shauna Brail from the University of Toronto joins The Fleet to unpack why cities remain the beating heart of innovation, what makes infrastructure succeed or fail, and how human-centric design is quietly redefining mobility. From post-industrial skylines to the rise of third spaces and multimodal fleets, this episode explores what future-ready cities can teach every leader about building resilient systems that move people and ideas forward.

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Element Fleet Management.

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Key Moments: 

0:00 Shauna Brail Explains How Cities Never Die

1:30 Why Urban Areas Still Matter

3:48 How Modern Cities Are Formed From Industrial Roots

8:24 The Cost of Old Urban Planning

10:55 Path Dependence - You Can’t Just Create a Tech City

16:29 How to Redefine Your City - Urban Comeback Stories

20:25 Remote Work and the Future of Cities

27:30 Third Spaces and Workplaces Beyond the Office

32:24 Human-Centric Streets and Urban Mobility Fleets

39:26 Wins and Mistakes of Long-Term City Planning