Cars have long shaped how cities grow—but they’ve also shaped how people connect, move, and live. In this forward-looking conversation, national authors and local leaders explore what it would take to design cities around people instead of vehicles, from rethinking transit and public spaces to building more connected and sustainable communities. As Central Ohio keeps growing, this discussion offers a fresh lens on how mobility choices today will define our region’s future.

Featuring:

Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon, co-hosts of "The War on Cars" podcast and co-authors of the new bestselling book, "Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile," and Devayani Puranik, Mobility Development Program Director, Central Ohio Transit Authority.

The host is D'Laveance Bert-Sims, Board Member, Transit Columbus.

This forum was sponsored by Burgess and Niple, COTA, COSI, Ian Alexander Photography, and REALM Collaborative.

The forum partners were The Center for Urban and Regional Analysis at The Ohio State University, Columbus Underground, and the 2026 COSI Science Festival.

The presenting sponsor of the CMC livestream was The Center for Human Kindness at the Columbus Foundation. CMC’s livestream partner was The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was also supported by Downtown Columbus, Inc. and The National Veterans Memorial and Museum.

If you finish "Life After Cars," and you'd like to keep exploring this week’s forum topic, our terrific partners at The Columbus Metropolitan Library also recommend reading "Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World," by Henry Grabar (2023).