RPA Radio host, Dr. Sam Bowden Akbari, is joined by Vanessa Barrios, Director of DEI Initiatives, to launch the first episode of RPA Radio. The pair discuss the rise of regional planning in the US, the origins of their organization (Regional Plan Association) which stretches back over 100 years, as well as the creation and foci of the four regional plans the organization has produced. Links to the works mentioned during the episode can be found below. 

Sam’s staff page: https://rpa.org/about/staff/sam-bowden-akbari 
Vanessa’s staff page: https://rpa.org/about/staff/vanessa-barrios
RPA website: https://rpa.org/
RPA’s archive: https://rpa.org/archive
RPA’s IBX work: https://rpa.org/work/campaigns/triboro
RPA’s City of Yes work: https://rpa.org/work/reports/city-of-yes-and-missing-middle-housing
RPA’s 1st Regional Plan: https://rpa.org/work/reports/regional-plan-of-new-york-and-its-environs
RPA’s 2nd Regional Plan: https://rpa.org/work/reports/the-second-regional-plan
RPA’s 3rd Regional Plan: https://rpa.org/work/reports/a-region-at-risk-the-third-regional-plan 
RPA’s 4th Regional Plan: https://rpa.org/work/reports/the-fourth-regional-plan 
RPA’s work on travel speeds in Manhattan’s CBD: https://rpa.org/news/lab/congestion-has-never-been-worse-the-need-for-congestion-pricing-never-greater 
RPA’s offshore wind report, “Ports of Opportunity”: https://rpa.org/work/reports/ports-of-opportunity

E1: Regional Planning in the Tri-State? Who is RPA?

Join host, Dr. Sam Bowden Akbari, and Vanessa Barrios, RPA’s Director of DEI Initiatives to dive into Vanessa’s main project, the Healthy Regions Planning Exchange (HRPE), a national consortium of planning organizations working to improve health equity through better urban planning. 
Materials we discuss can be accessed below!

RPA’s Healthy Regions Planning Exchange website: 
https://rpa.org/work/campaigns/health-equity

RPA’s HRPE key publications and blog posts include:

Addressing Racial Inequality in Planning: https://rpa.org/latest/lab/addressing-racial-inequality-in-planning 

Investing in Infrastructure for Healthy Communities: 
https://rpa.org/work/reports/infrastructure-healthy-communities 

Pathways to Health Equity: https://rpa.org/work/reports/pathways-to-health-equity 

Preventing Another Ida: Stormwater Management and Basement Apartments in Central 

Queens: https://rpa.org/work/reports/hurricane-ida-stormwater-management-queens 

Federal Dollars for Local Infrastructure: Tracking IIJA Funding in Our Region: https://rpa.org/latest/lab/tracking-iija-funding 

Demystifying Federal Funding for Healthy Communities: https://rpa.org/latest/lab/demystifying-federal-funding-for-healthy-communities 

Fostering Cross-Cultural Collaboration and Change: https://rpa.org/latest/lab/fostering-cross-cultural-collaboration-and-change-reflecting-on-the-lakota-media-summit 

Housing as a Framework for Health Equity: https://rpa.org/work/reports/housing-as-a-framework-for-health-equity 

Reclaiming Public Space for Health Equity: https://rpa.org/work/reports/reclaiming-public-space-for-health-equity 

ACT-LA’s “Metro as a Sanctuary” report: https://www.act-la.org/metro-as-a-sanctuary-report/ 

E2: Embedding Healthy Equity in Planning ft. Vanessa Barrios

In the 3rd episode of RPA Radio, host, Dr. Sam Bowden Akbari, is joined by RPA’s EVP, Kate Slevin, to dive into all things congestion pricing in NYC.

On January 5th of this year, the nation’s first ever congestion pricing tolling program went into effect as NYC joined global cities such as London and Singapore, who use a tolling fee to curb congestion, pollution, VMTs, and use the toll revenue to fund the mass transit system. Join Sam and Kate as they look back on the first three months of the program and go back in time over the twenty-plus-year advocacy journey to bring this transportation planning milestone to fruition.

Kate’s retrospective can be found here: rpa.org/news/lab/congestion-p…icing-a-retrospective

RPA’s look back at our roll in post-9/11 recovery: rpa.org/news/lab/revisiting-t…n-for-lower-manhattan 

RPA’s research on the record-slow travel times in the CBD: 
rpa.org/news/lab/congestion-h…pricing-never-greater 

RPA’s research into how congestion pricing benefits both New Yorkers AND New Jerseyans: rpa.org/news/lab/reminder-new…om-congestion-pricing

RPA’s look at how congestion pricing is saving commuters time and money: rpa.org/news/lab/what-it-means-to-save-time

Honking is down: www.thecity.nyc/2025/03/11/traffi…ngestion-pricing/
Retail is up: www.governor.ny.gov/news/traffic-do…orks-congestion

RPA Radio is produced by host Sam Bowden Akbari, edited by Meaghan McElroy, with music by Nate Dorr.


E3: 3 Months of Congestion Pricing in NYC, ft. Kate Slevin

This episode kicks off RPA's "Region Watch" series looking at the unprecedented ways the second Trump administration threatens our regional planning priorities transportation, housing, and clean energy development. 

To dive into that latter point, host, Dr. Sam Bowden Akbari, is joined by RPA’s VP for Energy and the Environment, Rob Freudenberg.

These are the projects and publications discussed in the episode:

Construction underway on a billion-dollar port revitalization project in Brooklyn to support the Empire Wind 1 facilities. https://www.equinor.com/news/us/groundbreaking-at-south-brooklyn-marine-terminal-to-transform-port-into-nyc-offshore-wind-hub 

South Fork Wind project: https://southforkwind.com/ 

Sunrise Wind project: https://sunrisewindny.com/

Renewable Ravenswood project: https://renewableravenswood.com/

RPA Assembly 2025 panel: "Going Local" https://rpa.org/events/assembly/2025-assembly/wednesday-going-local-meeting-climate-goals-through-state-and-municipal-action

Atlantic Shores Wind project: https://atlanticshoreswind.com/about-us/

RPA's report: "Making Offshore Wind Work for Communities" https://rpa.org/work/reports/offshore-wind-transmission

RPA report: "Ports of Opportunity" https://rpa.org/work/reports/ports-of-opportunity

RPA report: "Rise of Data Centers in the Grid" https://rpa.org/news/lab/the-rise-of-data-centers

RPA/Propel NY webinar on the national electrical grid: https://rpa.org/events/next-gen-grid-propel-ny-energy

RPA membership! https://rpa.org/membership

RPA tour of Ravenswood: https://rpa.org/news/lab/rpa-member-tour-recap-reimagining-ravenswood

Rob's interview ft. in City Limits: https://citylimits.org/what-would-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-mean-for-new-yorks-green-transition/

E4: Region Watch series kickoff ft. Rob Freudenberg: federal threats to E&E

Host, Dr. Sam Bowden Akbari, kicks off the second installment of Region Watch, RPA's series looking at how unprecedented federal actions threaten our regional planning priorities. Sam is joined by RPA's EVP, Kate Slevin and Brian Farkas, partner at the law firm Arendt Fox Schiff, where they dive into the legal challenges to the nation's first ever congestion pricing program. 

For a full list of the litigation seeking to upend the program, please visit https://rpa.org/news/lab/status-of-new-york-congestion-pricing-litigation 

Special thanks to Anushka Limaye and Eric A. Goldstein of the Natural Resources Defense Council for their invaluable assistance in crafting this compilation.

E5: Region Watch, Legal Challenges to the Congestion Pricing Program, ft Kate Slevin & Brian Farkas

Host, Dr. Sam Bowden Akbari, is joined by RPA's VP for Housing and Neighborhood Planning, Moses Gates, to dive into the Charter Revision Proposals NYC voters will see on their ballots next month! Props 2 - 4, if passed, will help the city fast-track and build more affordable housing citywide, but especially in those community districts that build the least. Passing these proposals are vital to addressing our affordable housing and affordability crisis.

For a deeper dive and all the details, check out RPA's Guide to the Charter Revision Proposals assembled by our own Meaghan McElroy and Moses Gates. 

https://rpa.org/news/lab/rpa-guide-to-the-charter-revision-proposals 

E6: RPA's Guide to the NYC Charter Revision Proposals ft. Moses Gates

RPA Radio is the official podcast of Regional Plan Association (RPA). We discuss all things regional planning across the tri-state region. 

RPA is the oldest metropolitan planning organization in the US. We use urban planning, research, and advocacy to help make the tri-state region a better place to live.