Sara Stace is a city shaper, urban transport innovator, and bold advocate for better streets. With a career spanning 30 years across federal, state, and local governments, as well as the private sector, she has played a key role in shaping cities, land use, and transport policies. She's also recently started her on consultancy, Vivendi Cities.

In this episode, Sara discusses Better Streets Australia's campaign leading up to the 2025 Australian federal election. The campaign presents five key policy ‘asks’ and has already built a coalition of 100+ companies and non-profits.

Sara refers to Infrastructure Australia mid-way through our conversation and mentions that she was not sure of the minimum project value threshold before projects must be assessed by them. It is $250 million.

🔗 More about the World Cycling Alliance: here.

🔗 More on Better Streets: here.

🔗 Follow Sara’s insights on LinkedIn: here: 

📢 Subscribe to the Squeaky Wheel Podcast for more conversations with changemakers in the world of active transport.

Got something to squeak about? Get in touch with The Squeaky Wheel team via our website: squeakywheelpodcast.com 

Follow The Squeaky Wheel on Facebook: facebook.com/squeakywheelpodcast 

Follow The Squeaky Wheel on BlueSky: bsky.app/profile/squeaky-wheel.bsky.social

Sara Stace is a city shaper, urban transport innovator, and bold advocate for better streets. With a career spanning 30 years across federal, state, and local governments, as well as the private sector, she has played a key role in shaping cities, land use, and transport policies. She's also recently started her on consultancy, Vivendi Cities.
In this episode, Sara discusses&nbsp;Better Streets Australia's campaign leading up to the 2025 Australian federal election. The campaign presents five key policy &lsquo;asks&rsquo; and has already built a coalition of 100+ companies and non-profits.
Sara refers to Infrastructure Australia mid-way through our conversation and mentions that she was not sure of the minimum project value threshold before projects must be assessed by them. It is $250 million.
🔗 More about the World Cycling Alliance: <a href="https://www.worldcyclingalliance.org/">here</a>.
🔗 More on Better Streets: <a href="https://www.betterstreets.org.au/">here</a>.
🔗 Follow Sara&rsquo;s insights on LinkedIn:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-stace/">here</a>:&nbsp;
📢 Subscribe to the Squeaky Wheel Podcast for more conversations with changemakers in the world of active transport.
Got something to squeak about? Get in touch with The Squeaky Wheel team via our website: <a href="https://squeakywheelpodcast.com/">squeakywheelpodcast.com </a>
Follow The Squeaky Wheel on Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/squeakywheelpodcast/">facebook.com/squeakywheelpodcast </a>
Follow The Squeaky Wheel on BlueSky: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/squeaky-wheel.bsky.social">bsky.app/profile/squeaky-wheel.bsky.social</a>

The Squeaky Wheel Podcast is here to inform and inspire through engaging conversations with changemakers shaping the future of active travel and urban mobility. Your hosts, Phil Latz and Irene McAleese, speak with leaders across business, government, academia, and advocacy, sharing insights and ideas that drive real-world impact.

Got something to squeak about? Get in touch with The Squeaky Wheel team via our website: squeakywheelpodcast.com

Follow The Squeaky Wheel on Facebook: facebook.com/squeakywheelpodcast

Follow The Squeaky Wheel on BlueSky: bsky.app/profile/squeaky-wheel.bsky.social

The Squeaky Wheel Podcast&nbsp;is here to inform and inspire through engaging conversations with changemakers shaping the future of&nbsp;active travel and urban mobility. Your hosts, Phil Latz and Irene McAleese, speak with leaders across business, government, academia, and advocacy, sharing insights and ideas that drive real-world impact.
Got something to squeak about? Get in touch with The Squeaky Wheel team via our website: <a href="https://squeakywheelpodcast.com/">squeakywheelpodcast.com</a>
Follow The Squeaky Wheel on Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/squeakywheelpodcast/">facebook.com/squeakywheelpodcast</a>
Follow The Squeaky Wheel on BlueSky: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/squeaky-wheel.bsky.social">bsky.app/profile/squeaky-wheel.bsky.social</a>

The Squeaky Wheel Podcast hosts, Phil Latz and Irene McAleese, are here to inform and inspire through engaging conversations with changemakers shaping the future of active travel and urban mobility

The Squeaky Wheel Podcast

Sara Stace is a city shaper and innovator on cities, land use, urban transport and economics. In our conversation Sara shares her bold vision for our future and big campaign asks for the upcoming federal election.

Sara Stace wants to boost active transport in Australia for the cost of two coffees per person

Marker 01

Marker 02

Marker 03

Our guest this month is Skye Duncan, a brilliant communicator who is Executive Director of the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI).

This innovative and impactful organisation is primarily funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies with a worldwide team of over 45 expert staff. It has its roots in New York City, stemming from the era when Mike Bloomberg was mayor and oversaw huge advances in active transportation and liveable street design.

Skye was “inside the tent” holding a key design role within the NYC administration for much of this time. After Bloomberg’s term in office ended, Skye moved to NACTO (the National Association of City Transportation Officials) from which the GDCI was eventually spun off as a stand-alone entity.

Throughout all three of these organisations, a common thread has been Skye working with Janette Sadik-Khan, who was NYC Transportation Commissioner and is now Board Chair at GDCI.

Skye’s life has been full of adventure from day one, having been born in Papua New Guinea. This very poor developing South East Asian island nation would have only had a population of about 3 million at that time, of which a fraction of 1% at any time were “expats” from other countries and a much smaller subset again would have their children there.

After being raised in New Zealand, graduating in architecture and winning a major design competition, Skye successfully applied for a Fulbright Scholarship.

Sponsored by US government since 1946, only about 4,000 foreign students per year win Fullbright scholarships to attend some of the most prestigious USA universities. So the competition is intense and only about 20 New Zealanders are successful each year.

After graduating with master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City, Skye joined the NYC administration during the Mike Bloomberg mayoral era when dramatic changes were made, often using a “quick, light, cheap” strategy to prove their concept, such as most famously depicted here in Times Square.

After Bloomberg finished his final term, Skye moved to NACTO, then to head up the Global Designing Cities Initiative that has published three major global guides: the Global Street Design Guide, the Designing Streets for Kids Guide and the Designing for Safe Speeds.

In our interview, Skye gives unique perspectives on what we need to do to make our cities work better for everyone. As Skye’s presentation slide above so graphically illustrates, different members of our communities have widely varying needs from our city designs and transportation options.

What’s Up?


In our “What’s Up” section at the end of this podcast, Phil talks about riding the newly opened Iris Dixon Veloway, that includes this dramatic bright green curving bridge. Not surprisingly, it has been unofficially named “The Caterpillar”.

As always, we’d love to hear from you with guest suggestions or any other feedback. Please use the Contact Us page on this website.

Until next month, keep squeaking!

Our guest this month is Skye Duncan, a brilliant communicator who is Executive Director of the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI).
This innovative and impactful organisation is primarily funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies with a worldwide team of over 45 expert staff. It has its roots in New York City, stemming from the era when Mike Bloomberg was mayor and oversaw huge advances in active transportation and liveable street design.
Skye was &ldquo;inside the tent&rdquo; holding a key design role within the NYC administration for much of this time. After Bloomberg&rsquo;s term in office ended, Skye moved to NACTO (the National Association of City Transportation Officials) from which the GDCI was eventually spun off as a stand-alone entity.
Throughout all three of these organisations, a common thread has been Skye working with Janette Sadik-Khan, who was NYC Transportation Commissioner and is now Board Chair at GDCI.
Skye&rsquo;s life has been full of adventure from day one, having been born in Papua New Guinea. This very poor developing South East Asian island nation would have only had a population of about 3 million at that time, of which a fraction of 1% at any time were &ldquo;expats&rdquo; from other countries and a much smaller subset again would have their children there.
After being raised in New Zealand, graduating in architecture and winning a major design competition, Skye successfully applied for a Fulbright Scholarship.
Sponsored by US government since 1946, only about 4,000 foreign students per year win Fullbright scholarships to attend some of the most prestigious USA universities. So the competition is intense and only about 20 New Zealanders are successful each year.
After graduating with master&rsquo;s degree from Columbia University in New York City, Skye joined the NYC administration during the Mike Bloomberg mayoral era when dramatic changes were made, often using a &ldquo;quick, light, cheap&rdquo; strategy to prove their concept, such as most famously depicted here in Times Square.
After Bloomberg finished his final term, Skye moved to NACTO, then to head up the <a href="https://globaldesigningcities.org">Global Designing Cities Initiative</a> that has published three major global guides: the <a href="https://globaldesigningcities.org/publication/global-street-design-guide/">Global Street Design Guide</a>, the <a href="https://globaldesigningcities.org/publication/designing-streets-for-kids/">Designing Streets for Kids Guide</a> and the <a href="https://globaldesigningcities.org/publication/designing-for-safe-speeds/">Designing for Safe Speeds</a>.
In our interview, Skye gives unique perspectives on what we need to do to make our cities work better for everyone. As Skye&rsquo;s presentation slide above so graphically illustrates, different members of our communities have widely varying needs from our city designs and transportation options.
What&rsquo;s Up? 
In our &ldquo;What&rsquo;s Up&rdquo; section at the end of this podcast, Phil talks about riding the newly opened Iris Dixon Veloway, that includes this dramatic bright green curving bridge. Not surprisingly, it has been unofficially named &ldquo;The Caterpillar&rdquo;.
As always, we&rsquo;d love to hear from you with guest suggestions or any other feedback. Please use the Contact Us page on this website.
Until next month, keep squeaking!

How Skye Duncan is Globally Multiplying Lessons She Learned in NYC.

Welcome to season three of The Squeaky Wheel Podcast!

We’re starting the year with an amazing guest who’s from San Francisco, USA, but lives in Paris, France and lectures for a university based in Melbourne, Australia!

Grant also speaks five languages and has previously worked for international aid agencies in a wide range of countries around the world including Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Honduras, Kenya and Syria.

Since 2020 Grant has been an adjunct Lecturer at Monash University. Grant’s teaching and research focuses on the political and commercial determinants of health, primarily exploring the political influence of the sugar, road, and fossil fuel lobbies.

Grant has written the acclaimed book Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Undermines Our Health and the Environment. His work has been referenced in the Journal of Transport & Health, Traffic Safety Research, Alcohol Clinical & Experimental Research, the Australian, Michael West, the Australian Financial Review, the Irish Times, the Irish Examiner, the Irish Independent, among others.

Grant’s scholarship has had international reach and has contributed to parliamentary discussions related to nutrition and transport in Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

Dark PR includes details of “Nine devious frames” used by corporations and in particular their highly paid public relations consultants to effectively fight back against members of the public who are advocating for positive change, for example to make our streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

In our conversation we deliberately don’t go into these in detail, because there has already been an excellent interview recorded with Grant, that does unpack each frame in order, one by one. It was done by The War on Cars, a podcast that we highly recommend and are Patreon supporters of. You can listen to that podcast episode here.

In our conversation, Grant fires off many references to earlier research and reports. Here are the relevant links:
F Nuance https://kieranhealy.org/files/papers/fuck-nuance.pdf
Twitter and Tear Gas https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_online_social_change_easy_to_organize_hard_to_win
If We Burn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_We_Burn
Renationalisation of British Rail https://www.lemonde.fr/en/transport/article/2024/12/04/uk-set-to-nationalize-train-operators-from-may_6735167_216.html
President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez https://latinolens.tonolatino.com/p/a-message-to-the-far-right-from-spain
IMF Report on US$7 Trillion in Fossil Fuel Subsidies  https://www.imf.org/en/topics/climate-change/energy-subsidies
Chartists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartism
Hands off our charities alliance https://unitingcare.org.au/submission/hands-off-our-charities-alliance-australian-charities-and-not-for-profits-commission-amendment-2021-measures-no-2-regulations-2021/
Sharon Beder - https://youtu.be/gAQKXmUnc4Y Alliance for a Paving Moratorium  / Jan Lundberg https://www.culturechange.org/apm_page.htm
Reactionary Centrism https://www.volts.wtf/p/all-about-reactionary-centrism

 

What’s Up?

Unfortunately Squeaky Wheel Podcast co-host Irene McAleese is stepping away for a little while to deal with some personal commitments. The show will carry on with just Phil Latz for the moment, which means a much shorter What’s Up section.

Phil mentions World Bicycle Relief has just passed an amazing milestone of building and delivering over one million bicycles into the field. Here’s a great video that shows what this means to the one million recipients.

Look out for our next episode, due out on the third Thursday of March.

Until then, keep squeaking!

Welcome to season three of The Squeaky Wheel Podcast!
We&rsquo;re starting the year with an amazing guest who&rsquo;s from San Francisco, USA, but lives in Paris, France and lectures for a university based in Melbourne, Australia!
Grant also speaks five languages and has previously worked for international aid agencies in a wide range of countries around the world including Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Honduras, Kenya and Syria.
Since 2020 Grant has been an adjunct Lecturer at Monash University. Grant&rsquo;s teaching and research focuses on the political and commercial determinants of health, primarily exploring the political influence of the sugar, road, and fossil fuel lobbies.
Grant has written the acclaimed book Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Undermines Our Health and the Environment. His work has been referenced in the Journal of Transport &amp; Health, Traffic Safety Research, Alcohol Clinical &amp; Experimental Research, the Australian, Michael West, the Australian Financial Review, the Irish Times, the Irish Examiner, the Irish Independent, among others.
Grant&rsquo;s scholarship has had international reach and has contributed to parliamentary discussions related to nutrition and transport in Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Dark PR includes details of &ldquo;Nine devious frames&rdquo; used by corporations and in particular their highly paid public relations consultants to effectively fight back against members of the public who are advocating for positive change, for example to make our streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
In our conversation we deliberately don&rsquo;t go into these in detail, because there has already been an excellent interview recorded with Grant, that does unpack each frame in order, one by one. It was done by The War on Cars, a podcast that we highly recommend and are Patreon supporters of. You can listen to that podcast episode <a href="https://thewaroncars.org/2023/10/24/113-dark-pr-with-grant-ennis/">here</a>.
In our conversation, Grant fires off many references to earlier research and reports. Here are the relevant links:
<ul>
<li>F Nuance <a href="https://kieranhealy.org/files/papers/fuck-nuance.pdf">https://kieranhealy.org/files/papers/fuck-nuance.pdf</a></li>
<li>Twitter and Tear Gas <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_online_social_change_easy_to_organize_hard_to_win">https://www.ted.com/talks/zeynep_tufekci_online_social_change_easy_to_organize_hard_to_win</a></li>
<li>If We Burn <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_We_Burn">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_We_Burn</a></li>
<li>Renationalisation of British Rail <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/transport/article/2024/12/04/uk-set-to-nationalize-train-operators-from-may_6735167_216.html">https://www.lemonde.fr/en/transport/article/2024/12/04/uk-set-to-nationalize-train-operators-from-may_6735167_216.html</a></li>
<li>President of Spain, Pedro S&aacute;nchez <a href="https://latinolens.tonolatino.com/p/a-message-to-the-far-right-from-spain">https://latinolens.tonolatino.com/p/a-message-to-the-far-right-from-spain</a></li>
<li>IMF Report on US$7 Trillion in Fossil Fuel Subsidies&nbsp; <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/topics/climate-change/energy-subsidies">https://www.imf.org/en/topics/climate-change/energy-subsidies</a></li>
<li>Chartists <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartism">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartism</a></li>
<li>Hands off our charities alliance <a href="https://unitingcare.org.au/submission/hands-off-our-charities-alliance-australian-charities-and-not-for-profits-commission-amendment-2021-measures-no-2-regulations-2021/">https://unitingcare.org.au/submission/hands-off-our-charities-alliance-australian-charities-and-not-for-profits-commission-amendment-2021-measures-no-2-regulations-2021/</a></li>
<li>Sharon Beder - <a href="https://youtu.be/gAQKXmUnc4Y">https://youtu.be/gAQKXmUnc4Y</a> Alliance for a Paving Moratorium&nbsp; / Jan Lundberg <a href="https://www.culturechange.org/apm_page.htm">https://www.culturechange.org/apm_page.htm</a></li>
<li>Reactionary Centrism&nbsp;<a href="https://www.volts.wtf/p/all-about-reactionary-centrism">https://www.volts.wtf/p/all-about-reactionary-centrism</a></li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s Up?
Unfortunately Squeaky Wheel Podcast co-host Irene McAleese is stepping away for a little while to deal with some personal commitments. The show will carry on with just Phil Latz for the moment, which means a much shorter What&rsquo;s Up section.
Phil mentions World Bicycle Relief has just passed an amazing milestone of building and delivering over one million bicycles into the field. Here&rsquo;s a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLBoP2YyvLQ">great video</a> that shows what this means to the one million recipients.
Look out for our next episode, due out on the third Thursday of March.
Until then, keep squeaking!

This episode features Grant Ennis discussing how corporate disinformation shapes public health and environmental policy, drawing on his global experience, his book Dark PR, and a range of research that highlights the political and commercial forces influencing advocacy and societal change.

Grant Ennis Explains the Dangers of Corporate Disinformation

This month we’re very excited to be speaking with Associate Professor Peter Norton who is a historian at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.

Peter has authored two highly successful and thought-provoking books, “Fighting Traffic, The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City” and “Autonorama, The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.”

Peter is a sought after keynote speaker who has given his unique perspective and insights on how we got to where we are today at many conferences around the world.

As he reveals in our conversation, even Waymo, the multi-billion automated vehicle operator owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has had Peter share his perspectives about automated vehicles with them.

During our conversation, we refer to this amazing video showing everyday life on Market Street, the main street in San Francisco in 1906. In addition to showing how very different street scapes and traffic looked at the dawn of the automobile era compared to today, it’s also poignant in that it was filmed just days before the vibrant city was largely destroyed by a devastating earthquake and subsequent fires.

Later in our conversation we talk about “autonomous vehicles” that as Peter thoughtfully points out, are anything but autonomous and instead should be called “automated vehicles”, we refer to this safety report from Waymo.

In our “What’s Up” section at the end of the episode, Irene refers to the new Kangaroo Point Bridge that, less than a year after opening has already had over three million wheeling and walking trips, averaging about 10,000 people per day, with zero cars. Here’s a link to the Brisbane City Council’s announcement of this milestone.

And here some progress photos of construction that Squeaky Wheel Phil, (ever the active travel infrastructure nerd!) took each time he visited Brisbane, culminating in his first ride across the newly opened bridge.

This is yet another great example of “Build it and they will come.” There certainly weren’t 10,000 people swimming across that stretch of the Brisbane River each day before it opened…

We’ll be taking a Christmas break and wish all of our listeners a merry Christmas and happy new year! Look out for our first podcast of 2026 on Thursday 19th February and then on the third Thursday of each subsequent month.

Until then, keep squeaking!

This month we&rsquo;re very excited to be speaking with Associate Professor Peter Norton who is a historian at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
Peter has authored two highly successful and thought-provoking books, &ldquo;Fighting Traffic, The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City&rdquo; and &ldquo;Autonorama, The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.&rdquo;
Peter is a sought after keynote speaker who has given his unique perspective and insights on how we got to where we are today at many conferences around the world.
As he reveals in our conversation, even Waymo, the multi-billion automated vehicle operator owned by Google&rsquo;s parent company Alphabet, has had Peter share his perspectives about automated vehicles with them.
During our conversation, we refer to this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHkc83XA2dY">amazing video</a> showing everyday life on Market Street, the main street in San Francisco in 1906. In addition to showing how very different street scapes and traffic looked at the dawn of the automobile era compared to today, it&rsquo;s also poignant in that it was filmed just days before the vibrant city was largely destroyed by a devastating earthquake and subsequent fires.
Later in our conversation we talk about &ldquo;autonomous vehicles&rdquo; that as Peter thoughtfully points out, are anything but autonomous and instead should be called &ldquo;automated vehicles&rdquo;, we refer to this <a href="https://waymo.com/safety/impact/">safety report from Waymo</a>.
In our &ldquo;What&rsquo;s Up&rdquo; section at the end of the episode, Irene refers to the new Kangaroo Point Bridge that, less than a year after opening has already had over three million wheeling and walking trips, averaging about 10,000 people per day, with zero cars. Here&rsquo;s a link to the Brisbane City Council&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BrisbaneCityCouncil/posts/more-than-3-million-trips-have-been-made-across-the-kangaroo-point-bridge-since-/1277217177773339/">announcement</a> of this milestone.
And here some progress photos of construction that Squeaky Wheel Phil, (ever the active travel infrastructure nerd!) took each time he visited Brisbane, culminating in his first ride across the newly opened bridge.
This is yet another great example of &ldquo;Build it and they will come.&rdquo; There certainly weren&rsquo;t 10,000 people swimming across that stretch of the Brisbane River each day before it opened&hellip;
We&rsquo;ll be taking a Christmas break and wish all of our listeners a merry Christmas and happy new year! Look out for our first podcast of 2026 on Thursday 19th February and then on the third Thursday of each subsequent month.
Until then, keep squeaking!

This month we’re very excited to be speaking with Associate Professor Peter Norton who has authored two highly successful and thought-provoking books, “Fighting Traffic, The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City” and “Autonorama, The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.”

Sara Stace wants to boost active transport in Australia for the cost of two coffees per person

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