Talking Headways Podcast: How Media Has Shaped the City
Author Shannon Mattern joins the podcast this week to discuss her new book, Code+Clay, Data+Dirt: 5,000 Years of Urban Media. We talk about why the perfect future interface humans are looking for does not exist, and how digital mapping can overlook important aspects of the urban spatial landscape.
By
Jeff Wood
1:31 PM PDT on May 4, 2018
Author Shannon Mattern joins the podcast this week to discuss her new book, Code+Clay, Data+Dirt: 5,000 Years of Urban Media. Shannon is a professor of media studies at the New School in New York City, and she tells us why she wanted to teach about the intersection of her discipline with architecture and cities.
We talk about why the perfect future interface humans are looking for does not exist, and how digital mapping can overlook important aspects of the urban spatial landscape.
More from Streetsblog San Francisco
Weekend Roundup: BART Ridership Still Going Up, More Speed Cameras Needed…
...and tides take out Woodstock
October 30, 2026
Friday Video: The Three Ingredients to a Great Trick-or-Treating Neighborhood
...and how your neighborhood can use good planning and community engagement to get more walkable long past spooky season.
October 29, 2026
Video: Hey Muni, Why No Crossing Gates?
It's the perennial question: in a supposedly "transit first" city, why does SFMTA still make rail vehicles full of people subservient to cars?
October 29, 2026
Choudri Announces Resignation at California High-Speed Rail Authority
Streetsblog offers a timeline of Choudri's mostly-positive but uneven tenure
October 29, 2026