PODCAST · arts
Most Podern Podcast
by Minkoo Kang, Libo Li, and Alex Yuen
The podcast about the Built Environment, with the minds shaping it, for the people living in it.Why does the built environment feel broken — and what would it take to fix it?Most Podern is about how the built world really works. We dig into the systems shaping architecture, urbanism, housing, and public spaces, and talk with the people actually building change: architects, planners, developers, and urban thinkers.
Episodes
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Affordability Is Not a Dirty Word - Building Housing People Can Actually Afford | Jesse Batus
"Everybody says we want more affordable housing... at the same time, they don't want to see anything new." On this episode of Most Modern - a podcast about the built environment - Alex talks with Jesse Batus, Senior Vice President of Real Estate Development at The Community Builders (TCB), one of...
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3 Building Code Rules That Block Missing Middle Housing
Small multifamily housing is illegal and too expensive to build. Architect Sam Naylor breaks down the building code reforms that could unlock the "missing middle." We know zoning blocks housing. The quieter, equally powerful force is the building code. the invisible rulebook on stairs…
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Why Los Angeles Urban Development Is Built Backwards
Los Angeles urban development faces severe housing scarcity and bureaucratic strain while pioneering polycentric node architecture across 88 cities.Los Angeles attracts creative talent with its promise of personal reinvention, yet physical boundaries and rigid municipal codes hold its built...
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How FutureLot Is Decoding the American Zoning Maze
Zoning codes run to 3,000 pages, contradict themselves, and change without warning — and right now, they're the single biggest reason most housing projects never leave a napkin. Recorded live at World of Modular 2026, this episode brings in Avi Kaufman, co-founder and Chief Real Estate Officer of...
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This Is Quietly Reshaping How We Build Homes - Dwayne Torrey
The housing crisis is real. So why isn't modular construction fixing it? Dwayne Torrey is the Director of Construction and Infrastructure at CSA Group — the organization that writes the standards every builder, regulator, and manufacturer in Canada has to follow. He's been working at the...
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Architecture Off the Assembly Line - with Justin Brechtel
What happens when an architect stops designing one-off buildings and starts designing a system? Justin Brechtel is a licensed architect in California, principal of Iterate Architecture, and VP of Architecture at West Modular — and he's making the case that the way we deliver buildings is broken....
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What's Your Density Appetite?
Have you ever walked through a city and felt, almost physically, that it was too much or not enough? That feeling has a name. Alex Yuen, architect, urbanist, and host of Most Podern, calls it density appetite and it might be the most fundamental idea in urbanism that no one is talking about. From...
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Why the Future Is Physical: Real Estate, Loneliness & The Playbook Behind AREA15’s Success
If your city, office, or retail district feels emptier than it used to, it’s not just “remote work” or “online shopping.” It’s a deeper problem: digital convenience is quietly fueling loneliness—and the built environment is being forced to evolve. Winston Fisher argues the next era isn’t...
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Why 12 Million Tons of Glass Goes to Landfills Every Year (And How We're Stopping It)
Every year, 12 million tons of architectural glass from skyscrapers and office buildings ends up in landfills. Even though you diligently put your glass bottles in the recycling bin, only 30% of collected glass actually gets recycled back into glass. Sydney Mainster, VP of Sustainability at The...
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An Architectural Answer to how Cities can Turn Down the Heat
What if a powerful climate solution in cities isn’t a new building, but the roof that’s already there? As heat waves intensify across Europe, architect and MIT-trained educator Olivier Faber explains how his firm, Roofscapes is transforming overlooked rooftops into cooling, accessible, green...
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A New Era for Sprawl
The American suburban dream is unsustainable—but we're not giving up on it. David Kooris, Executive Director of the Connecticut Municipal Development Authority and lecturer at Yale, explains why sprawl no longer works as an economic engine and how we can retrofit existing suburbs to be more...
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Planning Coachella - Reiko Wei
What hidden design choices make a 125,000-person festival feel effortless—and what happens when being off by just one foot throws everything into chaos? Why do some festivals become cultural icons while others collapse spectacularly? And how did one architect watching the Fyre Festival…
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America can't Build. Can Modular Construction be the Answer?
How do we build faster, smarter, and more affordably in a world running out of patience and running short on skilled labor? Tom Hardiman, Executive Director of the Modular Building Institute, joins Alex Yuen and Libo Li to explain how modular construction can reshape the built environment. From...
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Why Affordable Housing Isn’t Affordable
Why does building “affordable” housing cost so much in the built environment? From land prices to loan rates, construction inflation to endless permitting, Alex and Libo break down the true costs of creating homes and why the system often works against the very people it is meant to help. They...
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Design School for The Displaced - With Scott Key
What happens when you run an architecture studio inside a refugee settlement — and let refugees lead it? Scott Key (founder/CEO of Every Shelter) is back to break down how a 10-week “design school” in Nakivale turned buzzwords like “co-creation” into actual, working solutions — cow-dung bricks…
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The Architect Who Healed NYC After 9/11
In this conversation, Kevin Kennon, reflects on his experiences surrounding the events of 9/11, particularly his involvement in the Ground Zero viewing platform and the subsequent World Trade Center competition. We discusses the emotional impact of architecture, the importance of community and...
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The Four Horsemen of Urban Decline
Why do some cities thrive while others slide into decline? Alex Yuen and Libo Li break down the Four Horsemen of Urban Decline - which include the Disease of Me, Construction Constipation, High Capital Contrast, and Identity Crisis. From San Francisco’s stalled growth to Tokyo’s adaptability and...
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How Building Codes Shape American Urbanism - Type V City Part II
Why do American neighborhoods so often look the same, filled with “five-over-one” apartments or endless rows of wood-framed houses? In Part II of our conversation, architect Jeana Ripple—author of The Type V City and Chair of Architecture at the University of Virginia—explains how Type V...
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Why U.S. Homes Are All Built the Same Way - Type V City Part I
Why are nearly all American homes built out of wood when most of the world uses brick, steel, or concrete? In Part I of our conversation Architect Jeana Ripple, author of The Type V City, explains how the U.S.’s reliance on light wood framing—known as Type V construction—became the national...
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Why Architects Should Code - With Alex and Libo
In this conversation, Alex Yuen and Libo discuss the importance of architects learning to code, exploring how coding can enhance creativity, efficiency, and control in architectural design. They delve into Libo's personal journey into coding, the impact of technology on architectural practice…
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Designing With Intimacy - Dong-Ping Wong
What if a pool could clean a river—and a building could rewrite culture? Would you swim in the East River? What does “local” look like when it doesn’t mimic the block around it? Architect Dong-Ping Wang (FOOD Architects)—who’s collaborated with Kanye West and Virgil Abloh—breaks down architecture...
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How Suburbs Are Fueling America’s Wildfire Crisis
What happens when cities expand into fire-prone landscapes—and what can we do about it? Jonah Susskind, Director of Climate Strategy at SWA, unpacks the overlooked realities of wildfire risk, why most modern cities are spreading in all the wrong directions, and how smart design can turn parks,...
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Live Near Friends. Be 40% Happier.
What if the secret to a better life wasn’t a bigger house or higher salary, but simply living closer to your friends? Phil Levin, co-founder of Live Near Friends, reveals how proximity can drastically increase happiness, cut housing costs, and reshape how we think about community. From building a...
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America’s New Millionaire Class - The Skilled Trades
What if plumbers and HVAC techs are America’s newest millionaires—and the secret heroes of our economy? Why is fixing your sink so expensive, and how is the skilled trades shortage reshaping everything from infrastructure to green energy? Could these hands-on careers actually be more...
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How Climate Solutions Are Winning by Making Life Better
Why does every conversation about climate change feel like we're being asked to sacrifice something? Josh Dorfman, host of the popular Supercool podcast, reveals how this narrative is completely backwards. From Formula-E racing that attracts 500 million viewers without mentioning climate to...
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How Mexico is Building Cities Around People
Architect Ruben Segovia joins Alex Yuen and Minkoo Kang to reveal how Mexico is transforming its urban development. From Monterrey to Tulum, young designers and developers are creating walkable, mixed-use communities that prioritize public space and human-scale design. Segovia explains why the...
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How to Create Housing for Community over Profit - with Jeremy McLeod of Nightingale Housing
What happens when an architect develops their own projects, stops chasing profit, and starts designing for people, planet, and purpose? Jeremy McLeod, founder of Breathe and Nightingale Housing, shares how a single prototype sparked a housing movement in Australia. From ditching car parks and...
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From Icons to Ecosystems: Rethinking the High-Rise with Antony Wood
Why do we need to keep building skyscrapers and what separates them marvels or monstrosities? Dr. Antony Wood, one of the world’s foremost experts on tall buildings, reveals why cities go vertical, what drives the global icon race, and how most towers fall short. From skybridges and...
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Can Architects Still Shape the Future? - with Evelyn Lee
What’s driving architects to rethink their role in a tech-driven world? Evelyn Lee, FAIA, NOMA, shares her journey from traditional architecture to tech leadership, offering insights on how architects can adapt and thrive. Discover how she blends design thinking with business strategy to redefine...
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Why Digitalize Our Material World? - Manwen Li
What if the bricks and mortar of tomorrow existed first as pixels? Discover how Manwen Li turned physical fabrics, tiles, and surfaces into ultra‑realistic digital twins—fueling faster iterations, richer creativity, and sampling. From pioneering Under Armour’s first virtual material library, she...
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Demystifying Zoning and the Hidden Rules Behind Every City
Why is zoning so opaque, and what if making it more accessible could unlock the future of our cities? Quang Truong, architect and founder of UrbanForm, joins Most Podern to unpack how zoning works, why it became so complex, and what it will take to make it transparent, legible, and collaborative....
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BIM to Bots: How Robots can Reshape the Future of Construction with Brian Ringley
Why is it taking so long for robots to build our buildings—and what happens when they finally do? Brian Ringley, Distinguished Product Manager at Boston Dynamics, takes us behind the curtain of construction robotics, from his time at WeWork experimenting with site automation to shaping Spot's...
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How Outdated Workflow is Stifling Architectural Design with Slantis COO Mercedes Carriquiry
What’s holding architecture back—and who’s actually fixing it? Mercedes Carriquiry, IA., AIA, co-founder of Slantis, joins Most Podern to unpack why architecture firms can no longer afford to go it alone. From early disillusionment with traditional practice to building a 100-person company that’s...
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Designing Dignity: How Scott Key and Every Shelter are Rethinking Refugee Shelters
SummaryScott Key, CEO of Every Shelter, joins Most Podern to unpack how a simple design—a clean, insulated floor—sparked a global movement to improve life in refugee camps. From launching refugee-run hardware stores to embedding architecture studios inside settlements, Scott shares how design,...
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City Science and the Future of Urban Design with Ramon Gras
Urban scientist and Aretian co-founder Ramon Gras joins Most Podern to unpack the design principles and data insights behind high-performing cities. Drawing from global research and on-the-ground practice, Gras reveals how fractal urban form, network connectivity, and balanced density lead to...
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We Are Pre-iPhone Era: Dr. Murat Melek on AI in Construction
"Can AI transform construction’s sluggish pace?" In this episode, Dr. Murat Melek, Director of Design AI at Suffolk, explores how AI could reshape the $6B construction giant and the broader AEC industry. From predictive modeling to tackling inefficiencies, Murat shares his journey from structural...
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How America Became Stuck in a Broken Housing System with Yoni Appelbaum
For more on the future of the Built Environment, subscribe to Most Podern on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3zYvX2lRZOpHcZW41WGVrp Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/most-podern-podcast/id1725756164 Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@MostPodern Instagram -...
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Autonomous Vehicles and the Future of Cities with Evan Shieh
Are autonomous vehicles the key to freeing our cities—or just another step toward deeper car dependency? In this episode, we sit down with Evan Shieh, architect, urbanist, professor, and author of Autonomous Urbanism:Towards a Transitopia, to explore how AVs could transform the urban landscape.…
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How will AI impact our physical world?
This week ok Most Podern, Libo and Alex dive into the evolving role of AI in various sectors, particularly in design and architecture. They break down discuss the tools and technologies that are shaping the future, the ethical implications of AI development, and the importance of curiosity and...
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Writing Architecture - Julia van den Hout
What role does written communication play in the creation of good buildings? Julia van den Hout, founder of Original Copy, shares her journey from art history to architecture, emphasizing the importance of writing in the field. She discusses her experiences at Steven Holl Architects, the…
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2025 LA Fires
Alex and Minkoo discuss the urban ramifications on the devastating fires that have affected LA. In addressing the the challenges of rebuilding they emphasize the need for better building codes, materials, and leadership to create safer, more resilient communities. The discussion also touches on…
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Jeonse Games - Financing Housing in South Korea
How do different countries pay for housing? Alex and Minkoo delve into peculiar, but impactful complexities of South Korea's real estate market, focusing on the significant rise in housing prices, the cultural implications of high-rise living, and the unique Jeonse system. They discuss the impact...
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Looking Back on MoPo's First Year
Summary In this reflective episode, the hosts of MoPo discuss their journey over the first year making the show. They emphasize the need to expand their network beyond familiar circles and the value of learning through conversations with diverse guests. The hosts also share insights on the...
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Grassroots Development: Building Communities Abroad - KC Hardin
KC Hardin, founder of Conservatorio, joins MoPo and shares his inspiring journey from corporate law in New York to real estate development in Panama. He discusses the revitalization of Casco Viejo - a historic district in Panama City, the lessons learned in navigating the complexities of real...
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The Language of Design Technology - Leland Jobson
Leland Jobson rides the intersection of architecture and technology. In this conversation, he emphasizing the importance of computational design and the role of teaching in shaping future architects. He introduces the significance of Open USD in bridging gaps in design and technology, the...
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A New Era of Landscape Architecture - William Shivers
Summary What is the role of landscape in our built environment and how are spaces shaped for nature? Landscape architect William Shivers discusses his journey into landscape architecture, the education process, and the role of landscape architects in urban design. He emphasizes the importance of...
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Development for Community - Sean Webster
Summary What does it take to get something done in a community? What does it take to get something built? What does it take to change a city? Sean Webster is an social entrepreneur, organizer, and citizen developer. His story centers around how one can make change in a community despite immense...
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The State of Housing Design & Development - Sam Naylor
How can we build better housing and more of it? Sam Naylor is the co-author of “The State of Housing Design 2023” (Harvard University Press) and the research report “Legalizing Mid-rise Single-stair Housing in Massachusetts”. He is a licensed architect and researcher and joins MoPo to discuss the...
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Finding Your Voice Through Art - Betty Chen
In this conversation, Betty Chen shares her multifaceted journey as a student, project manager, and content creator in the fields of architecture and art. She discusses her experiences in public speaking, the origins of her YouTube channel, and her passion for making art and architecture…
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Shouting Quietly through Architecture - Rob Meyerson and William McKee of Common Office
Summary Rob Meyerson and William McKee lead the architectural practice, Common Office, in Sydney, Australia. Their work has been featured in Archdaily, Vogue, and the Sydney Morning Herald. Common Office was founded on an interest in interiors, buildings, urbanism and territory. Emerging out of a...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The podcast about the Built Environment, with the minds shaping it, for the people living in it.Why does the built environment feel broken — and what would it take to fix it?Most Podern is about how the built world really works. We dig into the systems shaping architecture, urbanism, housing, and public spaces, and talk with the people actually building change: architects, planners, developers, and urban thinkers.
HOSTED BY
Minkoo Kang, Libo Li, and Alex Yuen
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Most Podern Podcast have?
Most Podern Podcast currently has 85 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Most Podern Podcast about?
The podcast about the Built Environment, with the minds shaping it, for the people living in it.Why does the built environment feel broken — and what would it take to fix it?Most Podern is about how the built world really works. We dig into the systems shaping architecture, urbanism, housing, and...
How often does Most Podern Podcast release new episodes?
Most Podern Podcast has 85 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Most Podern Podcast?
You can listen to Most Podern Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Most Podern Podcast?
Most Podern Podcast is created and hosted by Minkoo Kang, Libo Li, and Alex Yuen.
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