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'Carmageddon': Author Daniel Knowles on Envisioning a World Without Cars

Cover of book "Carmageddon." Light background with drawing of cars stacked on top of each other. The title and author's name are in green block font.
ABRAMS
Daniel Knowles is the Midwest correspondent for The Economist and the author of "Carmageddon: How Cars Make Life Worse and What to Do About It."

In the Midwest, we love our cars: fast cars, big cars, small cars, loud cars, quiet cars, different cars for different occasions like shoes. Car culture, in other words, is often indistinguishable from Midwest culture, and has been for so long that it feels natural. But what if it's not?

On today's show, Daniel Knowles makes the case that cars are ruining the world while making us unhappy and unhealthy — the subject of his new book "Carmageddon: How Cars Make Life Worse and What to Do About It."

Knowles outlines the rise of cars around the world, their economic and health impacts, how this warps the design of cities, and what it might look like to envision a future reliant on public transportation.

Courtney is back in her hometown after graduating from the University of Kansas in 2019 with degrees in journalism and film. While at KU, she was the arts and culture editor of the University Daily Kansan and had a summer internship at KCUR, Kansas City's NPR member station. She has three pet rats and has seen almost every Audrey Hepburn movie.
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