TikTok's TalkingCities Makes Urban Planning Fast and Easy to Grasp

About This Episode

If you're not on TikTok, you might not know that urban planning is going viral. But accounts like TalkingCities, run by Paul Stout, and others are distilling complex planning topics into bite-sized, easily digestible videos. And viewers are eating them up. Paul's account has more than 150,000 followers and 3 million–plus likes. He bills it as "an introduction to urban design, city planning, and architecture," an avenue for teens and adults who don't know urban planning exists to become aware of it and get inspired to explore further.

APA's Lindsay Nieman chats with Paul about how he got started, what planning subjects he's most interested in, why TikTok makes his channel's success possible, and even what it's like to get recognized because of his videos. The soon-to-be first-year master's student of city and regional planning at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, also gives a bit of insight into how planners can harness the power of TikTok in their outreach.

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