Video | Blueprint America | PBS

This website is no longer actively maintained

Some material and features may be unavailable

Video

April 22nd, 2011

Shrinking Cities: [VIDEO] Detroit will encourage its residents to move
Detroit's mayor wants to rebuild the city by shrinking it to fit its population. Convincing residents to move will be challenging enough. Can he also convince commuters to move in?

April 18th, 2011

America in Gridlock: [VIDEO] Lisa Margonelli on kicking the American oil habit — ‘We can really change our behaviors’
Energy policy expert Lisa Margonelli is the author of a book about the oil supply chain, "Oil On the Brain: Petroleum’s Long Strange Trip to Your Tank." In this interview, Need to Know's Alison Stewart speaks to Margonelli about U.S. energy policy in the wake of the BP spill. "The oil problem is so huge and so multi-tentacled and so involved in our lives," said Margonelli. "People are hungering for sort of bigger, more technological fixes… But I think we’ve overlooked the social engineering. Which is that we can really change our behaviors quite quickly – and we often times do change our behaviors."

April 2nd, 2011

Shrinking Cities: [VIDEO] Camden, an impoverished city, struggles to survive budget cuts
One of the poorest, most violent cities in our nation recently lost half its police force. PBS Need to Know visits Camden, N. J., to see the challenges on the ground and explore possible solutions for the city.

January 28th, 2011

Profiles from the Recession: [VIDEO] A Place Called Home — The graying of suburbia
American infrastructure, one of the central themes of President Obama's State of the Union address this week, isn’t the only thing that’s aging. Baby boomers are too. This year, the first baby boomers turn 65 -- and many will celebrate their birthdays in neighborhoods that were not designed for senior citizens. We’re talking about America’s suburbs. They were ridiculed as a bastion of conformity in the song “Little Boxes.” But in fact, some communities are breaking away from suburban sameness in order to make the infrastructure changes that baby boomers are about to require. Correspondent Maria Hinojosa has this Blueprint America report.

January 14th, 2011

Profiles from the Recession: [VIDEO] Off the Rails
Sometimes responsibility is in the eye of the beholder. For example, what is the best way to invest in the nation's infrastructure? In the state of Wisconsin, the governor declined $810 million worth of federal stimulus money for a high speed rail initiative because he says the state couldn't afford to maintain the system and that money should be spent on roads, not rail. However, in Illinois, the governor sees his responsibility differently. A look at the future of passenger rail.

January 7th, 2011

Profiles from the Recession: [VIDEO] Fixing America with High-speed rail
Last month, Blueprint America's colleagues at Need to Know debuted a new segment on the program: Fixing America. This week, their big thinkers take on infrastructure and the economy -- can High-speed rail get America back on the right track? Guests include Petra Todorovich, director the America 2050; Felix Salmon, a financial blogger for Reuters; and Patricia DeGennaro, a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute.

October 22nd, 2010

Profiles from the Recession: [VIDEO] Stretched To The Limits: Still driving to qualify after the housing crisis
As they post-mortem the housing crisis, policy makers are increasingly putting transportation costs under the microscope. Blueprint America visits the car -dependent suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, to learn about how transportation costs are making it harder for families to hold on to the American Dream.

October 1st, 2010

Profiles from the Recession: [VIDEO] Riding The Bus In Natchez, Miss.
A new and improved public transit system --funded with stimulus dollars -- helps the poor get to work in rural Mississippi.

September 28th, 2010

Profiles from the Recession: [VIDEO] HUD Secretary Donovan: In recession, housing + transportation costs add up
The average family in America today spends 52 percent of its income on housing and transportation. In this Blueprint America interview, John Larson talks with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan about how transportation adds to the true cost of housing.

SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK

Produced by THIRTEEN ©2024 WNET.ORG Properties, LLC. All Rights Reserved.