Two USC alumni create urban planning podcast
By EDHITA SINGHAL
Last year, USC alumni Samantha Ellman and Natalie Ikhrata created a podcast to interest young people and those unfamiliar with urban planning in the discipline and its application to how they live their lives. A year later, they’re still going strong, releasing episodes a few times a month ranging in topic from housing development to disaster planning.
Ellman and Ikhrata, who both graduated in 2023 with master’s degrees in urban planning, were inspired to start the podcast when they realized the dearth of resources to explore urban planning outside the classroom. There were very few podcasts and those they could find weren’t engaging, they said.
“Sam and I came up with this idea to try and find a way to discuss topics about urban planning that are easily accessible, easy to understand and invoke excitement,” Ikhrata said.
They also aimed at making urban planning a more relatable topic for young people who often notice the problems related to the field of urban planning — such as zoning or unwalkable cities — but are unable to put a name to them. The podcast, which often brings on guests, sought to inspire young people to pursue urban planning professionally or, at least, become more aware of its impact on their daily lives.
The podcast mostly caters toward a younger crowd, especially those entering the field or those interested after prior exposure to the field. Ellman and Ikhrata said they want to make urban planning accessible to everyone.
“Our biggest goal is to emphasize that you do not need an urban planning background or an urban planning degree to understand these topics because they are about your lived experience,” Ikhrata said.
Ellman and Ikrata’s favorite part of the podcast is meeting the guest speakers and discussing their backgrounds, their careers and current projects in urban planning. These connections are useful for not only the podcast but also career advice, Ellman said.
“I’ve loved meeting everyone,” Ellman said. “There are people like professors that we’ve had on and then there are people that we’ve never met in person that we’ve spoken to … It’s opened a lot of doors for us professionally.”
The guest speakers included adjunct instructor at the Price School of Public Policy Ben Feingold, American Planning Association President Angela Brooks and Urban Design Director at Studio One Eleven Shruti Shankar. Feingold discussed the financial analysis behind different projects and said he was impressed by the hosts’ professionalism.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect from two students that were putting the podcast together,” Feingold said. “They didn’t just read through the questions that they sent me in advance but were very active participants in the conversation.”
Ellman and Ikhrata were students at USC when they started the podcast. They said they found it challenging to balance school, their part-time jobs and the podcast, especially since they initially planned on releasing one episode per week. They took breaks during finals and spring break to make the workload manageable.
“We don’t want it to feel like a job,” Ellman said. “When it starts to feel like something that we don’t want to do, but something that we have to, then maybe we should step away and take a break.”
Despite these challenges, Feingold said the podcast is a great tool to spark interest among prospective planners and spread awareness about this field. He said the creators successfully provided listeners with a higher-level view of the variety of topics covered in an urban planning program.
“[Ellman] and [Ikhrata] have really pulled guests and topics that are really far-reaching,” Feingold said. “There are areas that even as an experienced professional I don’t have exposure to.
Ikhrata and Ellman acknowledge the role that USC and its faculty have played in the formulation of the podcast: Ikhrata said USC opened opportunities for them and provided them access to some of the best minds in the field.
“I’m very honored and very proud to be able to put this on my resume and say that that’s something that Sam and I have done and created from scratch,” Ikhrata said.
