Program 745: Orkney Living; Walkable European Cities; Nomads of Europe

Hear what it's like to live on one of the windswept Orkney Islands off the north tip of Scotland, where people have made a home since before recorded history.

Get ideas for making your own city a more enjoyable place to be outdoors. The author of "Walkable City" offers examples from Europe, where redesigned traffic patterns have improved life in the center of town.

And look at the underappreciated role of nomadic societies, and their struggles in the modern world.

It's all on the next Travel with Rick Steves.

• Kinlay Francis, tour guide from Kirkwall in Orkney, Scotland
• Urban planner Jeff Speck, author of "Walkable City" (Picador)
• Historian Anthony Sattin, author of "Nomads" (Norton)

• Kinlay Francis and his wife operate Orkney Uncovered to provide custom tours in the Orkney archipelago.
• Rick writes about visiting Orkney.
• Jeff Speck is a city planner and urban designer based in the Boston area. His book "Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America One Step at a Time" has been reissued in an updated edition. Links that show many of Jeff's city design projects and TED Talks are provided on his website.
• The town of Poynton, in Cheshire, England (population 13,000), has a 15-minute video showing how redesigning streets in its downtown with the concepts of "shared space" has improved the experience for both pedestrians and motorists.
• Anthony Sattin is the author of "Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World."

• Faze Action, "Moving Cities," Deep Summer: Smooth Jams for an Even Tan (collection) / Revolution Magazine
• Old Blind Dogs, "The Salmon Leap," The Collection / KRL
• Asonance, "Hymna ostravu Orkney," Dva Havrani / Records DK
• The Spirit of Eden, "Legend of Cuan," Celtic Heartbeat Collection 2 / Celtic Heartbeat
• The New England Music Collection, "Blow Ye Winds," The Wind In the Rigging / North Star Records
• * Martyn Bennett, "Shputnik in Glenshiel," Bothy Culture / Rykodisc
• Third Force, "We Should Be Together," Panorama, disc 1 (sampler) / Higher Octave
• CEZ_CEO_2069_00101_Les_Cercles_du_Pouvoir_APM
• CEZ_TBX_0101_01101_Afternoon_Tea_APM
• Hesperion XXI, La Capella Real de Catalunya, "Guaracha: Ay Que Me Abraso (Zespedes)," Metamorphoses Fidei / Alia Vox
• BRU_BU_0462_01001_French_Movie_APM
• Modern Mandolin Quartet, "Canzonetta (Mendelsohn)," Modern Mandolin Quartet / Windham Hill
• Tina Turner, "Living for the City," Sexy, Seductive, Provocative / Paula Records
• * Carol Thompson harp, Billy McComiskey button accordion, "Continental Waltz in D major, for Irish harp," The Dorian Stereo Morning Sampler (collection) / Dorian
• The Wallace Family, "Wayfaring Stranger," Texas Serenade / (self-released)
• Baly Othmani, "Tannament N'Yalla," Assarouf / Worldly-Triloka
• Wimme, "Adventures in the Scandinavian Skin Trade," Hector Zazou: Songs of the Cold Seas (collection) / Columbia
• Miguel Angel Cortes, "Al Likindoy," Gypsy Caravan (collection) / Putumayo
• Peter Kater on eagle bone whistle, "Day Sky-Night Sky," Peter Kater and R. Carlos Nakai: Natives / Silver Wave
• Ry Cooder, "Wayfaring Stranger," Geronimo: An American Legend (soundtrack) / Columbia
• Kalya Jag, "Mori Shej, Sanina," Gypsy Caravan (collection) / Putumayo

* Indicates filler music used during breaks between segments

• At 12:54, Kinlay says he prefers to identify with Britain over Scottish separatism. He adds that there was a referendum that invites Norway to repossess Orkney if Scotland ever secedes from the UK.
• Kinlay explains that severe weather in the northeast US and Canada lands shortly afterward in Orkney.
• At 25:59, Jeff describes how Marie Hidalgo has been a popular mayor in Paris, and her plans to remove automobile traffic from the center city.
• At 31:25, Jeff lists a number of city/county clients that he's consulting.
• Rick and Anthony discuss the politically volatile issues with traditionally nomadic Kurdish communities in Turkey and Iraq, starting at 43:12. They add that Sámi herders seem to be more integrated into the government and economy of Sweden.
• At 45:43, Rick notes that Anthony has recently spent time with Bakhtiari nomads in Iran.
• At 56:45, as an example of how climate change is impacting nomadic communities, Anthony notes that a tent city that has cropped up on the outskirts of Mongolia's capital city.