September 24, 2025
Better Petaluma Film Festival — Film Selections
See what screened in Urban Chat’s third film festival!
Universal Solutions for Cities Everywhere: Renowned planner Peter Calthorpe shares his seven principles for building better cities, offering a clear blueprint to reduce emissions, fight sprawl, and design places where people and neighborhoods can thrive.
What Makes Walkable Cities: Walkability pioneer Dan Burden offers a clear, inspiring roadmap to transform car-first streets into people-centered places—healthier, easier to navigate, and climate-smart.
Paris School Streets - Safe for Children, Safe for Everyone: A colorful portrait of Paris’s fast-growing “School Streets,” where closing roads to cars during school hours creates safety, joy, and momentum for other cities to follow.
Incremental Development - Strong Towns Curbside Chat: This film highlights “Strong Citizens” who take small, practical steps to improve their blocks and neighborhoods—proving that incremental efforts can build lasting strength.
Bowtie High - Renovating an Old High School: In Homestead, Pennsylvania, three friends transformed an abandoned high school into modern apartments—illustrating how creative reuse can preserve history, add housing, and fuel renewal.
Saving the City - Minneapolis Flour Power: Minneapolis’s historic flour mills, once the backbone of industry, now anchor a thriving riverfront district—demonstrating how honoring the past can shape a vibrant urban future.
Are Parking Lots Ruining Your City?: In Fayetteville, Arkansas, removing parking minimums jump-started downtown revitalization—filling empty buildings, boosting local business, and fostering a more walkable core.
Saving the City - Birmingham Railroad Park: Once an industrial site by the tracks, Birmingham’s Railroad Park was transformed into a lush public space that spurred housing, a ballpark, and new vitality—showing how reclaiming land can spark civic pride and economic growth.
A Vision for Downtown Oxnard: In Oxnard, an open “By-Design Charrette” brought residents, planners, and city leaders together to reimagine downtown—showcasing how inclusive planning can guide the next chapter.
