Last year a group of Alabamians who wanted to see change in their cities created an online Discord group and named it the Alabama Urbanists Coalition.

Birmingham’s Daniel Christiansen currently sits as the acting chair and told the Lede in this week’s Q&A that the group’s main goal is to create communities that can exist without every person needing to have a car.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

What is the Alabama Urbanists Coalition and what do you guys do?

These people came together to try and make their cities and communities better places to live, work, raise a family, and better places to just exist. We’ve spent a lot of time and energy and money making our cities and other places difficult to exist in outside of motor vehicles. We want to build a place where it’s easier to operate. To walk, to bike, and see people on a regular basis where you don’t have to be stuck in the car all day. Those sorts of things.