In closing many neighborhood schools over the years, my local school district has walked away from neighborhoods that are already struggling, making the situation in those places much worse.
Read MoreRoad transportation is the leading contributor to air pollution, and dense, auto-dependent cities are most at risk.
Read MoreSpace-sharing cuts down on the need for redundant infrastructure and decreases costs for everyone involved. Houses of worship are in the perfect position to creatively share their space.
Read MoreChuck's "Keep doing what you can to help build strong towns" podcast sign-off really has hit home with me. I'm not interested in the job of being a fancy politician — but I am deeply interested in doing whatever I can to build a strong district with safe streets.
Read MoreThe Week Ahead podcast is back after a few week's hiatus. Chuck and Rachel discuss the recent Big Box Stores campaign, Chuck's new house and recent events in Oswego, NY and Ontario.
Read MoreIt’s six years ago this month that Bass Pro – a project backed by virtually every power broker and politician – mercifully pulled the plug on a nine-year flirtation with the downtown Buffalo waterfront.
Read MoreRoutine traffic stops are dangerous for all involved and do little to improve safety. It's time to end the practice.
Read MoreThis week was all about the promise, the risk and the decline of big box stores in America.
Read MoreWhy do we invite big box stores into our our towns, enticing them with subsidies and infrastructure, competing for their attention, all so they can offer residents low-wage part-time jobs, pay minimal property taxes, then leave 15 years later?
Read MoreIn the short term, you don’t want to lose the big box war. In the long term, the only thing worse than losing the big box war is winning it.
Read MoreThe future of big box stores depends crucially on decisions and facts about land-use, environmental taxes, technology, and population migration trends. Specific stores will fail or thrive depending on the health and choices of the community within which they are embedded.
Read MoreAlthough it’s tempting to picture packing up and leaving suburbia to peacefully degrade, we shouldn’t. We'd be missing out on the unique opportunities it provides.
Read MoreChuck Marohn, president of Strong Towns, is speaking in St. Catharines, Ontario today and you have the opportunity to watch that presentation live.
Read MoreFor years, we’ve been told that big box parking lots need to be large enough to accommodate peak parking demand. Yet even on the biggest shopping day of the year, I found oceans of empty asphalt.
Read MoreWhile the landscape of Westland remains predominantly suburban, projects like this are steps toward upcycling and intensifying obsolete developments: an important shift from our historical habits of build-and-abandon.
Read MoreBig box stores are not the enemy; they are the natural byproduct of our suburban development pattern. It's in everyone's best interest to find economically viable ways to make that land more productive.
Read MoreHow does a store with a small footprint, few choices and well-paid employees attract so many enthusiastic customers and sell twice as much per square foot as Whole Foods?
Read MoreSuburbia cannot and will not be retrofitted to a substantially different model of development. But a small portion may be salvageable.
Read MoreGreat design can meet multiple interests. That was the case for this urban big box store which balanced the needs of a large-scale retailer with the surrounding walkable, mixed-use neighborhood.
Read MoreLet's take a look at how big-box stores have adapted to the urban environment of New York City.
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