Edward Erfurt

Edward Erfurt is the Chief Technical Advisor at Strong Towns. He is a trained architect and passionate urban designer with over 20 years of public- and private-sector experience focused on the management, design, and successful implementation of development and placemaking projects that enrich the tapestry of place. He believes in community-focused processes that are founded on diverse viewpoints, a concern for equity, and guided through time-tested, traditional town-planning principles and development patterns that result in sustainable growth with the community character embraced by the communities which he serves.
When we recognize the housing crisis as a systems and strategy problem, we realize that there is no shortage of things cities can do right now to address it.
Our housing crisis demands a return to simpler, more empowering development approaches. The same approaches that let my grandfather build a starter home that sheltered his family for 70 years.
In January 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued six of the nation’s largest landlords, accusing them of artificially inflating apartment rents. But the lawsuit reveals an even deeper problem.
When a development project dares to break the Suburban Experiment mold, it faces intense scrutiny from both opponents and advocates. Ironically, these are the very projects we should be studying — and even celebrating. Culdesac Tempe, a car-free community in Arizona, is one such project.
The Finley Street Cottages project in Atlanta, Georgia, shows how parking mandates can prevent desperately needed development — and how removing those mandates makes housing more attainable and affordable.
Leon Krier leaves behind a generation of designers, planners, and urbanists who see the world differently because of him. I owe him more than I can put into words.