Asia Mieleszko
Asia (pronounced "ah-sha") Mieleszko's career refuses easy categorization. It's taken her from researching Ukrainian folk traditions to covering infrastructure policy, from performing on the world's biggest stages to documenting underground music scenes. The through line: She's a storyteller, endlessly curious about how people and places come to be what they are.
At Strong Towns, Asia brings together curiosity, analytical rigor, and deep empathy to examine the forces shaping our built environment. In Stacked Against Us, she guides listeners through the labyrinth of housing, finance, and local governance, revealing both the systems stacked against communities and the openings for meaningful action.
Off the clock, Asia can be found behind a camera, playing the accordion, or riding the rails across the country, always curious about the places and people along the way.
The house is beautiful. The neighborhood is charming. The street? Designed like a drag strip—and it's launched multiple cars into one family's living room.
In Portland, Oregon one neighbor’s DIY device is quietly collecting the kind of street data cities can’t ignore—and that neighbors have known all along.
The latest fatality on a Charlottesville road was the last straw for Kevin Cox, but his efforts to make the area safer might land him twelve months of jailtime. What if cities saw actions like his not as crimes—but as calls for change?
What began as a quiet act of care—building benches where none existed—just got the City of Richmond’s official blessing.
Washington just passed one of the strongest statewide parking reforms in the country—by rethinking not just the rules, but the way we talk about them.
What happens when everyday people dig into a city’s balance sheet? In Columbus, it sparked a three-hour conversation—and maybe a shift in mindset.
Relief for small businesses. A win for historic buildings. And room for more affordable housing. Dallas just scrapped a rule holding the city back since 1965.
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Pedestrian deaths dipped 2.6% in the first half of 2024 compared to 2023. But they're still higher than they were a decade ago. That tells us something isn't working.
"I mean we can't have a structure. It's not a structure. It's a legally parked car. Just so happens people eat pizza in it."
“You’re taught to take for granted what shows up in the codes.”
The Northern Beltline project has been haunting Alabama for over 50 years, draining money, time and energy from other more productive and desired projects. Here’s how it came about — and why it refuses to stay dead.
"By the time you hear of it, it's too late."