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.
Free fares aren’t getting Estonians out of their cars. In fact, more of them drive today than in 2013.
A tanker truck caught fire, killing its driver and devastating over 100 feet of Interstate 95 above it. With the highway decommissioned, how did people get around?
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When the status quo is producing traffic fatality after traffic fatality, it's time to experiment.
Stadium promises are seductive, but can they unlock real value in the heart of a struggling urban district?
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This Maryland makeover is a cautionary tale of where “Complete Streets” fall short.
This is what happens when a city cares more about decades-old requirements than the small businesses trying to bring life to a neighborhood.
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The federal government promised to undo past harms. Advocates are disillusioned.
“We can’t just convert stroads into streets or roads... we need to change the land-use around these stroads."
What if the only way to open your dream cafe involved demolishing half of it?
Oklahoma residents discovered their homes were in the path of a massive highway expansion through local news, not official channels. Now a court has ruled the turnpike authority deliberately misled the public.