Charles Marohn
Charles Marohn (known as “Chuck” to friends and colleagues) is the founder and president of Strong Towns and the bestselling author of “Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis.” With decades of experience as a land use planner and civil engineer, Marohn is on a mission to help cities and towns become stronger and more prosperous. He spreads the Strong Towns message through in-person presentations, the Strong Towns Podcast, and his books and articles. In recognition of his efforts and impact, Planetizen named him one of the 15 Most Influential Urbanists of all time in 2017 and 2023.
When tension builds between grassroots action and bureaucratic boundaries, cities must choose: partnership or pushback.
What do you get when you combine too much funding, a broken development model, and no clear priorities? A six-roundabout interchange built to serve big-box stores that are already closing.
A reflection on affordability, finance, and the deep contradictions we refuse to face.
When I flew halfway around the world to New Zealand, I expected it to be radically different from North America. But the problems they’re facing are strikingly, painfully familiar.
A couple of weeks ago, Chuck did a Q&A about how the book “Abundance” differs from the Strong Towns approach. There were some good questions, so we’ve consolidated his answers here.
It’s easy to get angry or check out when faced with your place’s continued decline. That doesn’t mean you should stop fighting for it.
It comes down to stewardship, empathy, and humility.
Abundance looks to reform from above. We think you shouldn’t wait for permission.
"Jane Jacobs ends through Robert Moses means" is the modus operandi of many planners and advocates. It's also a total misunderstanding of both the brilliance of Jacobs and the shortcomings of Moses.
We’re not just looking at a future where cities can’t count on federal support. We’re facing one where Washington itself might be powerless to intervene, even if it wanted to.
Programs that rely on federal subsidies eventually collapse—or hollow out in slow motion. That doesn’t mean we should fight harder to protect those subsidies. It means we should build towns that don’t need them.
The problem isn’t that we haven’t sprawled enough. It’s that sprawl creates fragile places instead of resilient ones.